Post on 14-Mar-2020
Unlocking the potential for next generation
digestive health products:
ensuring knowledge transfer and funding
opportunity between academia and industry
Simone Maccaferri
How we work now
Facts and figures
FAT
TYPE OF INGESTED
FERMENTABLE
CARBOHYDRATES
MICROBIOTA MAKE-
UP
PROTEINS
CARBOHYDRATES
THE MOST REMARKABLE EXAMPLE OF MICROBIOTA PLASTICITY IS ITS CAPACITY TO RAPIDLY RESPOND TO DIETARY CHANGES
Why Gut Microbiota?
Why Gut Microbiota?
Candela et al., Trends Microbiol 2012
Maccaferri et al., Dig Dis 2012
Facts and figures
And so, what?
But…
How?
So… we must bridge
the gap!
Linking 3 domains
can make the difference
» Understanding the needs:
it is of striking importance to understand the
technological and research needs of the industry to design a
tailored knowledge transfer strategy
» Understanding the potential:
every industry has a potential to be developed. What
makes the difference is the ability of exploiting your
knowledge base to drive that potential to become reality
through the appropriate strategy.
First...
Gut microbiota has an age-related trajectory
How? /market niches
How? /trending ingredients
» Wholegrain, fibers and vitamin D
are top ingredients that two
thirds of consumers trying to
manage their weight added to
their diet last year
» One third added more iron, oat
bran or flaxseed oil
» One quarter added natural
sweeteners, probiotics and soy
protein
How? /market trends
How? /market trends
2015 trends for food industry (FoodNavigator)
How? /market trends
How? /expanding markets
Second...
How? /the researchers
How? /the researchers
Integration
Innovation
Multidisciplinarity
How? /the researchers
» Focusing on win-win situations:
– Increased networking
– Source for new ideas: the research needs of industry are
often interconnected with the research interests of
universities new perspectives on applied and basic research
– Economic valuation through appropriate product and process
enhancement
–Design and delivery of programmes that are relevant to
current and future business needs
» Identifying concrete deliverables for the business:
– Establishment of long-term relationships and profitable partnerships
to tackle a wide spectrum of ideas, topics, and problems
– Cost-effective solutions to research needs
– Generation of innovation: technical problem solving, process
improvement, new product development, and breakthrough ideas
– Preparation of a highly skilled workforce for future placement
opportunities
How? /a model
But...
But...
Regulation (EC) no 1924/2006 on claims made on foods
Nutritional and health claims are only be authorized for
use in the EU after a scientific assessment of the
evidence supporting the claim.
But...
Nutrition and health claims shall:
• Be substantiated by generally accepted scientific evidence
• Refer to a beneficial nutritional/physiological effect
• Be understandable for the average consumers
• Be accompanied by nutrition information
• Refer to the food ready for consumption
• The nutrient/substance on which the claim is made shall be present
in the product in a quantity to produce the effect.
• Reasonable consumption of the product shall provide a quantity of
the nutrient/substance to produce the effect
A balanced solution
» Understanding how to support/fund industry-driven
applied research:
Solid knowledge of
national and EU
funding/partnering
opportunities
Full understanding of
the specificities of the
industry
The complex funding scenario
But...
But...
http://www.nu-age.eu/
NuAge
NuAge strategy embraces a wide EU population over 65
years from different countries (NEWS) who will undergo
detailed characterisation at functional and molecular
level. Dietary intervention will be utilised for elderly
tailored- foods
An example /product
An example /product
Industry-funded PhD
for Collaborative
Research
Clinical trial with own
industrial funding
Product enhancement
with SME competitive
award
Another example /skills
Bio statistics and power analysis
for human studies in food
industries
Simone Maccaferri
Agro-Food, Bioeconomy, Energy and Environment
Unit
European Research and Innovation Office
e-mail: simone.maccaferri@unibo.it
Tel.:+39 051 2088469 - Mob:+ 39 320 4788775
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