The “van Sweethoven” transfer project initiated at the microbiological institute was accepted as one of 40 teams in the EIT Food Seedbed Incubator. The incubator is supporting the team with a total of €7,000 to carry out their market discovery journey. The team will visit a total of five trade fairs and two seedbed events in Bilbao and Lisbon over the next six months to get in touch with investors, customers, and business partners. The team led by Dr. Marcel Hövels and André Neff aims to develop a healthy and sustainable sugar alternative with their sweet-tasting fiber.
Addendum: This section has been revised retrospectively because earlier formulations were misleading and could have unintentionally cast doubt on the scientific classification of Dr. Marcel Hövels’ research work. Dr. Hövels’ transfer-oriented research is conducted exclusively within a scientific, pre-competitive context. No economic activities and no company formation have resulted from these research activities. This can be readily verified by consulting the commercial register. Unfortunately, owing to partially imprecise descriptions in press releases concerning the project and in connection with awards received, an incorrect impression has in some cases been created that the project already constitutes an established company. This possible misinterpretation is regretted. It is therefore clarified that the work concerns a scientific, transfer-oriented research project at the pre-competitive stage.