On March 28, climate venture tech capital fund Icos Capital held the Accelerating Sustainability Summit at Bühler’s CUBIC Innovation Campus in Uzwil, Switzerland.
The event brought together investors, industry leaders, and startups from the biotech sector with the aim of accelerating sustainable solutions and harnessing the power of artificial intelligence. By establishing an ecosystem of collaboration and innovation, Icos and Bühler hope to help startups scale up their efforts to tackle urgent and complex challenges in the food industry.
The startups that attended the event included BioRaptor, a bioprocessing data analytics platform, and Triplebar, which creates generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) models to design strains for protein production.
“At Icos Capital, we aim to uncover and invest in cutting-edge innovations to drive sustainability forward,” said Nityen Lal, Founding Partner at Icos Capital. “By leveraging our collaborative venturing approach, we foster mutually beneficial partnerships between established corporations and start-ups focused on food technology, chemical technology, decarbonization, and sustainability, facilitating their growth and development. This year, we focus on biotech and AI, since we’ve seen many companies applying these technologies to optimize production and increase efficiency.”
Scaling impactful innovation
The biotech sector is reportedly facing several challenges, including a decrease in funding and increased cost pressures due to recent policy shifts. However, the use of AI in the design, test, and scaling phase of solutions, including in the alternative protein sector, could help to address this. Many of the startups that participated in the summit are working to provide new ideas and pathways in this area.
A key theme of the event was the importance of high-quality data in GenAI models. The use of large, trustworthy data sets makes it easier to prove a product’s worth and to calculate its financial viability. Furthermore, high-quality data helps to save time and resources in the R&D phase, reducing the risks associated with entering new markets such as alternative proteins.
A recent report found that advanced biotechnology has the potential to reduce global emissions by 5% and generate $1 trillion in annual economic value. The research claims that up to 60% of inputs to the global economy, including biological materials and non-biological inputs, could be produced or replaced using biological methods.
“We’re delighted to play a role in strengthening this collaborative venturing approach to scale impactful innovation,” said Ian Roberts, Chief Technology Officer at Bühler. “With established supply chains and market access, we believe that corporates in the room can play a crucial role in the journey of
start-ups and enable them to scale both their business and their sustainable impact significantly faster.”
