BioMatNet Item: Commercial Success of ECLAIR Programme

Commercial Success of ECLAIR Programme
Preface and Overview

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FAIR-CT98-4822 Commercial Success of the ECLAIR Programme

This report on the Commercial Success of ECLAIR Programme 1999 was produced in 1999 by CPL Scientific under contract FAIR-CT98-4822. The Project Summary and Project Reports are available in separate items.

Preface
Executive Summary
Overview
1. Introduction
2. Information Collection
3. Assessment of Commercial Success
4. Sectors, Technology and Markets
5. Industrial Participation
6. Impact of Science and Technology on Commercial Development
7. Political and Legislative Environment
8. ECLAIR in the Context of European Research and Development
9. Conclusions

Preface

The ECLAIR programme (European Collaborative Linkage of Agriculture and Industry through Research 1988-1993) was designed with the clear intention of improving the links between agriculture and industry by encouraging close collaboration in individual research and technological development projects based on recent progress in the life sciences and biotechnology. Forty-two research projects were launched in 1989 involving 334 participants of which 104 (31%) came from industry, 76 being smaller or medium sized industries (SMEs). Most of these SMEs were high technology companies, many of them biotechnology start-ups working in diverse areas such as germplasm development, disease control, diagnostics, and instrumentation. By their own admission their competitiveness was significantly enhanced by participation in this programme, through access to, and direct use of, leading scientific researchers, and facilities, in the public and university research domains. The ECLAIR budget for the 42 selected projects amounted to 65 MECU and a typical project had 8 participants, lasted for three years, had a total cost of 3 MECU, and an EC contribution of 1.5 MECU. Participants from the twelve member states at the time took part, with notably high participation from the smaller countries, and from the Mediterranean regions.

The specific purpose of this publication almost 12 years after the launching of ECLAIR is to assess the commercial impact of these 42 research projects upon their respective business sectors. It is not intended to be an exhaustive socio-economic impact study and it originates from a simple desire to quantify the number of new commercially viable agro-industrial products and processes resulting from the programme. Some of the findings are extremely interesting and have clearly demonstrated useful trends for consideration in the future and particularly in the planning strategies of new programmes. I refer here to the fact that 15 (35%) of the projects resulted in products already on the market, 6 (14%) resulted in products that should be marketed in the near future, and a further 15 (35%) have reached the prototype, pilot or trials stage. Furthermore, the greater the industrial participation in the initial project team, and especially for those with an industrial co-ordinator, the more likely it was that the project would produce a marketable product.

Political and economic factors, and consumer attitudes have also played significant roles in the intervening years. This is reflected in a lack of progress for those projects that sought to develop and commercialise genetically modified organisms and are currently blocked towards this goal. This is also evident in projects where the anticipated cost and benefits of the new product did not outweigh those of existing ones, or where restrictive legislation has created obstacles to novel processes. ECLAIR however was the first ever initiative at EU level to specifically look at biological raw materials as feedstocks for industries other than food. Here extremely important pioneering groundwork has demonstrated the potential of biobased plastics, chemicals, and structural materials. It was also the first EU programme to fund applied industrially-led research into the commercial potential of genetically modified crops, and alternatives to agrochemical fertilisers and herbicides through biocontrol agents and integrated pest management.

In summary ECLAIR has shown that European agro-industrial research has a tremendous potential to develop new products and processes from new technologies, and to generate employment and increase European competitiveness. Although ECLAIR was only a relatively small part of the second framework programme, its success has led to its continuation and amplification in the subsequent AIR, FAIR, and the current Quality of Life programmes where further extensive opportunities to stimulate and develop innovation in European industry is afforded.

Rainer Gerold

Director Life Sciences I

Overview

1. Introduction

This report reviews the current position of activities funded by the ECLAIR programme, on a project by project basis, in order to assess how effective it was in achieving the primary objective. As indicated by the name (European Collaborative Linkage of Agriculture and Industry through Research), this was to fund agro-industrial projects that would bring together these diverse sectors in order to benefit from advances in knowledge in the life sciences, and in the development of biotechnical applications in particular.

The programme, which ran for five years (1988-1993), aimed to select projects that would encourage technology transfer, in areas where it would have significant practical and economic benefit. It involved the production and testing of new products derived from agricultural raw materials, as well as the development of new inputs for agriculture, such as fertilizers, pesticides, vaccines, inoculants and growth promoters.

All the projects were pre-competitive in nature. It was anticipated that the products and processes developed during the course of the programme would require several years of further effort before they became commercial.

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Contents

Preface

Overview