Business modelling is a fundamental part of the Bythos laboratory. It is about showing how the new technology can work to help enterprises grow in a real context.

The Bythos business space shows enterprise how the products and services can be scaled up financially and it provides the opportunity for B2B meetings with an interested end buyer.

Salmond waste

Sicily has an active fish-processing sector, producing substantial amounts of fish waste.  Although this sector in Malta is much smaller, both the food services sector and tuna farming play a prominent role in the local economy and could be a vital source of fish waste for the development of the biomed technology sector. The aquaculture industry is also an important potential buyer regarding the zero-waste fish feed.

On the Aeolian islands, a substantial part of the economy relies on tourism and the restaurant sector.  The Aeolian Hotel Federation represents 75% of the hotels on the island of Lipari, all of which providing catering services to satisfy the official statistic of over 500,000 overnight stays on the island every year.  The potential fish waste from restaurants in Sicily is much higher as it takes into consideration the 12 million overnight stays from tourism on the island every year. The tourist figures for Malta are similar to Sicily, boasting over 14 million overnight stays on the island.

What waste! And currently it just gets thrown away!

Estimates suggest that the global biotech drugs market was worth over $289 billion in 2014 and projected to grow to $445 billion dollars by 2019 (Deloitte 2016 Global life sciences outlook 2014). Novel collagen sources and the huge amount of interest currently being generated by research and development in regenerative medicine and wound healing are boosting market growth. The collagen market alone is expected to be worth over $9 billion dollars globally by 2023.

The business space is about developing business models based on market analysis and the local economic context, identifying potential target markets for the BAMs centered on the bioactive properties they display and screening for functionalities.

Business modeling for BAMS and fish feed markets

Business modelling is a fundamental part of the lab. It is about showing how the new technology can work to help enterprises grow in a real context.

The business space shows enterprise how the products and services can be scaled up financially and it provides the opportunity for B2B meetings with an interested end buyer in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetics industries or fish farming industry. The business models highlight the impact that the production of BAMs/marine collagen and other Bythos products can have on the value chain as a whole by extending the production line, providing a means of diversification to enterprises, savings through reductions in organic waste management and the impact of incentive schemes.

Feedback for biotechnology products

The development of the business plans, the interaction between the local enterprises and the business experts during the production of the commercial exploitation plans should provide valuable feedback to the researchers.  Financial feasibility information gained by talking to local enterprise is invaluable. Biotechnology procedures will necessarily need to conform to financial sustainability requirements for the enterprise, if enterprises are to adopt the technologies.

Influencing organic refuse disposal methods

Currently on Lipari, as on the other smaller islands, organic refuse is separated and collected twice weekly by a refuse collection enterprise.  Organic refuse is classified as ‘special waste’ and, as a consequence, has high disposal costs.  The project brings alternative methods of using fish waste to the attention of organic refuse collection services. Disposal could be redirected towards the production of the BAMs /marine collagen and eco-innovation fish feed.