Nov 18 2014
The Climate-KIC start-up Ynsect from France has been honoured with the People’s Choice award at the Cleantech Open Global Forum in San Francisco. Using insects to bioconvert organic substrates, such as cereal by-products, Ynsect transforms those insects into sustainable nutrient resources for agro-industries and bioactive compounds for green chemistry.
YNsect team
Ynsect’s unique insect bio-refinery uses only natural resources and generates almost no waste - even the insect manure can be valorised as a fertiliser. This environmentally friendly approach could help reduce the levels of CO2 emissions usually associated with traditional production of nutrition for animal feed, plant nutrition, nutraceuticals and many other related areas.
Ahead of the start of Global Entrepreneurship Week, the accomplishment of Ynsect is a demonstration of the European innovation success story, as start-ups from across Europe become tomorrow’s leading firms in mitigating and adapting to global climate change.
Hero Prins, Director Entrepreneurship at Climate-KIC, commented: “Ynsect’s achievement demonstrates that European innovators are at the forefront of the commercialisation of sustainable technologies. To see the public being so supportive of Ynsect’s business concept is a huge recognition of our Climate-KIC Accelerator. Our aim is to support innovators who have bright ideas that can bring down CO2 levels and create positive new business opportunities and jobs in the green economy. Ynsect is a great example of how we look at a wide range of opportunities to achieve that.”
The Climate-KIC Accelerator selects and supports unique climate relevant business ideas, bright teams across Europe to help provide the most promising clean-tech start-ups to transform their climate innovation into commercial success - from connecting with the right experts, to formulating business plans, to developing entrepreneurial skills and funding a range of businesses through their early stages.