TECH NEEDS

Solenoid valves are electromechanically operated valves widely used in a variety of industries for fluid control. The seeker is a Singapore-based precision engineering company developing a miniature 12VDC solenoid valve. The company is developing these valves for use in medical devices and are progressing into the detail design and development phases. The company is seeking technical expertise or consultants to help them characterize the design, validate the performance and eventually develop an in-house reliability programme for the testing of these miniature solenoid valves.

In Singapore, each person consumes an average 22 kg of seafood per year and imported 134,000 tonnes of seafood in 2020. As a seafood-loving nation, a report by WWF revealed that 75% of consumed seafood in Singapore is unsustainable and this challenged the seafood fishing and farming ecosystem. Cultivating seafood is an alternative method to meet our seafood consumptions demands. Cultured seafood is actual seafood produced in vitro cell cultures of animal cells. It replicates the sensory and nutritional profile of conventional seafood. The current method of producing cultured seafood involves the use of animal-derived Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS). FBS is the liquid fraction harvested from the blood of cow fetuses. The use of FBS is a concern due to its ethical restraint and food safety along with its high usage cost.  As such, we are looking for low-cost plant-based cell culture media for seafood cultivation. 

IPI is working with our Open Innovation partner from UK to source for partners to develop high performance bio-sourced oils, lubricants and fuels. Their client is an established manufacturer of high performance industrial lubricants, greases and fuels interested in developing their bio-sustainable offerings. Mounting environmental and sustainability concerns has shifted significance towards non-technical criteria for the evaluation of lubricants, and there is growing demand for more sustainable options. Early offerings were biodegradable and non-toxic but often derived from petrochemicals. Newer bio-sourced lubricants are made from plant oils or biomass feedstocks. Depending on the base stock used, chemical and oxidative stability and corrosion resistance of bio-sourced lubricants can be an issue, but improvements can be made through chemical modification of the oil, or through the use of additive packages. Therefore, to support development of bio-sourced lubricants, there is also a requirement for additives compatible with bio-based base stocks that are themselves environmentally friendly. The client has an established client base and global manufacturing and sales operations that provide routes to market for new and growing companies. The client is interested in potential collaboration with groups looking to commercialise relevant technologies and companies who will consider a variety of collaborations, ranging from trading partnerships, licensing through to joint venture, investment and acquisition.

A multinational F&B company is looking for solutions to be able to effectively decant confectionary fluids from road tankers. The company transports vast quantities of fluids throughout its global network in road tankers. These are usually either fat-based fluids, non-Newtonian fluids and/or high viscous fluids. Some of these materials are produced internally, some are procured from external sources.  If not decanted completely, these residual fluids still left in the tanker are needlessly transported around the network and often lead to excess raw materials costs. Typically, these losses during transport range between ~0.5% to 1 wt%. This is not acceptable to the company from a sustainability and a cost point of view, and they are keen to explore an industry-wide solution that enables emptying of tankers more effectively. 

Protein serves many functionalities in food, including emulsifying, gelling, foaming, flavour, texture and solubility. Plant proteins are structurally and functionally different from animal proteins and can be challenging to replace animal proteins entirely. As such, we are looking for efficient plant protein extraction methods to achieve highly functional plant-derived protein ingredients. 

A multinational F&B company is seeking innovative and cost-effective cooling technologies for products at retail environments. Such products, particularly chocolates, require temperature control in order to maintain their quality, product characteristics and eat experience, especially in high tropical conditions (+40°C). At present, glass-panelled cooling equipment (visicoolers) of various capacities and configurations, ranging from counter-top to bigger models are used. The countertop models are the most often used as they are easy to adapt to smaller stores (15-60L).

We are looking for innovative and agile tools to gather target consumer feedback on our global products and packages portfolio. We believe engaging consumers during the product and package development stage is important and should be an authentic experience. To deliver a broad range of delicious, high-quality snacks and packaging that consumers can feel good about, we want to truly understand consumer preferences, behavior and habits. Snacks include chocolates, biscuits, cakes, gums, candies.     

The company is a UK based global cosmetics and skin care developer with established brands in both traditional anti-ageing and skin health categories. They have strong existing research, product development, regulatory and claims compliance and brand and marketing divisions helping to design and create compelling consumer concepts for the future. Their mission is to help people across the world lead healthier and happier lives.  They believe that the health and resilience of people’s skin is vital to this and they are passionate in helping their consumers achieve maximum skin health throughout their lives. Poor skin health can have a significant impact on an individual’s quality of life and can contribute to reductions in both healthspan and lifespan. There is emerging understanding of the important role that the microbiome plays in the health and resilience of skin, with both the skin microbiome and gut microbiome being implicated. Consumers are beginning to embrace the idea that maintaining a balance between the skin and the microbes that inhabit it is important but are unclear on how this impacts on their individual skin needs and what technologies will be efficacious in this area. The company is looking to source breakthrough innovations in the diagnosis and maintenance/restoration of consumers individual skin and gut microbiome and its contribution to the performance and status of their skin.

The company is a UK based global cosmetics and skin care developer with established brands in both traditional anti-ageing and skin health categories. they have strong existing research, product development, regulatory and claims compliance and brand and marketing divisions helping to design and create compelling consumer concepts for the future. Their mission is to help people across the world lead healthier and happier lives. They believe that the health and resilience of people’s skin is vital to this and they are passionate in helping their consumers achieve maximum skin health throughout their lives. Poor skin health can have a significant impact on an individual’s quality of life and can contribute to reductions in both healthspan and lifespan. Skin’s trajectory through life is determined by both intrinsic factors such as genetics and hormones and extrinsic factors such as the cumulative exposures it will face due to environment and lifestyle, and the combination of these factors impacts on the performance and perceived health of consumer’s skin. They are looking to source breakthrough innovations in the diagnosis of consumers individual skin needs through analysis of intrinsic and extrinsic factors and providing naturally derived highly effective skin care products that help protect and restore the skin.