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Commercial Success of ECLAIR Programme
Overview - 6. Impact of Science and Technology on Commercial Development |
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
6. Impact of Science and Technology on Commercial Development
In order to analyse the impact of science and technology on commercial development, projects were classified into a number of clusters on the basis of their main aims and objectives (see Table 2, Section 3). However, there were some overlaps between project and objectives in some cases. Other projects were grouped on the basis of best fit. In spite of these facts, that may distort the picture in some clusters, there is a definite difference in success in reaching the market. Table 10 shows those products, marketed under a recognisable brand or tradename that are currently available. This excludes products such as Biopol (production of which has ceased as Monsanto looks for a buyer) and unmodified (non-GMO) seeds (such as Crambe) available from various sources, not necessarily associated with the ECLAIR programme.
With the exception of the scanner, these products are all biological entities of some form or other. In fact the scanner is dependent on the use of immuno-reagents, and hence could be regarded as falling into the same category of higher value, relatively small volume products. These do not directly involve significant use of agricultural raw materials, nor do they involve genetic engineering in their direct production. Hence, although they represent a commercial success they lie outside the primary objectives of the ECLAIR project.
Table 10. Projects resulting in tradenames, trademarks or brands
| Project | Product | Tradename (s), mark (s) and brands | Cluster |
| AGRE-0002 | Nematodes | Nemasys H, Nemasys, Nemaslug, Nemasys M, | Biological pest control |
| AGRE-0062 | Beneficial insects |
Sold under the Novartis BCM name |
Biological pest control |
| AGRE-0013 | Traps and Lures for pest monitoring | Wide range of products sold under the AgriSense brand name, including Polycore SKL Dacus oleae olive fly attractant | Biological pest control |
| AGRE-0019 | Soil inoculants | Microflora | Biological pest control |
| AGRE-0012 | Wine inoculants | Viniflora Oenos | Food processing |
| AGRE-0014 | Microbial detection | ChemScan RDI and reagents | Food processing |
| AGRE-0064 | Cheese starter culture | STAR-IDC | Food processing |
| AGRE-0009 | Fish vaccines | AquaVac, Furovac 5 Oral, Pasteurella Oral, Vibrio Oral, ERM Oral | Animal health/ aquaculture |
Within the biological pest control cluster, the application of viral detection and varietal detection methods enabled the marketing of disease free stock of known provenance (vines and fruit trees), while insect resistant (Bt) plants are commercial in the US. There are companies selling biological inoculants based on free-living bacteria as a means of preventing fungal infection, including damping-off disease, but the monetory value of such sales remains low. This gives a total of 6 out of 8 projects in this sector resulting in commercial products. Of the rest, the improved in vitro cultures worked, but was not found to confer economic benefits when submitted to trials, while work on transformed plants with anti-fungal proteins continues. It should be noted that, from the technical and commercial viewpoints this cluster had a high rate of success.
The cluster concerning food processing technology showed a similar pattern. In addition to the success documented in the above table, other new starter cultures were obtained and placed within a small market. The genetic modification of fruit (ethylene) continues in research and development, as does work arising from the project concerning citrus, giving a reasonable overall success rate.
The results of work on animal health and aquaculture were more mixed. The fish vaccine project was successful and in general initial research objectives were achieved. However, markets did not develop as expected for bovine embryos (variable results and impact of BSE controls), pig vaccines (impact of target disease over estimated, hence product not required) or seaweed-based fertilisers (changes in policies and acquisition of commercial partners). Some activities required more research and development (brucellosis vaccines, animal monitoring, viral epitopes), while the silage additives identified under ECLAIR did not show commercial benefits over those already sold by the industrial participant. Work on fish growth hormone fell under the pressure of public opinion and EC legislation relating to the prohibition of use of a related protein hormone in milk production in cows. In general, the commercial success rate in this cluster was low.
Assessment of the clusters covering crop adaptation and crops and trees for non-food uses are complicated by the apparent overlap in some areas. This reflected the attempts to set up complete production chains including aspects of breeding, product analysis and process development in a number of projects. Hence, the combined crop and processing projects are considered together, the forest products are grouped, and the crop projects are considered sector by sector on the basis of the major raw material (vegetable oil, starch, etc) they might produce for industrial use.
Several projects did not really fit into such an analysis. These included those covering specific technical use of lignocellulose as fibres (in car parts), or after hydrolysis as substrate for fermentation. In the former case, this is now a recognized use with German cars coming off the production line with such components. Here, the main factor affecting adoption of the available technology is legislation. German laws requiring recycling are more advanced than elsewhere within the EU, providing a more favourable market. The ethanol project is also affected by legislative considerations, but with the opposite impact. The lack of clear legislation concerning tax or other concessions relating to liquid biofuels and the general low interest in bioethanol within the EU has slowed development in this area, although in previous programmes (Biomass, Ethanol Pilot Plants) the EC supported both research and development in this area.
In other areas of trees and fibre crops, work to improve propagation and quality of hardwoods was successful with chestnut and conifers, and (as discussed above) with vines and fruit trees. Several of the other projects dealing with lignocellulose were concerned with paper and pulp. The simplest was that investigating in-field mechanical de-barking. It worked, but economic benefits were limited to high yielding stands. In contrast, in terms of technical complexity, was the molecular biology approach to production of transgenic trees with low lignin which are currently in trials. Other projects, that investigated mechanical or biological pulping, did not show clear economic benefits for the industrial partner. Hence, trees themselves are the only products to have entered the market in this sector so far.
As far as carbohydrates are concerned, fermentation products in the form of polyhydroxy alkanoates reached the market place, although production at present has ceased for commercial (rather than technical) reasons. In part, this reflects limited market demand, reflecting price. Price also affected adoption of the process for producing flavours from starch hydrolysates, while the use of hydrolysates (galacturonic acid) from pectin faired better, with products expected in the market place next year. These reflect specific uses of selected fractions, as did existing industrial practice in the large multinational starch companies that dominate the European, and indeed the global markets. Attempts to improve traditional methods by small-scale processing of whole crop wheat were shown to be less economically viable than had been anticipated. The major raw materials for this sector (maize and wheat) were investigated in detail with contrasting results. For maize, results added little to the industrial activity. In contrast, with wheat, advances were made in knowledge of the proteins, their analysis, genetics, breeding and processing characteristics. Genetic maps and mapping procedures as well as analytical tools and processing advances were developed and continue to be used in-house by both the plant breeders and grain processors who participated. One participant suggested that the ECLAIR project ( AGRE-0052) had been a major factor in the growth of the EU wheat processing industry.
The development of new lines of potatoes, designed for the snack industry, was also successful. However, as with most plant breeding, considerable time is required to show the stability and value of new varieties as well as to produce propagation material. New lines are expected to be marketed in due course, although the impact of current 'public feeling' concerning transgenic plants on this development is unknown. This is particularly true in the UK where inappropriate focus was given by the press to preliminary and mis-reported results of feeding trials on rats involving potatoes and possible transformations. Work on improving peas, for resistance to fungal infection or for nutritional value, provided a large amount of information that is being applied in breeding work, that in time will no doubt be reflected in the seed lines that are marketed.
The length of time required to bring new varieties of crop plants to market, let alone bring entirely new species to the market place, is also reflected in the results of a number of the projects relating to vegetable oils. This becomes harder still when the objective is also to encourage the oleochemical industry to use the resulting oils as raw material. In the first case, projects indicated the problems in terms of yield, agronomics, processing (oil separation and by-product utilization) while in the second it was clear that large oleochemical companies have access to a wide range of raw materials from around the world that meet their main needs. To cause major substitution would require large quantities of the novel oils to be available at competitive price. This situation was not reached. However, a wide range of activities, including breeding, genetic manipulation, processing and product formulation continues to attract research support while new oleochemical-based products (surfactants, inks, coatings, surfactants, hydraulic oils, cutting and machine oils, transport fuels, etc) are being marketed as 'green' products with real or implied environmental benefits. Some of these are being produced as a result of companies being involved in the ECLAIR project. However, many reflect the general increase in use of vegetable oils as raw materials for industry. Hence, the exact impact of ECLAIR in this sector is difficult to accurately assess.
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© Copyright 2006 Policy Statements
Updated
by CPL Press:
03/07/2007
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