Deep-tech start-up takes hotly contested international food innovation award
Auckland, New Zealand, July 23 - Scentian Bio, the New Zealand deep-tech company combining insect odorant receptors with electronics to create a synthetic ‘insect nose’, has won a prestigious US pitch competition, and in the USA in the past week.
Scentian Bio was awarded first place in a pitch competition at the world’s largest food science and innovation trade show, IFT-FIRST. Hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists in Chicago, the top prize was whittled down from a field of more than 100 startups from around the world, marking the first time a New Zealand company has won the award.
The New Zealand startup has replicated the ultra sensitive insect olfactory receptors to create a detection tool whose nose is more than a thousand times more acute than an airport beagle. Using artificial intelligence, Scentian Bio can process and interpret signals from its biosensors drawing inspiration from nature and the neuronal network that an insect uses to interpret smell.
This precocious nose has powerful potential in the world of food, says Scentian Bio CEO Jonathan Good.
“Orange is the world’s most common flavouring, but there’s a massive spectrum to what orange tastes like. If you’re a fizzy drink maker using oranges from the Hawke’s Bay that vary season to season, or even orchard to orchard, how do you keep your soda tasting the same? Scentian Bio solves these quality control problems for all types of food and beverage makers,” said Good.
IFT CEO Christie Tarantino-Dean commented that Scentian Bio “exemplifies the innovative spirit that the science of food community needs to adapt to critical challenges impacting our food supply today and in the future”
Good said the elevator pitch appeared to resonate strongly, particularly amongst peers that understood the engineering challenges amongst ‘e-nose’ devices.
“The concept of the ‘e-nose’ is nothing new to the food industry. However it’s never been sensitive enough to replace the big mass-spectrometry machines that are the mainstay of quality control today. Our flow cells are not only sensitive enough to measure what’s important, they are portable - enabling testing in operations, rather than the inefficiency of taking samples away to a lab for testing. Winning this prize from our peers and industry leaders affirms that we’re on the right track to fix one of the most pressing challenges for producers of food and drink,” said Good.
As well as their recent pitch competition award, Scentian Bio has been announced by the US-based Biomimicry Institute as one of 10 global start-ups selected for the Ray of Hope Accelerator. The Biomimicry Institute is the global leader in promoting and applying biomimicry principles to address societal and environmental challenges. This award, worth over US$65k recognises Nature Inspired start-ups working to solve crucial environmental and social problems.
Watch this video to learn more about a new way to sense the world and how Scentian Bio plans to lead a scent data revolution.
Read the official release from IFT here and Food Business News here.
Read the official release from the Biomimicry Institute here.
About Scentian Bio
Scentian Bio, the first smell and taste digitization innovator to overcome early e-nose limitations, combines insect olfactory receptors with nanotechnology and artificial intelligence to deliver ultra-sensitive taste and smell solutions for the food and health industries. Spun out from New Zealand’s Plant & Food Research, its biosensor platform leverages patented technology based on decades of scientific research to make the real-time, portable interpretation of complex chemical signatures possible. Based in New Zealand and backed by top food tech. and biotech investors, Scentian Bio is led by a team of global leaders in insect olfaction and biosensor technology. For more information visit www.scentianbio.com