We find and attract funding together with the company, but also offer unique capacity in the form of expertise and test beds. In this way, we reduce the time to launch, lower the risk and help create competitive companies for an international market.

The offer is particularly strong in climate-tech which includes but is not limited to sustainable energy and energy storage, future food and agriculture, new materials and circular solutions within bioeconomy. We also work closely with the most innovative companies in HealthTech and DeepTech. 

Guidance and support through the funding landscape

For innovation within ClimateTech, HealthTech and DeepTech, there is a very extensive financing landscape, which can, however, be difficult for the individual company to orientate within. RISE offers guidance to the right financing tools and acts as an advisor in the preparation of applications for public support, and in some situations can also facilitate guidance to private investors.

The type of soft funding available depends on the stage of maturity.

• In the very early stages, there are smaller calls (0.3-0.5 MSEK), often with a high level of support (100%)
• When the company is ready to verify its solution with the customer, there are slightly larger calls (3-5 MSEK), often with a 50% level of support
• For some types of innovations, such as various industrial solutions, large-scale demonstration is required, which can be very capital-intensive - here it is possible to apply for very large grants, often with a 45% level of support

Leading technical expertise and test beds

RISE's leading expertise facilitates the development journey towards commercialisation and industrialisation. Supported by our infrastructure, our experts complement and fill in capacity gaps in the company that is about to take its next development step. Quite simply, RISE can act as the link between the laboratory and the industrial environment. For many innovative companies, it is critical to leave the lab as quickly as possible, start working on a small industrial scale and test their solution in a real-life environment.

RISE also has a central role in the innovation system with a broad network in academia, industry and society and can therefore provide companies with valuable guidance. With our broad  industry contacts, RISE can be the link between innovative start-ups/scale-ups, industrial players and large companies for the further development of new smart and radical solutions.

"As an early-stage start-up, we could not afford our own infrastructure and therefore access to an experienced technical partner like RISE Processum was highly valuable for initial process development and scale-up activities. This was essential to validate our biorefinery process for customers, partners and investors" - Thomas Baumgarten, CTO & Co-founder, Reselo AB

How does the support process work?

• Initial counselling meeting with RISE to review the company's innovative solution, how far the company has come from various perspectives and what their next development step looks like
• Based on this, we identify the most appropriate type or mix of funding, such as various public calls, EU funding or equity capital. We also look at whether development capacity, such as expertise or access to test beds, is lacking to enable the company to take its next development step
• This is followed by a number of meetings to ensure that the company fulfils the criteria for a specific call and that the activities in the implementation plan are eligible
• We also connect the company with relevant experts and test beds within RISE, which are needed for further development

Contacts

Welcome to contact us:

Virtuella stängsel bygger på att hålla betesdjur inom ett område utan fysiska avgränsningar. Med hjälp av GPS-halsband som ger ljudsignaler och vid behov svaga elstötar kan djuren styras att beta inom osynliga gränser. Systemet kontrolleras via en app, vilket gör det möjligt att snabbt anpassa betesområden genom att flytta, ändra form eller skapa nya zoner på bara några sekunder. Det kan spara tid, minska kostnader och öka flexibiliteten i betesdriften.

Sedan 2022 har vi på RISE genomfört fältförsök med över 200 nötkreatur och 100 får i samarbete med lantbrukare runt om i Sverige. Vi har fokuserat på att förstå hur tekniken fungerar i praktiken, hur djuren påverkas, hur systemet kan tillämpas under verkliga förhållanden och hur lantbrukares arbetsmiljö påverkas. Flera av våra forskningsprojekt riktar in sig särskilt på att testa olika naturvårdstillämpningar. Vi undersöker bland annat hur betesdjur tillsammans med virtuell stängselteknik kan bidra till att restaurera igenväxta marker, bevara biologisk mångfald och hålla landskap öppna, även i områden där traditionella stängsel är svåra eller omöjliga att använda. 

Syfte och mål

Projektets mål är att förbättra lönsamheten i storskaliga vallbioraffinaderier genom att producera single cell protein (SCP) från restströmmar som återstår efter utvinning av protein för enkelmagade djur. I ett sådant bioraffinaderi produceras grönt protein för enkelmagade djur från den flytande fraktionen efter pressning men potential finns att ta fram produkter med högt förädlingsvärde från presskakan samt andra rester för att förbättra utnyttjandet och föra vallbioraffinaderiet närmare kommersialisering. 

Utmaningar och möjligheter

En utmaning som har lyfts är att det visat sig svårt att få till lönsamheten i dessa typer av anläggningar till följd av att nyttjandegraden blir låg om de endast drivs under sommarhalvåret då färsk vall finns tillgänglig. Tanken är därför att utnyttja anläggningen under vinterhalvåret för SCP-produktion. Ett mål med produktion av vallprotein är att kunna ersätta sojaprotein, men slutsatsen var att för att nå lönsamhet då proteinkoncentratet ersätter GMO-fri konventionell soja krävs såväl drift året runt som lägre pris/råvarukostnad för vallen. Det finns ett starkt intresse för att använda restströmmar som odlingssubstrat för SCP då de förväntas bidra till en cirkulär ekonomi och lägre kostnader. SCP har stor potential för användning som foderråvara, det protein som produceras har i försök visat sig kunna ersätta soja i foder till fisk och enkelmagade djur. Marknadspotentialen är stor då det finns en strävan efter att ersätta både sojaprotein och fiskmjöl i djurfoder med mer hållbara alternativ.

Genomförande

Inom projektet vill vi i labförsök producera SCP från den brunjuice som är en restström från vallproteinproduktion. Dessutom ska presskakan från den proteinutvinningen ensileras och pressas igen för att använda även pressjuicen för att odla SCP på. 

Mål

Projektets mål är att utvärdera SCP produktion från brunjuice från färsk vall och pressvätska från ensilerad fiberfraktion med avseende på utbyte och kvalitet.

To create a more sustainable future for humanity, it is imperative to reduce the ecological footprint of our production systems. One great challenge for agricultural production is balancing the need for weed control with preserving soil health and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In particular it is important to reduce the reliance on herbicides to control weeds, not only because of potential environmental and health concerns, but also because of the increasing prevalence of herbicide resistance coupled with fewer and fewer herbicides being available. For example, a ban on the world’s most common and most broad-spectrum herbicide, glyphosate, is currently being discussed in the EU, which would greatly reduce the effectiveness and flexibility of chemical weed control. At the same time, the use of tillage to control weeds must also be reduced as it can reduce soil health for example by increasing the risk of erosions and nutrient leaching and damage soil aggregates.

Perennial weeds such as creeping thistle, couch grass and perennial sow-thistle are particularly difficult to control without herbicides or intensive tillage.

SUSWECO have innovative proposals for developing cropping systems that can control perennial weeds without herbicides, while preserving soil health and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. SUSWECO will focus on combining subsidiary crops (e.g. cover crops) and a new innovative tool (the Kverneland Group’s root cutter) for sufficient weed control in cereals. The new root cutter makes it possible to combine the use of cover crop and tillage against weeds, with minimal soil disturbance. The cover crops will compete with the weeds, while keeping the soil covered over autumn and winter, reducing nutrient leaching and erosion, and increasing soil carbon sequestration and long-term soil fertility.

SUSWECO will a) test the combination of the new root cutter implement with cover crops. Both its efficacy against weeds, but also to measure the energy needs of the new root cutter implement; b) test alternative methods to herbicides for terminating the cover crop prior to establishing a new crop (otherwise glyphosate and/or ploughing is usually used), c) and develop new image analysis software for site-specific weed control that also work in cover crops (previous methods are primarily adapted to cover crop free cropping situations).

Fertilizers are important!

To produce food, a number of agricultural inputs are required. Fertilizers is one of the most important inputs for crops to grow. In the short term, nitrogen is the most important fertilizer as it needs to be applied to the fields every year to prevent yield losses. Without nitrogen fertilization in the spring, the harvest of our most common crops will decrease by 30-60% already the first year. In the longer run, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur also become important constraints for agricultural productivity.

There is currently no production of mineral fertilizers in Sweden

Today, the supply of mineral fertilizer for Swedish agriculture is based on imports, we lack our own production. Agricultural input commodities are purchased on a global market and just-in-time, which makes crop production very vulnerable.

However, a higher degree of self-sufficiency in fertilizers could be achieved through better utilization of existing nutrient-rich residue flows within the country's borders, and increased cultivation of nitrogen-fixing crops.

Project aim

The aim of this project is to develop knowledge that enable an increased self-sufficiency of fertilizer, in the short term for preparedness reasons but also in the longer term to facilitate a transition to a more circular food system. The project also aims to investigate what role different actors play in the value chain and to increase awareness of preparedness amongst key actors.

The project will examine how we can provide the Swedish population with food in a situation where imports of inputs are cut off. In a real crisis, we can expect to be forced to change our diet. Examples of crisis diets have been established by the Swedish Food Agency. What would such crisis diets require in the form of plant nutrition?

How can we provide agriculture with fertilizers?

Through a mapping of relevant businesses, techniques and actors in Sweden, we will identify promising value chains. We investigate technologies for production of fertilizers from nutrient-rich residual flows and study the practical conditions for quickly switching to a use of these residual flows in the event of a crisis. What facilities and existing infrastructure are there that can be used? What logistics and solutions are required? What new technologies are being developed, and when might they be in place?

We must not compromise with sustainability

It is important that preparedness and sustainability goes hand in hand. We will evaluate the technical solutions, and with system studies calculate the environmental impact of the scenarios that we develop in the project.

The results will form an excellent basis for future research on development towards a resilient and circular food system, can form an important part designing a national fertilizer strategy, and in the construction of the civil defense.

Reference group

The project has a reference group with members from: Swedish Board of Agriculture, YARA, Lantmännen, Ekobalans, Ragn-Sells, Swedish Water & Wastewater Association, IVL Swedish Environmental Institute.

Reading suggestions

Einarsson, R., Henriksson, M., Hoffmann, M., & Cederberg, C. (2022). The nitrogen footprint of Swedish food consumption. Environmental Research Letters, 17(10), 104030. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac9246/meta

Food security portal. Tool: Food and Fertilizer Export Restrictions Tracker. https://www.foodsecurityportal.org

Borch, A., & Kjaernes, U. (2016). Food security and food insecurity in Europe: An analysis of the academic discourse (1975–2013). Appetite, 103, 137-147.

FAO, 2020. The future of food and agriculture – Alternative pathways to 2050. http://www.fao.org/global-perspectives-studies/resources/detail/en/c/1157074/

Agriculture has a great potential to contribute to a fossil-free society by supplying raw materials in forms of different residual/side streams, and untapped potential, e.g., by supplying biomass to biorefineries. Cereal straw accounts for a large part of this potential and can be converted into a variety of products such as chemicals, textiles, and fuels.

The overall ambition of the project Smart storage and supply of straw for biorefinery is to increase the availability of straw by harvesting and using straw with an increased water content. Additionally, to examine the pretreatment effect during aerobic storage that can be obtained at an elevated water content by utilizing the straw's natural microorganisms.

The project includes storage experiments of straw in lab and full-scale to investigate relationships between dry matter losses, water content and temperature. The trials will evaluate pretreatment effects during storage and the hygienic quality for biorefinery applications such as substrate for biogas production. Modeling of available straw at different water levels is carried out, and systems and business arrangements are developed. The project is implemented through collaborations with companies that produce bio-based products and straw contractors.

The project contributes to a more efficient utilization of biomass for different biorefinery concepts by combining storage and pre-treatment. Enabling large-scale investments in biorefineries by improving conditions along the value chain and increasing the use of agricultural biomass. In addition to strengthening Sweden's fossil independence and the domestic production of bio-based products and fuels.

Currently, there is a variety of meat analogues on the market, many of which suffer from undesirable off-flavours and are made of environmentally impacting protein isolates. An all-Sweden-based supply chain for a more sustainable production of legume protein concentrates and the food products thereof is a step towards better sustainability. The main challenge with using legume protein concentrates is reducing their off-flavours without impairing other protein properties.

Therefore, it is the aim of this project to adapt the manufacturing process of protein concentrates to improve the flavour. Simultaneously, a better understanding of the impacts of the various processing steps on the flavour and antinutrients will be gained by applying a multi-disciplinary, applied research approach looking at sensory properties, volatile and non-volatile compositional data, as well as physical and chemical functional property analyses. The results from this research project will increase the applicability of these concentrates in food products on the ever-competing market.