Research Council of Norway
About SFI-IB
Background
In 2020, a Centre for Research-based Innovation (SFI) within Industrial Biotechnology was awarded funding from the Research Council of Norway.
Coordinated by SINTEF Biotechnology and Nanomedicine in Trondheim, the centre has four research partners (SINTEF, NTNU, NMBU, NORCE) and 14 business partners. Among the business partners are companies such as Norilia, Borregaard and TINE. Håvard Sletta is the project manager for the SFI.
Two of the SFI’s seven sub projects are led by NMBU, by Vincent Eijsink and Svein Horn, who are also members of the centre's management team.
NMBU's budget is around 4 MNOK per year, of which around 40 % is own financing.
Read more at SFI-IB's website, see the presentation video below, or follow the centre on LinkedIn.
Aims
SFI-IB will develop biotechnological solutions that benefit existing and new Norwegian industry and that will provide a basis for green industrial development. Fermentation, enzymes, automation and life cycle analysis are some key ones. NMBU participates in the SFI with three research groups:
- PEP, Faculty of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science (KBM)
- BioRef, Faculty of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science (KBM)
- BioSpec, Faculty of Science and Technology (REALTEK).
NMBU's contribution is concentrated around the valorization of several types of biomass, through fermentation and/or enzyme technology. We work with the development of bioprocesses and with finding and developing useful enzymes that can be used in these processes. NMBU's biorefinery is important for our contribution.
Specific issues that we are working on today include:
- Can we develop enzymes to utilize the chitin found in, among other things, shrimp shells?
- Can we convert polysaccharides, so-called hemicelluloses, into small bioactive fragments ("prebiotics") that promote health for animals or humans?
- Can we develop fermentation processes to convert feathers into useful products?
- Can we develop new fungi-based technology for the efficient production of large quantities of enzymes that the business partners need?
- Can we find and develop new enzymes that solve specific problems faced by our business partners?
More about the SFI
NMBU's work in the SFI builds on KBM's pioneering contribution to another SFI, Foods of Norway, where KBM has developed enzyme and fermentation technology that now enables the use of tree biomass in salmon feed. Going forward, we will work to a greater extent to use this technology also to develop new food products.