Among 40 European SMEs, only 2 were nominated for the Most Innovative Industrial Biotech SME. Kaffe Bueno received the Runner’s Up Award, while Lactips received the 1st prize.
This Monday 3rd of October 2018, EuropaBio [European Association of BioIndustries] hosted this year’s BioTech SME Awards - “a unique annual initiative recognising biotech innovation and its contribution to society in Europe”.
In this year’s award, 40 SMEs competed within three categories; Health Biotech, Industrial Biotech and Agricultural Biotech. At the end, only 7 finalists were chosen divided into the categories mentioned.
Among the 7 finalists, only two were competing in the Industrial Biotech category; Kaffe Bueno and Lactips. The winner was Lactips, however Kaffe Bueno received the Runner-Up Award, which we are thankful being recognised as one of the two most innovative industrial biotech SMEs in Europe.
During a dinner ceremony, the awards were hosted by MEP Paul Rübig, where SMEs representatives took part of a pitching session across the three different categories. Kaffe Bueno was represented by one of its founders, Juan Medina.
The companies’ innovations were judged by:
Peter Heinrich - MD and Partner at Life Science Management GmbH and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Injex Pharma AG.
Prof. Andrew Porter - Professor of Medical Biotechnology, University of Aberdeen, Scotland and Director of the Scottish Biologics Facility.
MEP Paul Rübig - Austrian Member of the European Parliament since 1996, belonging to the European People’s Party (EPP).
Joanna Dupont-Inglis - Secretary General of EuropaBio, the European Associationof BioIndustries.
Comment by Juan Medina: “EuropaBio runner up prize means a lot to us, since it recognises our efforts and advancements during the last year. Plus, demonstrates the need and importance of solutions like ours that not only use biotech to address society's health & wellbeing but also contributes to Global Sustainable Development Goals by reducing carbon emissions and accelerating the transition to a biobased society. Meanwhile not forgetting about the vulnerable coffee farmers' back in Colombia."
For more information about the jury, click here.
List of finalists, click here.
