Outstanding research delivers vital impact through innovation.
Accelerating innovation requires pioneering approaches.
A collaborative initiative to accelerate agri-tech innovations from university science, Ceres Agri-Tech is helping to underpin food security, reduce environmental impacts and increase the sustainability of agriculture. All projects in the strong pipeline are addressing UN Sustainability Development Goals. Since its inception, Ceres Agri-Tech has created four spinouts, leveraged over £6.07 million and trained more than 380 academics, helping the continued pipeline and positive impact of agri-tech research innovations.
“Providing expert guidance and support to our academic colleagues is our core strength.”
Dr Declan Weldon, Head of Technology Development & Licensing
The Technology Investment Fund (TIF) is a £10 million commitment over five years that bridges the gap from early-stage research to market, securing higher-value licensing deals more quickly. By de-risking technologies, TIF accelerates commercial endpoints and maximises impact. In the first year, we have committed over £2 million investment across 20 projects in a portfolio including therapeutics, medical devices, artificial intelligence (AI), sustainability solutions and industrial processes – such as Protonera.
“Our team works with brilliant research from Life Sciences, Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and Physical Sciences to identify, protect and promote new innovations that will change our world for the better.”
Protonera
Protonera is addressing the issue of plastic waste – over 400 million tonnes of which are generated annually – with a novel chemoenzymatic photoreforming process.
Co-founded by Dr Jack Chengzhi Guo, Professor Erwin Reisner, Professor Florian Hollfelder and Dr Subhajit Bhattacharjee, Protonera is revolutionising waste management by converting plastic waste into hydrogen, providing a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels by enabling re-processing and reducing landfill waste.
Protonera has been working with Cambridge Enterprise since the beginning in 2022, and in addition to receiving TIF investment, it has filed initial patent applications and completed the Founders at the University of Cambridge START 1.0 accelerator programme.
Founders:
- Dr Jack Chengzhi Guo, Co-founder and CEO; Department of Biochemistry
- Professor Erwin Reisner, Co-founder and CSO; Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry
- Professor Florian Hollfelder, Co-founder and Technology Advisor; Department of Biochemistry
- Dr Subhajit Bhattacharjee, Co-founder and former PhD student of Professor Reisner; Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry.
Image credits: David Johnson, Unsplash
