Summary
- Profile Type
- Technology offer
- POD Reference
- TOGB20250102005
- Term of Validity
- 2 January 2025 - 2 January 2026
- Company's Country
- United Kingdom
- Type of partnership
- Commercial agreement with technical assistance
- Targeted Countries
- All countries
Contact the EEN partner nearest to you for more information.
Find my local partner
General information
- Short Summary
- A UK micro business has isolated and verified compounds from virgin olive oil byproducts. These inhibit metabolic resistance in insects meaning that insecticides can be applied in much lower quantities and ‘lost’ insecticides can be re-activated. A license is being offered to agrichemicals businesses, under a commercial agreement with technical assistance.
- Full Description
-
Insecticide resistance is a problem almost as old as insecticides. Due to genetic changes (more rarely, through behaviour) insects adapt to metabolise or get rid of insecticides faster. There are measures growers can take for integrated pest management but the pressure persists on agrichemicals companies to keep inventing new ones.
A UK micro-SME has developed and patented the use of unsaturated fatty-acids as inhibitors of those enzymes that confer metabolic resistance in a broad range of insect pests. The patent has been exemplified using an extract from the production of virgin olive oil.
The synergist has been independently verified as a potent inhibitor of resistance-associated P450 enzymes using recombinant proteins.
The synergist has been tested in laboratory bioassays against known resistant pests and shown to confer approx. 7-fold enhancement of a range of insecticides. It has also been tested in semi-field conditions and shown to ‘reactivate’ an insecticide active ‘lost’ to resistance.
The recipes and production process are being offered to agrichemicals producers under commercial agreements with technical assistance. The partner will acquire a license from the UK company whilst the latter assists technically to validate the recipe and process. - Advantages and Innovations
-
In this time of environmental awareness and requirement for ‘greener’ chemistries, this natural synergist would enable a reduction in insecticidal dose being applied to crops without loss of efficacy.
Although synergists are commonplace in household insecticidal sprays their application has been underused or overlooked in agricultural settings. - Stage of Development
- Available for demonstration
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Goal 2: Zero Hunger
- IPR status
- IPR granted
- IPR notes
- The company has applied for a number of patents, older ones of which have gained protection in national phases.
Partner Sought
- Expected Role of a Partner
-
Type of partner sought: industry
Specific area of partner sought:
- Formulation and manufacturing of agricultural products;
- Distribution and sales of crop protection products to farmers;
- Field testing and trials of new crop protection technologies.
Role of partner sought:
- Co-development of the technology to optimise efficacy, stability, and formulation for commercial use;
- Conducting field trials to demonstrate the product's performance under various environmental conditions and cropping systems;
- Navigating the regulatory landscape to obtain necessary approvals for commercial use;
- Manufacturing the product at scale to meet market demand;
- Leveraging existing distribution networks and customer relationships to promote and sell the product to farmers. - Type and Size of Partner
- SME 50 - 249
- SME 11-49
- Big company
- Type of partnership
- Commercial agreement with technical assistance
Dissemination
- Technology keywords
- 07001003 - Biocontrol
- 07001007 - Precision agriculture
- 07001004 - Crop Production
- 07001006 - Pesticides
- 07001005 - Horticulture
- Market keywords
- 09005 - Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, Animal Husbandry & Related Products
- Targeted countries
- All countries