These days, if you enter any supermarket, you will be faced with a series of probiotic products: from probiotic dairy products, which include normal probiotic yogurt and soft cheeses, to kefir with its thick and creamy texture that also has a spicy taste. This range is also larger: probiotic cosmetic products, pickled cucumbers that are pickled with sea salt and water, miso soup, which is a traditional Japanese seasoning, kimchi, which is Korean pickled cabbage and you’ve probably heard of it, dark chocolate and ….. It is interesting to know that the food industry is even moving towards probiotic puffs and biscuits.
Probiotics are 400 types of bacteria that reduce the growth of harmful bacteria and help improve the health of the body’s digestive system. By producing antibiotics, they fight pathogenic bacteria and by producing vitamins needed by the body, they try to create a balance between good and bad bacteria.
In fact, microbes are used as the cheapest, most efficient and fastest production forces in various fields such as pharmaceuticals, vaccine production, mining industry, as well as the production of poultry and aquatic animal feed supplements, and the development of their use in various industries is one of the accelerator goals of Lactovision. is trying to grow this industry by identifying and supporting projects in this field; Therefore, we sat down to talk with this specialized accelerator in the field of food biotechnology.
What is the story of Lactovision accelerator formation?
The idea of forming an accelerator Lactovision It was formed in our minds since the beginning of 2016. At that time, I was a master’s student in microbial biotechnology and one of the students of Mrs. Dr. Maryam Tajabadi Ebrahimi, the head of the Probiotics and Extra-Beneficial Foods Association and the CEO of Tech Gene Bio Science Foundation.
Mrs. Dr. informed me that Dr. Sattari – Vice President of Science and Technology – has suggested to them that in view of their leadership role in the field of probiotics and food industry, they should form an accelerator in this field as well. Due to my interest in the startup ecosystem (of course, I was working in the IT field at that time), we started efforts to launch Lactovision.
It took almost 6 months to carry out the initial measures and we managed to hold the first event and public announcement of the start of Lactovision’s accelerator activity in May 2017 at the same time as the International Symposium of the Probiotic and Extra-Beneficial Foods Association.
Why did you work in the field of food biotechnology?
The food industry is one of the largest industries in the country, both in terms of material production volume and financial turnover. The growth of this industry is strictly through imports, and in other words, all the basic needs of the country are completely dependent on imports. As a result, in recent years, with the intensification of cruel sanctions and the rise in currency prices, many problems have arisen in this area.
Therefore, our goal of working in this field is to use the knowledge and expertise of domestic experts in order to meet the needs and also to create new products and technologies.
Is there a startup culture in life sciences in Iran?
When the accelerator started its activity, there was almost no ecosystem in this area, but now, thank God, with the support of the vice president of science and technology, the ecosystem has been formed, but it is still very nascent and has the potential to grow much more. .
On the other hand, there is the thought that every scientific result or scientific action that has taken place has the ability to be industrialized, while unfortunately it is not considered that what happens on an industrial scale is the same as what is done in the laboratory. There is a huge difference.
How do you define acceleration in life sciences?
The acceleration process in biological sciences has many differences with the acceleration process in other fields, especially the IT field, which is better known. The acceleration process in Lactovision is called a process that takes the knowledge of the process or product from the prototype sample (TRL3 or TRL4) to the semi-industrial sample level and obtaining the relevant licenses (TRL8).
What are Lactovision’s criteria for accepting a business?
We need to know if the team that came up with an idea has expertise in this field. Our second criterion is the history of doing the work as well as the history of payment for that idea, both inside and outside the country. The next criterion is the feasibility of the project from a scientific point of view.
The most basic criterion is whether it is economical to carry out the idea or, more clearly, whether the product that is produced is economical or not?
Why teams should choose Lactovision Accelerator?
Lactovision accelerator is one of the fastest available accelerators in the field of microbial biotechnology and probiotics. It can even be said that we are the first accelerator to enter the food industry and probiotics industry.
We tried to create an infrastructure by operating in the form of a startup studio, and by creating laboratory and mentorship technical infrastructures, we created a network where successful startups and projects can easily go through their growth stages.
Has an idea been designed in Lactovision Bank?
The main category of our activity is working as a startup studio where we give ideas to teams, the source of this idea bank are experts and activists who work in the academic field.
How many teams have you attracted so far and what is their field of activity?
In the cycles that we have held, so far, about 50 teams have applied, and out of these 50, 26 teams have been recruited in the first and second cycles, and in the third cycle, the teams have not yet been evaluated and recruited.
Among the first cycle teams, six teams have completed the acceleration process and the second cycle teams are still in the pre-acceleration stage.
How long can teams stay in your accelerator?
The acceleration cycle in the Lactovision accelerator is two years, out of these two years, we have considered 6-8 months for pre-acceleration, but in the cycles we have held so far, sometimes the duration of the period has increased. Therefore, we decided to consider a pre-acceleration section for the teams, who prepare their information during this period of time so that they can participate in the accelerator. As a result, this two-year period is not very binding and is defined according to the needs of the plan.
How do you evaluate Lactovision mentorship?
Lactovision accelerator mentorship is one of the strongest mentorships in its field of activity. We tried to provide two wings for the teams; There is a technical, scientific and academic wing that helps the teams to solve any shortcomings and problems they have in the scientific field, and the other wing that we have provided is the discussion of market assessment, market research, marketing guidelines, preparation of FS and EP and items from this item.
We have provided these two possibilities so that the projects that grow and mature in our accelerator, both from the scientific point of view and from the commercial and market point of view, are fully supported and flawless.
Have you developed a plan for post-acceleration of startups?
Acceleration of Lactovision does not find an exit during the post-acceleration period of the projects with which it has cooperated. In other words, when we find an investment and hand over the project, we try to continue discussing technical mentoring and market mentoring. It is not the case that the accelerator will no longer support the teams after the acceleration period, but we are still with the teams that started their work with us.
What was your output?
Due to the fact that the Lactovision accelerator has been operating for three and a half years and our cycles are two years old, only our first cycle has exited and all 6 teams have successfully exited.
From the output of the first cycle, we had a company that produces aquatic vaccines and another company produced dairy starters, whose products were unveiled in April 1400 with the online presence of the president. Among the cosmetic products, the first product has entered the market, and our pharmaceutical products, “Biozen” and “Biodopa”, are two medicinal supplements that are among the first outputs of our accelerator cycle.
What problems have you encountered in the acceleration process?
As you wish, it is difficult and we have overcome many obstacles. But if I mention their indicators: First is the lack of knowledge and sufficient knowledge of the technological teams with the industrial process and industrial literature. Second, the teams are not aware of the fact that when the team is being formed, all angles and aspects of the work must be considered; In a team, we need to have experts in specialized areas, which is unfortunately one of the problems.
Another problem is that teams are too hasty and don’t know that they have to be patient to get the desired result.
What is the regulatory situation in your field of activity?
Our regulator is the Food and Drug Organization as well as the Veterinary Organization, and the processes are extremely slow and tedious and also take a lot of time, which has created many problems for us with the addition of the Corona pandemic.
The time taken by the plans causes the cost of the plan to increase and the owners of the idea are no longer willing to follow up the work. Also, the regulatory laws are weak and despite the progress of science, they do not want to update it and they still want to regulate new plans with the old laws.
One of the biggest problems in the regulatory field is that in the first step, it asks you if your product has a similar product, and if it does, the process is much faster.
To put it more simply, our regulatory laws are formulated in a way that kills any innovation and initiative; If you have an innovative activity, you must go through the process of obtaining a license for at least one year, and this means the death of the idea; It means killing any innovation! This is a case that, in my opinion, should be raised at the macro level and we should have good follow-ups to be able to fix it.
How did the corona pandemic affect your process?
The corona pandemic was one of the opportunities that had both positive and negative points for us. We can evaluate the negative points in this way that since the Lactovision accelerator works in the field of biotechnology, it requires activity in the laboratory and the teams must be present in the laboratory. The corona restrictions created this problem for us that we had to drastically reduce the number of teams working at the same time. On the other hand, we had to reduce a lot of commuting, and along with that, the slowness of relations in government offices and regulatory complexes caused a lot of work to fall behind, but at the same time, it helped to create awareness and increase people’s awareness of The field of biotechnology helped and made us able to move things faster.
Have you received government support in setting up Lactovision?
In launching Lactovision Accelerator, we received good support from the Vice President for Science and Technology and Dr. Sorena Sattari, and we were able to take good actions with the support of the funds of the Presidential Vice President for Science and Technology and the Biotechnology Development Headquarters. And we hope that despite the change of government, these supports will remain in force.
How do you evaluate the activities of the biotechnology development headquarters?
Biotechnology Development Headquarters, as an organization that facilitates relations in this field, has been very helpful for us. We tried to advance many of our projects with the help of friends, and one of the biggest supports that the headquarters gave us and we request that it remain strong, is facilitating our relations within government organizations and departments under the government and solving problems. It is relevant.
How do you see the status of biological science accelerators in Iran?
The status of biological science accelerators in Iran is good. We have several accelerators that together tried to cover different dimensions of biotechnology fields, among them we can mention “Persis Gene” which is one of the oldest accelerators in this field and “Mad” accelerator and… . It has been tried to divide the work between us and we have an unwritten agreement not to interfere in each other’s fields. Therefore, the situation is good and we have a dynamic ecosystem.
However, we hope that with the support of friends, these measures will be formed as much as possible.
What vision have you drawn for the future of Lactovision?
We hope that in the next 5 years, we will have nearly 100 successful exits of both the company and the product. Also, we can integrate the food industry, microbial biotechnology and probiotics in the society, and the scientific activists of this field will believe that they can be entrepreneurs in their field of activity and earn money from their science.
Do you have any advice for students who are interested in bio-entrepreneurship?
My advice to students and people who are studying in the field of biotechnology is that if they are interested in becoming entrepreneurs in their field of study and turning their knowledge into wealth, the first step is to strengthen themselves scientifically and have have high scientific potential.
In the second step, improve their skills; These skills include social skills, technical skills, academic skills, laboratory and industrial skills. In the third step, communicate with related industries as much as possible; Now, what are the industries that we have in Iran and what are the industries that are active in this field but have not entered Iran yet.
There is a big difference between what we read in academic books and what happens in industry. It is true that the industry is based on the same science as we read, but its literature has differences.
The last piece of advice is to be patient, be patient and be patient.
I hope that all the students of this field will be successful and will be able to earn a good and stable income from what they have studied.
