Genopole platforms and infrastructures

Protopia: formulating the future of biotechs

On the subject of novel infrastructures at Genopole, there is not only GATE^X for upscaling but also Protopia for the formulation of finished products. Protopia serves the food & agriculture, cosmetics and health nutrition sectors and was conceived for precision fermentation start-ups seeking to transform a biotech ingredient into a concrete prototype, ready to be tested, evaluated and adapted for its final use.

Whereas GATE^X responds to robustness and upscaling challenges, Protopia intervenes further downstream, when the time has come to translate an innovative ingredient into a marketable product. The name of the platform is a reference to the protopia concept developed by the author Kevin Kelly. He used protopia to describe a realistic and pragmatic future of day-to-day, progressive improvement. A description particularly pertinent to the cycles of innovation in biotechnologies.

Protopia intervenes downstream of GATE^X, when the time comes to translate an innovative ingredient into a marketable product.

Start-ups can access Protopia without initial investments for occasional or strategic periods of work. There, they benefit from:

Platforms for analytics and formulation to evaluate textures, flavors, odors, efficacy, etc.
BSL-2 microbiology and culturing labs to ensure trial hygiene and conformity.
A cooking area, to test applications in real-world professional conditions.

This platform, unprecedented in France, lets start-ups accelerate the move from fermentation to commercialization, while reducing the costs and delays associated with outsourcing.

Protopia has received €2 million in funding, including €1.3 million from the Île-de-France Region, €217,000 from FNADT (regional prefecture), €100,000 from Revitalization Nokia funds and €383,000 from in-house funding. That support testifies to a clear ambition: strengthen the competitiveness of French biotechs by offering them a continuum of accompaniment from proof of concept to marketing.

With the Protopia-GATEX combo, Genopole now proposes an agile offer for industrialization. The integrated and segment-targeted approach will give impetus to the emergence of a sovereign biomanufacturing sector capable of fusing scientific excellence, industrial agility and impactful sustainability.

Protopia proposes five 10-m² floorspaces for formulation work, all equipped to test, adjust and prefigure finalized products.

10-m² formulation floorspaces.

€2

million funding received for Protopia.