New food products from Wayamba and Sabaragamuwa universities commercialised through AHEAD project
View(s):The Universities of Wayamba and Sabaragamuwa have partnered with the commercial sector to promote their unique food products via the AHEAD (Accelerating Higher Education Expansion and Development) programme’s University Business Linkage structure. Under the UBL system, universities have to follow a six-step procedure to release their innovations for public use to the market.
When a product is developed by a team it will be formally submitted to the UBL through an Invention Disclosure Form. The product will then be subject to an evaluation of the Technology Readiness level where a prototype will usually be developed.
An official from the UBL will also research similar products across the world at this stage to discuss improvements and the authenticity of the product. Databases containing these patents are restricted for information protection.
Once an evaluation is complete, if the product is the first of its kind, the UBL will take measures to protect it with Intellectual Property instruments in Sri Lanka and abroad. The UBL will then look for commercial partners for the product in the relevant industries in order for the team to pitch its idea to. Once such a company or industry is selected the organisation selected will then be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement before the team is allowed to present their idea, to ensure maximum protection of the invention.
A Material Transfer Agreement will also be signed where companies request samples for further research before finalizing an agreement. Once the process is complete, a licensing agreement is signed and the partnership is formed.
The Wayamba University launched its collection of foods which included herbal yogurt, full cream yogurt, mushroom sausage, spicy coconut ice cream, mung bean nugget, basil seed beverages, and spice mixtures. Via the UBLs, innovative students have commercialised these tried and tested products with companies like Stella Ritz, Refreshing Ayurvedic Wellness, Avenida, New Way Agriculture, Skybirds International, and Mellow Food Products. Approximately two thousand spice packets were produced weekly along with ten thousand units of full cream yogurt each week.
The Research Innovation Commercialisation (RIC) branch of the AHEAD project connects researchers at the university level with corporate partners for their products. Universities form agreements for one time payments and royalty payments when a product from their portfolio is bought and released to the market by a private company.
The RIC team at Sabaragamuwa University had created several herbal formulations with anti-diabetic properties. According to a project report submitted by the university, diabetes affects ten percent of the Sri Lankan population. Introducing functional foods rich in bioactive compounds with anti-diabetic properties to the diet was one of the approaches that can be used to control diabetes.
“Diabe tea” was launched on September 4 2020 and introduced to the consumer market through Food and Nature (Pvt.) The product was marketed under the brand name Fadna. Two different formulas that were developed for antidiabetic herbal tea had been accepted by Fadna for commercialisation. The team had also developed a low glycemic instant soup mix that is now ready for marketing. The team was also in the process of developing a medicinal fruit wine.
(Tharushi Weerasinghe)