From the BESTMEDGRAPE experience the Fertiwaste team was born, putting together the know-how of Michela and Fabiano fron Italy: she studied Food Technology and has some experience in the food and the agricultural sector while he is a researcher in biotechnology and environmental engineering.

Their idea is based on helping agro-industrial companies to convert the biowaste they produce into the organic fertilizer they might need. As an example, wineries produce a huge amount of grape marc every year, they can take those biowaste and convert them into an innovative controlled-release fertilizer thereby saving thousands of euros for the next harvest!

The idea was inspired by some research about the conversion of biowaste into high-value products. This is a great and very actual research topic, and the University of Cagliari gain a lot of experience in this topic.

According to their opinion, "Our idea brings the innovation of biotechnology into the agroindustrial sector. Indeed, our innovative bioprocess can produce a controlled-release fertilizer, which is more efficient compared to traditional and expensive fertilizers. It allows us to save resources and prevent pollution.

And last but not least, our fertilizer is also organic! ".

When we asked them about the reasons of the possible success, they told us: "We are experiencing a particular moment in the field of agro-industry. The price of fertilizers is raising, and environmental legislation is becoming more stringent regarding pollution and the use of chemical substances. Companies will have to deal with this, and they need solutions. Moving towards a circular bioeconomy can be the solution. In this regard, also the recent European plan to strengthen organic farming aims to develop a new generation of sustainable fertilizer. Our product perfectly fits with those constraints.".

And finally, a suggestion for potential entrepreneurs: "While stability and security can be important, we also believe that it is important to follow your passions and try new things. For us, an entrepreneurship program such as BESTMEDGRAPE provides the opportunity to do both – to pursue something that we are truly passionate about, (i.e. environmental biotechnology) and make scientific research more impactful in our territory (i.e. Sardinia). To other young entrepreneurs, we would like to point out the fact that you don’t know what can happen outside your comfort zone, you do not have an excuse to make the first step."

Good luck Fertiwaste team!