Nutri-San, an innovative biotechnology and seaweed technology company, collaborates with the University of Kent’s BioTech Hub and Growing Kent & Medway (GKM) to develop sustainable seaweed-based solutions for animal feed, agriculture, and food industries while supporting coastal communities worldwide, securing research grants, and actively engaging in business mentorship and innovation initiatives.
Nutri-San are an innovative biotechnology and seaweed technology company, introduced to GKM through Locate in Kent.
Their animal feed supplements are produced from sustainably produced seaweed blends (wild and cultivated) with the aims of delivering environmental and health benefits, alongside employment opportunities including in marginalised coastal areas across the globe. Nutri-San work through and with their supply chains to support local and rural communities and enhance producer livelihoods across coastal communities in the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Zanzibar.
Together with the University of Kent’s BioTech Hub, Nutri-San were awarded an Algae UK/ BBSRC grant to conduct research on their seaweed blends and enable them to explore alternative uses for the by-products of their production processes, including as horticultural and agricultural bio-stimulants.
Subsequently they were awarded a Business Innovation Voucher through GKM to investigate a method of reducing the environmental impact of commercial seaweed cultivation using biofilms. The continued collaboration between the business and academia has gone from strength to strength, including a recent collaboration with the Biotech Hub looking at developing new techniques for transforming seaweed extracts into a plant based thickening agent for food and pharmaceuticals.
Nutri-San are an active member of the GKM project, supporting and engaging with many of our events. Dr Michelle Marin Chau, Communications Director at NutriSan, also acts as one of our GKM volunteer business mentors to support our start-ups and businesses looking to scale up, as well as having recently become an honorary member of staff at the University of Kent as one of the Board of Advisers at Kent Business School.