About the Client:
The Client was a leading producer of dairy farming machinery.
Modification of the contact surfaces of a company’s milking equipment can benefit quality, safety, productivity, and innovation. Additionally, sanitization methods such as enzymatic cleaners, bacteriophages, and other materials can decrease water and energy consumption as well as reducing downtime for cleaning equipment.
Challenge:
The Client was concerned with biofilm formation prevention and cleanability in their processing equipment. For this engagement, PreScouter’s aim was to identify surface modification technologies, sanitization methods, and materials that could be applied to milking equipment.
Approach:
PreScouter employed a stage-gated approach, beginning with the solutions that were closest to market before exploring earlier-stage developments at academic institutions. The team identified and profiled over 30 technologies meeting the Client’s technical criteria from hundreds of search results. The PreScouter outreach team was then deployed to interview the top 5 groups identified from the landscaping effort to confirm the technical capabilities of potential solutions, identify new leads and upcoming developments in the pipeline, and provide deeper-level insights for the Client.
Outcome:
PreScouter recommended 2 key technologies to the Client, one of which was a new technology in development by a startup that had not yet been publicly announced. An additional 10 noteworthy startups and academic projects were highlighted for potential further pursuit by the Client, if necessary.
Impact of PreScouter’s Work:
The Client was able to begin procuring samples from the recommended and noteworthy targets provided by PreScouter.
A downloadable version of this case study is available here.
