The winning initiative aims to produce bioplastic materials from plant waste, using key technologies in the recycling and materials sector.
The Explorer program is promoted by Banco Santander and Centro Internacional Santander Emprendimiento (CISE) and coordinated by Link by UMA and Malaga TechPark, which aims to help young entrepreneurs to develop their business projects.
The first 2022 edition of the Explorer program “Youth with Solutions” (in Spanish “Jovenes con Soluciones”), which began in January, already has a winner in Malaga. It is the Southern Biorefinery project, an initiative that was born with the idea of generating added value to waste, not only with traditional methods, but with the most advanced technologies in the recycling and materials sector. The aim of the project is to produce materials from waste..
Southern Biorrefinery is an initiative located within the waste recycling and biochemical industrial sectors. This project aims to solve the problem of oil dependence in the industry and, to this end, they propose as a solution the manufacture of a biodegradable, environmentally friendly bioplastic that follows the path of the circular economy.
“The project aims to create an industrial/biochemical company capable of giving waste a useful life beyond the traditional one and creating a bioplastic “à la carte” for a client, with biological PVC being the first bioplastic to be created as the first line of production”, according to Souther Biorrefinery.
“This recognition has meant that our project has reached or is in the process of reaching the prototyping phase. Right now, the project is in the seed phase, about to enter laboratory prototyping,” they explain.
About the Explorer Program “Jóvenes con Soluciones”.
The program, promoted by Banco Santander and Centro Internacional Santander Emprendimiento (CISE) and coordinated by Link by UMA and Malaga TechPark, which aims to help young entrepreneurs to develop their business projects, has been carried out in the Malaga Space center, located in The Green Ray building by PTA – UMA (extension of the Teatinos Campus).
During 12 weeks, from January 24 to April 24 and in a blended learning format, projects have been transformed into solutions that contribute to achieving the SDG 2030. Explorer is designed with a practical approach, based on social learning dynamics, with the aim of becoming an active part of the change through the implementation of economically sustainable projects.
The program has included an extensive training program that has been accompanied by individualized mentoring from experts for each participating project. In addition, a series of practical workshops have been given, among which it is worth mentioning the workshop on “How to apply Canva model ” and the one on “marketing and sales techniques”, given by Daniel Salobreña and Jesús Pedrero respectively.
The business projects that made it all the way to the end in this edition of the program were: To Door, MateBuy, Tu Bookshop, Legal Visor, Fitnaga, Bima App, Chic Club, Southern Biorefinery, Watch Maps, Icarus Nova and Upgrowz.
The winning project will enjoy as a prize, in July 2022, the Explorer Trip, a week of immersion with hundreds of Latin American entrepreneurs in the innovation hub EIA (European Innovation Academy), in the city of Oporto. In addition, along with the rest of the participating projects, they will obtain a certificate of participation and access to a global community of young innovators that will grow, edition after edition, with the incorporation of American and European Explorer Spaces.
All the information about the Explorer Program is on the website: https://explorerbyx.org/