Plant-based alternative to yoghurt wins ECOTROPHELIA Portugal

A fermented preparation based on organic chickpeas and Alcobaça apple, conceived as a plant-based alternative to yoghurt, was the winning product of the 10th edition of the ECOTROPHELIA Portugal Award. In addition to the 1st Prize, worth 3,000 euros, the winning team will take part in the ECOTROPHELIA Europe competition, which will be held during SIAL, on 18 and 19 October, in Paris.

This tenth edition of the initiative, organised by PortugalFoods, saw 21 projects and 80 university students from different regions and higher education institutions across the country take part. Of these, eight finalist products were selected. The overall winner, GUBICO, was developed by a team of four students from the Instituto Superior de Agronomia — Inês Traquina, Rita Maia, Maria Inês Vieira and Aster Dsouza — and stood out for the product's nutritional profile and the team's entrepreneurial potential.

As a partner of this edition of the ECOTROPHELIA Award, UPTEC – Science and Technology Park of the University of Porto awarded the GUBICO project the Rise Up distinction, in recognition of the team's entrepreneurial potential and the product's capacity to reach the market. The distinction will secure the project team four months of incubation and participation in UPTEC's acceleration programme, the School of Startups, where they will benefit from mentoring, specialised training, and access to the community and events.

In addition to the 1st Prize, the GUBICO project won the Nutri Up Distinction, awarded by the Associação Portuguesa de Nutrição (APN) in recognition of the product's nutritional profile. The project was also honoured with the Strategy Up, Design Up and Communication Up awards, granted respectively by Market Access, Tekzenit and Invicta Toastmasters, which secure the team specialist support in the areas of business plan development, design, and communication and product presentation.

2nd place went to another team from the Instituto Superior de Agronomia with the project ÉPÊXE, a range of sausages made from hake, salmon and cuttlefish that combines the tradition of Portuguese smoked meats with sustainable innovation, awarded a prize of 2,000 euros. 3rd place was won by Molh'Tata, a vegan sauce based on sweet potato and yeast protein extract, also developed by students from the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, which took home a prize of 1,000 euros. The project Mood Flow, a still drink based on hibiscus and fruit, was also awarded the Start-up Porto mentoring programme, in recognition of the team's entrepreneurial spirit.

All finalist teams will also have access to a programme developed by EIT Food, the leading European innovation community in the food sector, driven by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), which brings together and energises a broad ecosystem of companies, start-ups, research centres and universities at an international level.

About the ECOTROPHELIA Portugal Award

The ECOTROPHELIA Portugal Award, organised by PortugalFoods since 2017, aims to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and competitiveness in the agri-food sector, bringing together and challenging students, lecturers, researchers and professionals in the sector to reflect on the eco-innovative products of the future.

Year after year, this initiative invites university students from across the country to present the foods of the future, and aims to encourage youth entrepreneurship in the agri-food sector.