“By ensuring a meaningful exploitation strategy for the double solution (…) we are thriving to pave the way to overcome both societal and environmental problems concerning plastic drawbacks.”

Pablo Ariño speaks in this interview about the importance of conducting an exploitation strategy within the UPLIFT project.

What does the project exploitation consist of and why is it so important for the UPLIFT project?

The exploitation activities of UPLIFT project align with the H2020 EC-funded project’s goal of enhancing the impact of the project results by developing and creating actions and strategies towards the smooth transition to the market uptake of those technologies once the different technical innovations have been successfully validated.

Regarding the importance of exploitation within the UPLIFT project, I am pleased to share that we are committed to tackling one of the key concerns in modern society, which is plastic pollution. By ensuring a meaningful exploitation strategy for the double solution that the project is addressing (biochemical recycling and eco-designed plastic packaging) we are thriving to pave the way for the future adoption of these technologies in the European market landscape and therefore using them to overcome both societal and environmental problems concerning the plastic drawbacks.

What are the main challenges and opportunities of this task?

Due to the current low Technological Readiness Level (TRL) of the promising solutions that are being developed during the project, it is still challenging to specifically define the best market uptake strategy to guarantee the successful adoption of the food and drink plastic packaging industry. Furthermore, it is an iterative journey, and the technology transfer from the lab to the industry partners might shape the final strategy to be adopted.

On the other hand, there are a lot of opportunities that make the exploitation activities undoubtedly valuable for the project’s success, such as the opportunity to contribute significantly to reducing plastic pollution and advancing the European circular economy. Finally, it is worthwhile also to highlight the outstanding commitment of the consortium partners in contributing to co-creating these strategies and providing valuable insights to foster the potential market opportunity, enabling our role to conduct the exploitation activities to safeguard and maximise the potential impact of UPLIFT´s outcomes.