aboutus.html

NATISS (formerly Agro-food Valley) is a R&D center providing both agro-companies and chemical companies with services such as contract R&D projects, analytics and consulting. Our activities are focussed on white biotech, development of bioplastics and the study of biodegradation (3B).

Our center was created in 2002 thanks to European subsidies (Structural Funds Objective 1) and the support of the Walloon Region in Belgium. There was indeed a need in the Walloon Region for a center whose mission would be to conduct R&D on non-food valorization of bio-based resources (also called agro-resources, biomass, ...) into products that could stand as substitutes to current oil-based products. The center was first called Agro-food Valley and changed name into NATISS (the acronym stands for 'Nature for Innovative and Sustainable Solutions') in mid-2005.

NATISS takes advantage of the many skills of its scientific staff in areas such as polymer synthesis and macromolecular engineering, organic chemistry, polymer blending and additivation, rheology and plastics processing, microbiology, biotechnology processes, biocatalysis, fermentation science, biodegradation testing and ecotoxicity, ...

NATISS is thus home to a diversity of scientists such as organic chemists, polymer scientists, process engineers and microbiologists whose main focus is to bring new insight into the non-food valorization of bio-based resources.

Whether you want to develop a new grade of bioplastic, take advantage of white biotechnology (enzymation, fermentation) or assess the biodegradation and ecotoxicity of your product, you will find all the necessary technologies at our place.

NATISS team consists of 16 people among which 10 PhD / engineer, 4 technical assistants, 1 commercial engineer and 1 executive secretary.

Management of the center is carried out by Fabrice Stassin (MBA, PhD) with the kind assistance of Luc Liénard (PhD in charge of R&D management) and Marylise Ledouble (commercial engineer in charge of administrative and financial matters).

In order to better perform and offer our clients the best services, our R&D team is structured as a matrix consisting of 'competence groups' and 'project groups' enabling them to work as a network sharing knowledge and ideas.

NATISS offers services in its 3 domains of activity (3B), i.e. white biotech, bioplastics development and biodegradation / ecotoxicity.

Our services range from contract R&D projects (your ideas or our ideas proposed to your company for execution) to analytics (polymer characterization and mostly our speciality : polymer ageing, polymer and chemicals biodegradation as well as environmental impact) and consulting (R&D management, technology watch, corporate conferences, ...). We can also offer training services for your staff in subjects such as biocatalysis, bioplastics, biodegradation, polymer chemistry, ... and we will soon leverage our macromolecular engineering and white biotech skills into a service of bioplastics custom synthesis.

At the present time, we have worked for large companies (agro-food companies, petrochemical companies and non-integrated chemical companies) but we have also offered our services to smaller-sized enterprises (enterprises located in the Walloon Region can benefit from financial help for their R&D efforts). Whether your company is located in Belgium or abroad makes no difference to us and we will offer the best quality services wherever you may be situated.

As far as intellectual property is concerned, all information and results are for sure owned by the client and we committ ourselves to a strict confidentiality policy because we know the value and impact of innovation.

Mid-2005, NATISS was awarded the ISO 9001 certificate approval by the Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance company (LRQA) covering the whole spectrum of its services in the 3B domain.

To offer your company the best services, NATISS benefits from its own technological facilities (a 4 million euro equipment platform covering white biotech, preparation / processing and characterization of plastics as well as biodegradation and ecotoxicity) and relies upon strong partnerships with universities for specialized analytical services.

You will soon find a picture gallery of our facilities as well as a price list for all analytical services available to clients of NATISS. In the meantime, please contact us for any request of information as to our available equipment and commercial analytical services.