Team:XJTU-China/Entrepreneurship

Our product, D-psicose, has a variety of medical benefits, for example a certain effect in controlling blood sugar. It has been proved that our products can benefit many people and achieve commercial success. We have done a lot of related work to commercialize our project.Customer surveys were made to understand the public's understanding and acceptance of D-psicose.Market research was a way to highlight the superiority of our products through comparison. Through this process, possible costs and profits were also estimated.Another important step is learning the laws governing the conversion of patents and products in the process of commercialization. Besides, product application, market analysis and financial summary are three main aspects of our entrepreneurial work summary.

Research on the feasibility of entering the market and patent applications

Shangwei Lv
Xi’an Jiaotong University

Teacher Lv is an expert in the transformation of knowledge into practise. To ensure that our project products can be patented and have the potential to enter the market, we discussed related issues with him.

After the discussion, we believe that industrial production of D-psicose is feasible. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of work to be done.

Through Mr. Lv, we learned that commercial production of D-psicose needs to focus on the following four aspects.

  • The complete laboratory process is the basis of industrialization.
  • The production technology of naloxone involves property rights issues. Cooperation with the company includes, technology transfer and shareholding, R&D, collaboration with enterprises, joint training of talented people etc.
  • To start a business, the issues that need to be considered in the early stage are: source of funding, plant selection, production equipment, management team, raw materials, market research, etc.
  • Product pricing needs to be considered, for example, raw material costs, equipment costs, plant fees, utilities, depreciation rates, labor costs, production, predicted sales volume, existence of similar products in the market, market growth, advantages and disadvantages of this product, etc.

Based on the survey, we summarized the current beverages on the market and counted the sweeteners used in them.

By investigating the types of sweeteners in different beverages, we found that most soda drinks use a variety of sweeteners. the sweeteners in juice drinks are mainly white sugar and will affect human health. Thus, D-psicose is potentially a healthy sweetener.

Through our investigation we found that most currently used sweeteners are not as sweet as sucrose. They will cause dangerous side effects on the human body. In contrast, D-psicose has a high degree of sweetness, low calorie, and no known side effects. This proves that D-psicose has a highly possible advantage of entering the market.

  • Most of the elderly we surveyed have diabetes.
  • As living conditions improve, people's concern about physical health is increasing. More than half of the elderly say that they usually eat more vegetables and eat less sugary food. They are very focused on the stability of their blood sugar.
  • Most of people respond positively to our project about D-psicose, support research and development, and are willing to buy healthier products,

Estimation of raw material cost of D-psicose production

D-psicose production technology and market research report
Report number: BQ160905-01

Our project is based on a directed evolution of D-psicose synthesis system. Compared with traditional chemical synthesis methods and biosynthesis methods, our method has the advantages of high yield, low energy consumption and low carbon emissions. Therefore, we took this direction as an entry point, expanded our project, participated in the 4th China "Internet +" College Students Entrepreneurship Innovation Contest Finals and the energy conservation and emission reduction competition, achieving good results in the Bronze Award and Excellence Award.

During the competition, our team completed the preparation of the business plan and responded to the experts. This process has enabled us to better understand the problems faced in the entrepreneurial process. It plays a guiding role in the future development of our IGEM projects.

We strongly recommend promoting and transforming our achievements in the laboratory, reduce the production costs of D-psicose and enable it to be industrialized. In the process of achieving commercial success, we are not afraid of difficulties and challenges that may occur in the future. We can still apply for patents for our projects, making it possible to industrialize large quantities of D-psicose. We believe that many people with diabetes and obesity will benefit from our program. Every ordinary person is going to enjoy this high-sweet, low-calorie healthy natural sugar.