Innovation voucher helps Alternative Plants speed up development of new raw materials for cosmetics

Latvian biotechnology company Alternative Plants is developing and manufacturing active ingredients for the cosmetics industry by cultivating plant cells and microalgae in laboratory conditions. The company’s clients include raw material distributors and cosmetics manufacturers operating in various foreign markets; in Latvia, MADARA Cosmetics also uses the raw materials produced by the company in its products. The share of the domestic market and exports in the company’s operations is currently roughly equal, but it sees future growth opportunities primarily in exports.   

To develop new multifunctional raw materials for cosmetics, Alternative Plants utilised support from the innovation voucher programme of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA). The project was carried out in collaboration with Riga Stradiņš University, whose specialists conducted extensive analyses of the chemical composition of the prototypes developed by the company, as well as dermatological safety and efficacy studies. Collaboration with the scientific institution enabled the company to use specialised equipment, the maintenance of which would have been prohibitively expensive for the company to manage on its own.  

“Without the innovation voucher, we would most likely have carried out this research ourselves, but much more gradually and slowly. The support enabled us to achieve significantly more within a single project, accelerate the development of new raw materials and obtain the data required both for product improvement and for negotiations with distributors and cosmetics manufacturers,” says Anna Ramata-Stunda, co-founder of Alternative Plants. 

The company also views the practical aspects of its collaboration with LIAA positively. Submitting applications and reports via the liaa.business.gov.lv platform was straightforward, whilst any unclear issues could be discussed promptly with LIAA staff. This was particularly important, as the project results included extensive and specific scientific data. 

“In my view, the process has become much more convenient and personable. If any questions arose regarding the submitted materials, we were able to simply discuss them, rather than dealing with them solely through a formal exchange of letters. This, of course, significantly speeds up and simplifies the reporting process for such a complex scientific project,” says Ms Ramata-Stunda in assessing the collaboration with LIAA. 

Alternative Plants has also collaborated with LIAA in the past, including by utilising the support of the agency’s offices abroad to identify potential partners and establish contacts: “The support from LIAA’s representative offices has been particularly useful to us in markets where the local language is of great importance, such as France and German-speaking countries. The representative offices have helped us to shortlist potential companies, secure contacts and enter negotiations with distributors and cosmetics brands, which is, of course, invaluable support,” Ms Ramata-Stunda says. 

Information material prepared with the support of the European Regional Development Fund