3 questions to Hubert Bonnefond from Inalve

Every month, learn more about our members in 3 questions! This month, Hubert Bonnefond from Inalve, answers our questions.

What is your business activity?

The company industrializes an innovative process for the production of microalgae and develops ingredients rich in proteins, fats or sugars in the sectors of food and animal health and aquaculture.

The patented technologies are the result of several years of research conducted at the Océanographie laboratory in Villefranche-sur-Mer (CNRS and Sorbonne University) in collaboration with the Inria of Sophia Antipolis, partner of Inalve.

For whom are your products/services intended?

• Fresh microalgae for hatcheries and zooplankton producers
  • Ideal viability and state of preservation of our microalgae thanks to our production and harvesting process (no centrifugation - 10-day viability: 70%).
  • A concentrated biomass rich in nutrients
• Proteins for food manufacturers
  • An alternative to fishmeal from industrial fishing.
  • Microalgae meal, a real protein concentrate (>58%).
  • Very high and rapid protein digestibility for better absorption and optimized growth (in vitro >80%)
  • A guarantee of naturalness throughout the entire production chain.
• Health additives for companies involved in animal health
  • The search for alternatives to antibiotics to promote and maintain good animal health is essential.
  • Certain microalgae have long demonstrated their value in fighting infections in fish.
  • More recently, the sulphated exopolysacharides (sEPS) contained in our products have been studied and have demonstrated immunostimulant activity, limiting bacterial attachment and even antibacterial and antiviral activity.
  • In addition, some of our products are also able to reduce oxidative stress.

Why is innovation and research important in your sector of activity?

Inalve is a company employing 4 patents resulting from academic research and winner of more than 10 innovation awards including the world-wide competition of innovation phase I and II. Innovation and research are at the heart of our concerns. Only this collaborative approach (public/private but also private/private) will allow us to reach our ambitious objectives in terms of production of a sector of animal food that is environmentally as well as economically sustainable.

Thanks to its positioning, the Aquimer cluster allows us to i) keep a technological watch, ii) establish contacts that have been successful several times in the past and are still active in the future, and iii) initiate collaborations.

To contact INALVE, click here.