INDICATO – THE FIRST START-UP AT ŁUKASIEWICZ – PORT

In June 2023, the INDICATO project won one of three grand prizes at the Łukasiewicz Accelerator Demo Day. A few months later, a start-up of the same name was created on the basis of this project. This is the first such venture at our Institute. Its goal is to commercialize the technology developed at Łukasiewicz – PORT by Magdalena Wilk-Kozubek, PhD, and Bartłomiej Potaniec, PhD.

The INDICATO technology developed by researchers at the Advanced Materials Synthesis Group from Materials Science & Engineering Center at Łukasiewicz – PORT makes it possible to monitor the storage and transportation conditions of products that require maintaining a constant and specific temperature. The research team has designed easy-to-apply, robust visual indicators of temperature change, which are the only ones on the market that do their job at low temperatures.

“What makes our technology unique is the fact that it is used in the production of frozen food and thermolabile medical products, i.e. wherever low temperatures are required to maintain product quality. INDICATO makes it possible to control temperature from -30 to +10°C, which is an exception on the market. Until now, this was only possible for high temperatures“, says Magdalena Wilk-Kozubek, PhD, leader of the project team.

If the cold supply chain is interrupted, the indicator printed on the packaging will change irreversibly from blue to red. This is possible as a result of the polymerization of active ingredients that are activated when a specific threshold temperature is exceeded. Adding a thermochromic compound to the printing ink makes marking packages less difficult, and the indicator is an integral part of the package. Thanks to INDICATO, new possibilities open up for the food, catering and pharmaceutical industries in terms of controlling the storage and transport conditions of food products, vaccines or medicines.

Work is currently underway to develop the technology so that from the indicator on the packaging it will be possible to find out not only that the permitted temperature has been exceeded, but also how long the product has been exposed to the elevated temperature.

At the same time, we are looking for implementation partners interested in commercializing the technology and using it in their products. If you are interested in cooperation, write to magdalena@indicato.pl or bartlomiej@indicato.pl.