Ceradis: Strong patent portfolio contributes to Green Deal

Ceradis develops biological or natural pesticides or ways to reduce the use of synthetic agents. Ceradis founder and IP manager is biologist Wim van der Krieken: "With our new, environmentally friendly solutions, we are already contributing to the Green Deal for the agricultural sector. Its goal is to halve the amount of chemicals in crop protection by 2030."

Natural products such as sulfur are the basis for the products Ceradis makes. Elemental sulfur is used, among other things, in grape growing for the control of powdery mildew on leaves. In the product CeraSulfur®, Ceradis uses bio-sulfur obtained from agricultural waste streams. This makes the product not only organic and circular, it works even better than conventional sulfur.

Finding a unique active, biological substance is done in Ceradis' lab. Frits Michiels, patent attorney for Ceradis at V.O.: "Especially when using natural ingredients, which sometimes already happen to be used in a pesticide, arguing the patentability of an invention is not easy. For example, natural products cannot be patented in some countries, such as the US. It is then important to precisely describe the synergy between different substances in order to obtain a patent."

For Ceradis, V.O. is a partner that is involved in product development at an early stage. Van der Krieken: "They help us understand the prior art and always advise us adequately on the strategy to follow. A strong patent portfolio is decisive for Ceradis' protection and commercial success. Without a patent portfolio, we would never have been in the picture with major partners selling our product under license."