ScanOat
- Reference number
- IRC15-0068
- Project leader
- Bülow, Leif
- Start and end dates
- 170301-260630
- Amount granted
- 100 000 000 SEK
- Administrative organization
- Lund University
- Research area
- Other
Summary
Oat (Avena sativa) is an important crop for both Swedish agriculture and food industry. It has a great nutritional value and serves as an excellent raw material in a world where the demands for plant-based foods and functional food products are rapidly increasing. Oat contains a number of unique bioactive components with documented beneficial effects for human and animal health. In addition, oat has excellent agricultural properties for Swedish settings and is very well suited for organic farming as well as sustainable intensified production. However, to develop oats both in terms of cultivation and food applications more resources to fundamental and targeted applied research are needed. To accomplish this we wish to establish an industrial research centre, ScanOat. With this centre we will coordinate industrial needs with academic research in molecular plant breeding, plant physiology, crop management/production, nutrition and food science. Three key players in the food industry together with five interdisciplinary academic partners have all declared their strong interest to support and develop ScanOat. Together an international state of the art research and developmental environment for plant, food and health connected to oat will be formed. ScanOat is unique in its concept to link plant breeding and cultivation with targeted health effects. This will foster entrepreneurship and industrial expansion on the basis of obtained scientific discoveries.
Popular science description
Our ambition with the ScanOat is to take a world-leading role in the development of unique oat based applications and products. The center will form a link between advanced basic research and industrial applications. This dual approach will benefit Swedish agriculture, industry and society in terms of new knowledge, new products, improved health, a more sustainable environment, increased exports and new jobs.