ADVANCED SUBSTRATE TECHNOLOGIES AS

Their core work

Advanced Substrate Technologies AS is a Danish SME that develops integrated systems combining mushroom cultivation with biogas production in a circular economy loop. Their core innovation is the use of agricultural or organic waste as growing substrate for edible mushrooms, after which the spent substrate feeds an anaerobic digestion process to generate biogas — turning two separate waste streams into two revenue streams. The company progressed their MUBIC concept from a feasibility study (SME Phase 1) to a full commercial development project (SME Phase 2), indicating they moved from proof-of-concept to market-ready technology between 2015 and 2020. Their work sits at the intersection of sustainable food production, waste valorisation, and renewable energy generation.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Advanced Substrate Technologies AS has a narrow but deepening trajectory: both projects address exactly the same concept (MUBIC), with the 2015 Phase 1 establishing technical and commercial feasibility and the 2017–2020 Phase 2 scaling that concept toward market deployment. There is no visible pivot or expansion into new topics within the H2020 record. The absence of keywords across both phases makes it impossible to detect subtler thematic shifts, but the funding jump from €50,000 to €1.65 million signals a transition from research validation to near-commercial development.

They appear to be a single-technology company that has taken one well-defined circular bioeconomy concept from idea to commercial prototype — future collaborations would likely involve deployment, licensing, or integration of their MUBIC system into larger agri-food or waste-management value chains.

How they like to work

AST operates exclusively as a coordinator and appears to work in very small or solo structures — with only one unique consortium partner recorded across two projects, they are not a traditional consortium builder. This pattern is typical of SME Instrument recipients, where the applicant company drives the project and may contract specialists rather than forming large research alliances. Working with them likely means engaging directly with the founding team on a focused, commercially-driven technology transfer or pilot deployment.

Their recorded network is minimal: one unique partner in one country across two projects. This reflects the SME Instrument model, which is designed for company-led innovation rather than multi-partner consortia, so their broader industry or supply chain network may be wider than their H2020 record suggests.

What sets them apart

AST is one of very few SMEs to have taken a combined mushroom cultivation and biogas system all the way through the EU's competitive SME Instrument two-phase pathway, which suggests their concept passed rigorous external evaluation twice. Their differentiation lies in the integration of two normally separate bio-based industries — food production and energy recovery — into a single process using waste as feedstock. For a consortium or industrial partner looking to add a validated circular-economy module to an agri-food or waste treatment project, they represent a ready-made technology unit rather than a research promise.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MUBIC
  Secured €1.65 million in SME Phase 2 funding — among the largest individual SME Instrument awards — for a circular system combining edible mushroom production with biogas generation from agricultural waste substrates.
• Mubic
  The Phase 1 feasibility study (2015) that successfully validated the MUBIC business case and unlocked the full Phase 2 scale-up, demonstrating a complete SME Instrument journey from concept to commercial development.