LACTIPS

Their core work

LACTIPS is a French SME that develops bio-based, water-soluble materials — most visibly in the form of sustainable packaging films made from thermoplastic proteins (likely casein or lactic acid derivatives, consistent with their name). Their flagship H2020 project, ECOLACTIFILM, aimed to bring water-soluble packaging to industrial scale and open new commercial markets for bio-based packaging alternatives. More recently they have positioned themselves within larger biorefinery ecosystems, contributing to zero-waste protein production chains that yield mycoprotein as a high-value output. Their value lies in translating bio-based polymer science into market-ready materials, bridging the gap between green chemistry and commercial packaging or food-ingredient applications.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

LACTIPS entered H2020 as a packaging-focused innovator: their first project (ECOLACTIFILM, 2017) was about manufacturing a specific water-soluble film product and proving it commercially viable, with no keywords attached beyond the SME Instrument framing. By 2019 their participation in PLENITUDE introduced an entirely different vocabulary — mycoprotein, biorefinery, zero-waste, sustainability — suggesting they are repositioning or broadening into bio-based input materials for food and biorefinery systems, not just packaging outputs. The shift may reflect a strategic move to capture value further up the bio-based value chain, or to supply biomaterials into larger industrial ecosystems rather than selling only end-consumer packaging products.

LACTIPS appears to be evolving from a niche packaging materials company toward a broader bio-based materials supplier embedded in biorefinery and alternative protein value chains — a direction that aligns with EU Green Deal priorities and growing industrial demand for non-fossil feedstocks.

How they like to work

LACTIPS has shown they can both lead and follow: they coordinated ECOLACTIFILM independently under the SME Instrument (a competitive, company-driven scheme), and then joined PLENITUDE as a participant within a larger consortium. This dual mode suggests a company comfortable owning a project when their core product is central, but pragmatic enough to take a supporting role in wider research consortia when the topic is adjacent. With 15 unique partners across 5 countries from just 2 projects, their network is relatively broad for their size, indicating they actively seek diverse partnerships rather than recycling the same collaborators.

LACTIPS has built a network of 15 unique partners across 5 countries through only 2 projects, which is a high partner density for an SME of this scale. Their geographic reach spans at least France and several other EU member states, consistent with European-level consortia in the bioeconomy space.

What sets them apart

LACTIPS occupies a rare niche: they are not a research institute or a large chemical company, but a small French firm that has actually built and commercialized water-soluble bio-based packaging — and won EUR 1.49M in EU funding to prove it at scale. That combination of proprietary material technology, SME agility, and demonstrated EU project leadership makes them an attractive partner for consortia that need an industrial actor who can bridge lab-scale results and real manufacturing. Their pivot toward biorefinery ecosystems also means they can connect packaging and food-ingredient sectors in ways that larger, siloed companies cannot.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ECOLACTIFILM
  LACTIPS coordinated this SME Instrument Phase 2 project — one of the most competitive EU funding schemes for companies — receiving EUR 1.49M to scale their proprietary water-soluble packaging film toward commercial markets.
• PLENITUDE
  A large Innovation Action running to 2025, this project targets first-of-its-kind industrial-scale zero-waste biorefinery for mycoprotein production, placing LACTIPS inside a cutting-edge food-protein supply chain.