Startup Tales | How NDG is innovating to make Agriculture 4.0 sustainable

Natural Development Group, founded in 2017 by Gianluca Manfredini, has developed and patented MICROSAP®: a bio green technology that can be used in nutraceuticals or in combination with agrochemicals to protect the environment, plant health, and human health.

Agriculture is among the sectors that generate the most pollution in production processes. However, thanks to the potential of the many innovative solutions - available and upcoming -, Agriculture 4.0 has the potential to become one of the main drivers in the ongoing ecological transition.

In this context fits NDG (Natural Development Group), born in 2017 in Castel Maggiore (BO) thanks to Gianluca Manfredini, President and founder who has also held the position of CEO since March 2021. NDG - until December 2022 an innovative startup that will become an innovative SME next year, thus continuing its concept of constant innovation and research - has developed and patented MICROSAP®: a bio green technology that allows working in compliance with European regulations and in line with green economy policies, thus respecting human health and the environment.

Gianluca Manfredini's professional path and the birth of NDG

Gianluca Manfredini, after over 20 years of experience as a manager in the wine sector, where he specialized - in Italy and abroad - in transforming grape harvests into wine, combined his professional experiences and passion for essential oils. In fact, by "discovering" some biomedical technologies, he verified whether it was possible to combine biocompatible materials with various active ingredients to bring them into crops.

"In 2010, almost by chance, I started studying the subject followed by the first tests carried out in a garage," explains Manfredini. "In 2011, given the promising results, I founded a small company to start distributing the developed technology, from which NDG was born in 2017, which today has 10 employees and 14 external collaborators."

How MICROSAP® works: the bio green tech developed by NDG and the next steps

MICROSAP®, developed and created by NDG after a long R&D process conducted with various universities, as Manfredini explains, "is an aqueous suspension of carbonated hydroxyapatite, an organic mineral naturally present in human bones and exoskeletons characterized by high biocompatibility."

The patented Microsap® formulations are highly performing and can be used in agriculture, in combination with fertilizers and thus in the nutraceutical field (plant nutrition with micro and macro elements), but also in combination with agrochemicals for the treatment of various fungal and bacterial diseases. Moreover, the biocompatible carrier of Microsap® can form a coating on the leaf surface, capable of making the active ingredients available for longer than other solutions.

"Our technology has several strengths: the ability to encapsulate and deliver fractions of active ingredients that enhance their action, ensuring controlled release over time; high resistance to washing off with more durable and balanced action of the active ingredient thanks to its electrostatic charge, and reduction of photodegradation by hydrolysis with consequent increase in effectiveness," adds the CEO of NDG. "Currently, Microsap® is used in fertilizers, but as clarified by Manfredini, "we will soon have the necessary ministerial registration for the commercialization of our first agrochemical capable of delivering active ingredients and therefore usable for the treatment of some types of fungi and bacteria."

Currently, Microsap® is used in fertilizers, but as clarified by Manfredini, "we will soon have the necessary ministerial registration for the commercialization of our first agrochemical capable of delivering active ingredients and therefore usable for the treatment of some types of fungi and bacteria."

An "unique" innovation for an SME since the development of agrochemicals is usually the exclusive domain of large multinational groups. In fact, Manfredini emphasizes, "while it takes about 300 euros to register a fertilizer, turning the same formulation into an agrochemical requires about 500,000 euros: an incredible success for the entire NDG team that worked to achieve this goal.”

In a world that is changing towards a green economy and circular economy, in addition to combating climate change, for the CEO of the Emilian company, "it is necessary to provide farmers with concrete solutions, capable of keeping plants healthy and ensuring a high standard in terms of quality and quantity of production, obtaining a good and healthy final product."

"All fertilizers and agrochemicals have a necessary deficiency period to ensure that the harvested products no longer contain contaminants from the active ingredients that constitute them. The NDG formulations that use Microsap® allow for much lower quantities of active ingredients, thus significantly shortening the deficiency period,” adds Manfredini.

NDG's client portfolio: an ambitious and constantly growing reality

Currently, the innovative Emilian company has a client portfolio that Gianluca Manfredini does not hesitate to define as "important." NDG, in fact, collaborates with prestigious wineries and large-scale distribution companies such as the Rigoni di Asiago Group: a key player in the production of fruit-based preparations13.

This collaboration has also allowed NDG Group to come into contact with and select important Italian distributors and agronomists who, after an initial test phase, now distribute MICROSAP® products to both agricultural and wine companies.

The support of Intesa Sanpaolo and Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center: from Up2Stars to Elite Lounge to the "In Action ESG Climate" award

In 2020, NDG also changed pace. "A dear friend who works for the Intesa Sanpaolo Group introduced me during the lockdown to the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center. After the first call where we presented our technology, the following month we entered the portfolio of high-potential startups, and with great satisfaction, an important support path for our business began," says Manfredini.

Adding: "We were already working with the Intesa Sanpaolo Group for financial aspects, while the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center immediately gave us the opportunity to have great visibility and participate in high-profile events such as the Innovation Oscar at the Angi Museum in Rome." Fundamental support from qualified professionals, who provided the first indications on how to structure the company to favor and speed up its growth.

NDG was then selected to participate in the Bioeconomy strand of Up2Stars - an acceleration and enhancement program for startups born from the collaboration between Intesa Sanpaolo and Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center with the support of the innovation platform Gellify - subsequently entering the Elite Lounge of Intesa Sanpaolo organized in collaboration with Elite: an ecosystem of Euronext that helps startups and SMEs grow and structure themselves through a set of business support services.

A path that, explains Manfredini, "allowed me to understand how to best structure the company, select the team, and better understand all the fundamental points to accelerate NDG's growth. With the support of the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, our turnover increased by 70%, and by the end of 2023, it will exceed one million euros."

Moreover, NDG participated in the second edition of the In Action ESG Climate call for ideas - launched by the life companies of the Insurance Division of Intesa Sanpaolo (Intesa Sanpaolo Vita, Intesa Sanpaolo Life, Fideuram Vita), in collaboration with the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center - which aims to provide economic support to proposals capable of accelerating the ecological transition.

Among the 169 projects presented in the sectors of Climate Tech, Manufacturing, Sustainable Lifestyle, and Agrifood Tech, NDG won the 2nd prize, obtaining 150,000 euros to develop new formulations of the biocompatible inorganic carrier MICROSAP®,  that makes plants stronger and able to defend themselves from pathogenic attacks and climate changes.

NDG's Next Steps: from internationalization to participation in the European Commission's LIFE program

Moving on to the next steps, the CEO of NDG highlights how business growth will also come from internationalization, given an agreement signed in 2022 with a French multinational operating in the organic sector "to soon start developing our formulations worldwide after selecting the markets that can best accommodate them and generate benefits for the environment and NDG from an economic point of view."

Finally, thanks to the experience of Dr. Valerio Borzatta (who oversees the R&D team), NDG Group won the LIFE 2022 call of the EU. The research project presented - Life Natural Agro - focuses on the study and development of new functional formulations with very low copper concentrations, for the control of important diseases such as Downy Mildew and Esca Disease of the vine.

This is because "although widely used in agriculture, copper is a heavy metal, and the excessive use made of it over the years has caused significant damage to the soil. Our technology allows using one-fifth of the active ingredient compared to the past, thus allowing the farmer to comply with European regulations, the environment, and pollinators essential for the ecosystem balance," explains Manfredini.

In addition to anticipating an imminent acquisition to better structure and make its reality completely autonomous, the founder of NDG finally recalled how "the very idea represents the true revolution. My father taught me that with honesty and perseverance, nothing is impossible: the foundations from which I started to launch the entrepreneurial project without being either a chemist or an agronomist."