“The ”BioPhot" project team invites you to a Deep Tech Atelier side event dedicated to POLYCLAY-UV – an innovative polyphenol-clay composite material developed from coffee and tea industry by-products, intended as a sustainable, multifunctional UV protection ingredient.
This is an early-stage innovation.
And this event marks one of its first real-world validation steps.
Instead of presenting ready-made results, we open up the process—creating a space where initial reactions, insights, and discussions help shape the material's future.
Closed focus group sessions (invitation only)
Before the public event, selected participants will participate in structured focus group sessions, which will serve as an initial stage in the research of user perceptions and expectations in the field of personal care products.
This session serves as starting point for understanding real user needs, providing quality insights that will drive future innovation.
Open Side Event: From Insights to Discussion (with pre-registration)
After the focus groups, the event becomes accessible to a wider audience:
Deep-tech presentation: POLYCLAY-UV
From materials science and sorption processes to application potential
Panel Discussion: Science × Sustainability × Industry
Space sector discussion uniting representatives from research, cosmetics, and bio-resource innovation. The panel discussion will analyze what is truly needed to transform scientific materials into market-ready products, focusing on challenges such as formulation, regulatory pathways, consumer expectations, and the role of sustainability in decision-making.
Industry Perspective — From Coffee to Innovation
In collaboration with Rocket Bean Roastery, this session will explore how byproducts of the coffee industry can become high-value raw materials outside of the beverage sector.
The discussion will highlight the coffee industry's openness to collaboration with science, as well as the potential for interdisciplinary applications, including in cosmetics.
Coffee cupping: from taste to molecules
A guided tasting experience that introduces participants to the diversity of coffee profiles.
This session goes beyond traditional tasting, linking flavor nuances with molecular structures and offering a unique perspective on the interplay of sensory science and chemistry.
Why is it important
Many sustainable innovations fail not because of science, but because they don't meet real user expectations or market realities.
This event brings this reality into the process at an early stage.
Combining scientific development, consumer insights and industry perspective, we are taking the first step towards solutions that are not only innovative, but also relevant, usable, and scalable.
To participate
For researchers, startups, professionals in the cosmetic and ingredient industries, and representatives of the innovation ecosystem who want to be part of how deep tech ideas transform into real applications.
What will you get
- Explore how deep tech innovation begins its journey beyond the lab
- Understanding how consumer perception influences sustainable product development
- Directly involved with science, industry, and new innovations
- Enhance your sensory experience with a guided coffee cupping session, offering insights into the raw materials used in research and their diversity, while connecting scientific thinking with their real-world origins and composition.
The event will take place on May 13th from 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM at the University of Latvia, Jelgavas iela 3, Riga. Pre-registration is required to participate. here.