Impact case study database

Brearley's research has had impacts on commerce, the economy and production, both directly and via knowledge transfer. The beneficiaries are commercial animal feed businesses on a global scale, specifically AB Vista and its partner companies, AB Enzymes, Germany, and Roal Oy, Finland, who produce the Quantum Blue enzyme. His research has also benefited other enzyme companies and the global poultry industry (both producers and nutritionists). As illustration, because of Brearley’s work with AB Vista, the term "Superdosing" has come to convey the benefits arising from provision of inositol through adding phytase to animal feed. As such, it has been accepted as a standard term in academia and industry, with more than 570 citations in Google Scholar since 2013.

Change in industry R&D strategy: Brearley’s research [R3-R6] and his collaboration with AB Vista [S1] have driven a key change in AB Vista's R&D strategy. This has involved the company shifting its R&D focus towards understanding the role of inositol [S1-S3], as evidenced by: AB Vista’s funding of Brearley’s consultancy contract [Grant A]; the company’s collaboration with Brearley in obtaining BBSRC LINK and Industrial Partnership Award funding [Grants B, C]; and the company’s funding of multiple PhD studentships both at UEA and internationally [S1]. In addition, AB Vista has commissioned research feed trials in 15 countries across four continents (e.g. Australia, India, USA, Germany, UK), from which it has sent samples to Brearley at UEA for analysis of inositol phosphate and inositol products of phytate degradation [R3-R5; S1-S2]. Overall, the involvement of Brearley has been a disruptive innovation for the industry's R&D. As AB Vista's Research Director stated, “By providing us with a first set of measurements of inositol in a digestive setting, something we had not considered ourselves, Charles opened up a new research area across the animal feed industry. This has been very significant for AB Vista and the industry as a whole” [S1].

Change in industry know-how: The metadata arising from analysis by Brearley of more than 10,000 samples from the AB Vista-commissioned feed trials have, by providing essential scientific underpinning, reshaped AB Vista's understanding of the Quantum Blue phytase and the benefits to be gained by Superdosing. To quote AB Vista's Research Director [S1], “Charles’ work on inositol and Superdosing has allowed us to progress from an understanding of the correlation of animal growth performance to inositol phosphate release, in different parts of the gut, to a sophisticated understanding of the extent of animal growth performance attributable to inositol” [S1].

Change in industry behaviour: marketing: AB Vista’s guidance on dosing of Quantum Blue has also been changed. The guidance to customers covers the range of poultry-raising regimes used worldwide for all the chickens (over 10,000,000,000 birds) fed AB Vista’s phytase products. “Our advertising strategy includes evidence generated by UEA showing that our products function at the intestinal level better than all other phytases, and the data generated enables us to explain why superdosing, for example, works in poultry and swine from a mechanistic viewpoint” (AB Vista's Research Director [S1]). Brearley’s data are also reported across AB Vista’s web pages [S3].

Change in industry behaviour: technology adoption and knowledge transfer: Brearley’s interaction with AB Vista has led to the company adopting his analytical methods. To quote AB Vista's Research Director [S1] “His analytical expertise with inositol phosphates and inositol has provided a route to analysis that was not available to us before on a scale relevant to our needs. In order to be able to respond rapidly to industry needs, we are now investing heavily in Charles’ methodologies in our analytical services division in the UK”. Separately, Brearley has provided training in analytical methods to AB Enzymes (a market leader as reflected in their turnover exceeding USD112,000,000 (08/2019)), partner on Grants A-C. This allowed for new methods to be adopted by the R&D department of AB Enzymes and in turn led to AB Enzymes testing novel applications of Quantum Blue [S4]. In addition, Brearley has transferred data on novel phytases for further investigation to Roal Oy, partner via AB Vista on Grant C.

Company success: The changes in R&D, know-how and marketing, all arising from the new understanding of AB Vista’s Quantum Blue phytase provided by Brearley's research, have enabled AB Vista to sell more of its product. This has been achieved by advertisement of the efficiency of Quantum Blue in degrading phytate and releasing inositol [S3]: “The credibility that UEA research brings to our products means that customers who are at the forefront of technology are far more likely to buy from us, …Charles’ analysis of inositol phosphates and inositol, his further development of methods suitable for tissues and organs and his interaction with our other academic partners contributes to our literature, presentations and conferences, informing existing customers regarding their use of our products, and keeping them abreast of technological developments” (AB Vista's Research Director [S1]). Brearley’s research has therefore been central to AB Vista’s growth to become a top three supplier of phytase [S1, S5], in a market projected to exceed USD2,000,000,000 (11-2019) by 2024. “I can confirm that the research undertaken at UEA has enabled AB Vista to move from being the 6-7^th largest enzyme supplier in the world to number 2-3 in the last seven years” (AB Vista's Research Director [S1]).

Benefiting the global poultry and pig industry: The impact of Brearley’s work extends beyond AB Vista to its customers and competitors in the poultry and pig sectors. For example, industry-wide adoption of Superdosing and the contribution of inositol to this technique is evidenced in a competitor’s 2017 marketing presentation, which stated, ‘ Use of Ronozyme® HiPhos increases blood levels of myo-inositol by a quick break-down of phytate in the gut’ [S6]. Moreover, phytase sales benefit customers as well as producers. AB Vista’s Global Sales Director has quantified the value of phytate degradation to customers, " Estimates suggest the anti-nutritional effects of phytate could be costing the industry as much as €2 billion [EUR2,000,000,000 (05/2014)] per year in lost performance, and that the potential still to be captured from near-complete phytate destruction is as high as €5 [EUR5.00 (05-2014)] per tonne of feed manufactured” [S7] . Lastly, Brearley's research on the role of inositol in the aetiology of two muscle diseases in chicken, "Woody Breast" and "White Striping" [R5], hold potential for substantial future benefits to the industry. As AB Vista's Research Director has stated of Brearley's presentation of this work to an industry conference in Taiwan in 2019, "The event in Taiwan helped more than one hundred participants… The sales increment could be substantial if we find that dosing two to three times higher than current 'superdosing' norms prove beneficial" [S1].