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Techno-Economic Analysis: Turning Innovation into Investment-Ready Reality

At Sustech Innovation, we help biotech, food-tech, and sustainable manufacturing startups translate technical innovation into commercial clarity through structured Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA).

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A TEA bridges process engineering and financial modelling, providing a clear roadmap from R&D to scalable, investable production.

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It is not just a financial model.
 

It is a decision-making framework for scaling with confidence.

🧠 What Is a Techno-Economic Analysis? ​

A Techno-Economic Analysis combines process engineering, scale-up modelling, and economic evaluation to determine whether a technology can be produced profitably, sustainably, and at commercial scale.

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A well-structured TEA answers critical questions such as:

 

  • What will production cost at industrial scale?

  • Which parameters most affect cost and risk?

  • What CAPEX is required to build the facility?

  • What is the minimum viable selling price (MVSP)?

  • How sensitive is the model to yield, titer, or raw material cost?

 

By linking technical performance to financial outcomes, TEA provides early visibility into both the technical and economic trajectory of your innovation.

💡 Why TEA Early Matters for Startups

For early-stage biotech and food-tech companies, timing is everything.

Running a TEA early allows you to:

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  • Validating feasibility: Align your R&D with realistic commercial goals.

  • Avoiding costly pivots: Identify technical bottlenecks before scaling.

  • Attracting investors: Present credible, transparent unit economics.

  • Optimizing funding strategy: Know your CAPEX/OPEX needs in advance.

 

A TEA ensures your technology is not only technically possible, but also economically viable.

⚙️ Key Benefits of Techno-Economic Analysis

1

Cost Drivers Identification and Reduction

A TEA breaks down key cost components such as raw materials, labor, utilities, and waste management, revealing the main cost drivers and how to reduce them.

2

Process Optimization

By modeling different production scenarios, a TEA identifies the most efficient and scalable process configuration, supporting R&D and engineering design decisions.​

3

Investment and Financial Planning

Includes full financial metrics:
CAPEX, OPEX, cost of production, ROI, and payback time, critical for building robust business cases and investor presentations.​

4

Guiding R&D Efforts

Helps direct experimentation and process development toward parameters with the highest potential to improve unit economics.​

5

Risk Management

​Provides a data-backed understanding of technical and economic risks, helping teams anticipate challenges and make decisions with confidence.

TEA has been successfully applied to various technology-based projects. By providing accurate estimates of production costs, technical viability and financial viability, TEA has helped startups in these areas secure funding, optimize processes, and scale up production effectively.

📊 What You Get in a Sustech Innovation TEA

Each project is delivered as a dynamic, interactive model and structured report designed for transparency and decision support.

Typical deliverables include:

  • Dynamic Excel model with full mass and cost balances

  • Multi-scenario and sensitivity analysis

  • CAPEX & OPEX breakdown

  • Cost of production per kilogram

  • Economies of scale projections

  • Equipment sizing and cost estimation

  • Minimum viable selling price (MVSP)

  • Investment summary and payback analysis

  • Investor-ready summary deck

  • Model handover session

Every TEA is tailored to your technology maturity, data availability, and funding stage.

🌱 Industries We Support

Our TEA methodology supports scale-up across:

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  • Food-tech and alternative proteins

  • Precision fermentation and enzymes

  • Biomaterials and bioplastics

  • Sustainable chemicals and renewable feedstocks

  • Carbon capture and gas fermentation

  • Whether you are preparing for Seed, Series A, pilot scale-up, or facility design — the objective remains the same:

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Turn technical performance into economically defensible decisions.

🚀 Explore Further

→ The ScaleUpReady™ Framework
Understand decision-driven framework designed for early-stage biotech and food-tech scale-up.

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→ The 5 Stages of a Techno-Economic Analysis
See how we translate laboratory processes into structured industrial and financial models.

 

→ TEA Readiness Call
Determine whether now is the right time to run a TEA — and what level of clarity your project needs.

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