Smart Indicators

Smart Indicators is a deep-tech, women-led startup based in Latvia, developing intelligent freshness sensors for food packaging to reduce waste, increase safety, and support circular economy models in the food sector.

Founded by CEO Solvita Kostjukova and CTO Dr. Rūta Ozola-Davidāne, the company brings together scientific excellence, startup experience, and a strong commitment to female leadership in STEM and innovation. Solvita is a serial entrepreneur and technology transfer expert with over 15 years of experience turning scientific discoveries into commercial success stories (e.g., ALINA, a cleantech spinoff recognized among Europe’s top 10 innovations by EIT). Rūta is a materials scientist with a PhD and over a decade of R&D experience in functional packaging materials. Together, they have built Smart Indicators with a mission to create a more responsible food system through precise, real-time freshness detection.

In Europe, 8.8 million tons of food are wasted annually due to misleading expiry dates, especially for perishable animal-based products like meat, fish, and eggs. Traditional “best before” labels do not reflect actual spoilage, which results in both consumers and retailers discarding edible food. This contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, economic loss, and consumer distrust, especially in sectors moving toward reusable and case-ready packaging.

Smart Indicators replaces the guesswork of expiry dates with real-time spoilage detection. We have developed a natural pigment-based indicator that changes color in the presence of biogenic amines—compounds released when proteins degrade due to bacterial activity. This allows us to give a trustworthy visual signal of food freshness. The indicator is designed to be:

• Non-toxic, biodegradable, and certified for food contact
• Compatible with standard and reusable packaging
• Supported by a digital mobile app (under development) that scans the indicator and calibrates freshness readings with high accuracy
• Our IP portfolio includes both licensed technology from the University of Latvia and our own proprietary indicator composition, with a patent application underway.

The smart packaging market is expected to reach $43 billion by 2028, with freshness indicators becoming a critical subsegment. Smart Indicators focuses initially on:

• B2B reusable meal-prep packaging
• Food producers and packaging manufacturers
• Sustainable ready-to-eat brands and logistics providers

Our entry market includes meal-prep services and reusable container providers (a segment projected to reach $64.27 billion by 2030). Secondary markets include large-scale food processors and retailers. Smart Indicators offers them a cost-effective tool to reduce waste, build consumer trust, and comply with growing EU sustainability regulations.

Our technology has been validated in accredited labs and tested in real industry environments (TRL6) (e.g., Rimi Latvia, Nākotne Meat Plant, Ķekava poultry, and Safari Park More). Prototypes have shown that the indicator reacts at the same moment food becomes microbiologically and organoleptically unsafe. We have developed sensor housing prototypes and are now moving toward productization with meal-prep container manufacturers and app development partners.

Smart Indicators is 100% co-founded, led, and owned by women, and deeply committed to inclusive innovation. We actively participate in initiatives that promote female entrepreneurship in STEM, such as the EIT Food Accelerator, EIT Manufacturing Tech2Market, and doctoral schools. We mentor female PhD students and support broader ecosystem-building through policy work and community outreach in Latvia and the Baltics.

Through We-Rise, we aim to strengthen our business development capacity, finalize our go-to-market strategy, and expand internationally with strong female leadership at the core.

We are seeking funding and support to:

• Finalize our patent application and protect core IP
• Complete app development and ensure user-friendly digital scanning
• Launch pilot sales with packaging manufacturers and meal-prep services in the Baltics and Scandinavia
• Scale production through outsourced manufacturing
• Prepare for larger investments, including EIC Accelerator and VC rounds