Next Generation Sensors and the EIC Accelerator: A Portable Lab
Testing food for contaminants usually means sending samples to a laboratory and waiting for results. Next Generation Sensors, a company in Maastricht founded by Sarfaraz Syed, built a portable device combining mass spectrometry and infrared spectroscopy that weighs 15 kg and can analyse samples on site without preparation.
The European Innovation Council granted €1,596,149 towards a €2.28 million project, SAFE-FOOD, that built pilot devices and tested them with food companies in olive production, seafood testing and organic fraud detection. The company's website now leads with law enforcement and narcotics detection alongside agriculture. It publishes no customers or sales.
Company file
- Legal entity
- Next Generation Sensors B.V., KvK 70007497, Maastricht
- CEO
- Sarfaraz Syed, founder
- Product
- Portable MS-IR analyser
- Markets
- Law enforcement, agriculture and food, healthcare, universities
- Public funding
- SME Instrument (2019), EIC (2022), OPZuid (2025)
- EIC project
- SAFE-FOOD, 1 Apr 2022 to 31 Mar 2024, closed
- EIC funding
- Grant first
Where Next Generation Sensors Stands Today
The company's website presents the device for forensics ("detect drugs, explosives and several other compounds"), agriculture, healthcare and universities, and quotes its founder describing "rapid detection of hazardous substances in the narcotics and agrifood testing market". Dutch register data compiled by North Data show it active, with 2024 accounts filed in December 2025 and a €351,750 regional innovation subsidy in September 2025. We found no named customer or funding round.
The public money
Public funding recorded for Next Generation Sensors
EU and Dutch public funding listed in register-linked data. Private funding was not disclosed.
North Data, compiled from public sources. Values in € millions.
The Technology: Bringing the Lab to the Sample
Mass spectrometers identify molecules by their mass and are normally large laboratory instruments. According to the CORDIS report, SAFE-FOOD's device offers "rapid (< 1 min) detection of risk related substances" at "trace levels of target contaminants (part per billion – ppb)", and MVP devices were "deployed for in-depth field pilot (validation) studies with major food companies".
"This technology enables rapid detection of hazardous substances in the narcotics and agrifood testing market."
Sarfaraz Syed, founder and CEO, Next Generation SensorsWhat the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
The EIC project
The EU paid 70% of a €2.28M project
SAFE-FOOD ran from April 2022 to March 2024. The award was grant first.
CORDIS project 190107075. Values in € millions.
SAFE-FOOD promised "the first portable mass spectrometer device for rapid, on-site food contaminant testing". CORDIS reports MVP devices and field pilots with food companies but names none and gives no pilot count or detection results.
- A portable deviceDeliveredMVP devices built.
- Field validationDeliveredPilots with food companies.
- Food industry salesNot shownNo customers named.
- Follow-on fundingPartialRegional subsidy only.
What Has Happened Since the Award
The record
From food safety pilots to drug detection
Next Generation Sensors piloted its portable mass spectrometer with food companies under the EIC project; its website now leads with narcotics and forensics.
- Feb 2019SME InstrumentHandheld molecular contaminant screener€50K
- Oct 2021EIC Accelerator cut-offSAFE-FOOD: portable mass spectrometer for food testing
- Apr 2022EIC project startsMVP devices for field pilots€1.60M grant
- Mar 2024EIC project endsPilots in olives, seafood and organic fraud testing
- Sep 2025Regional subsidyOPZuid programme€0.35M
- 2026MarketsLaw enforcement, agriculture, healthcare, universities
Next Generation Sensors, CORDIS and Dutch register data via North Data.
The Money
The award was "grant first"; we found no EIC Fund investment or private round. The company's recorded funding is public: a €50,000 SME Instrument grant in 2019, the EIC grant and the 2025 regional subsidy. Its accounts were not accessible for this article.
What cannot be checked
How many devices Next Generation Sensors has sold, to whom, its revenue and how the device performed in the food pilots are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
On-site testing could catch contaminated or fraudulent food earlier in the supply chain. The EIC funded that goal. The company has since broadened to drug detection for police; the food-safety result the EU paid for has no public evidence of uptake.
What the project promised
The first portable mass spectrometer for rapid on-site food contaminant testing.
What the record shows
Pilot devices tested with food companies, a broader product aimed also at narcotics, and no sales data.
The Verdict
A working device, a shifting market
SAFE-FOOD produced working portable analysers and field pilots. The company now pitches them as much to police as to food producers, and the public record shows no customers in either market.
Next Generation Sensors has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on company statements, EU project data and Dutch register information, linked throughout.
Industry
Industrial technologyAnalytical instruments
- Focus
- Portable analysers
- Technologies
- Mass spectrometry
- Spectroscopy
- Keywords
- Food safety
- Forensic science
- Drug detection
- Contaminant testing