Valencia Innovation Agency (AVI) allocated More than 11 million Euros since 2018 to support the development of innovation projects for the agri-food sectorAs Olivia Estrella, AVI’s general secretary, stated during the presentation of the Agency’s new call for help in competitive competition at an online conference organized by the Ainia institute of technology.
In the last four years, AVI has financed approx. 70 support requests for the development of innovative solutions that address the key challenges of the primary sector and the food industry, such as healthier food production, increasing flexibility and safety in food production, and promoting agricultural sensitivity.
Most of the initiatives that receive the Agency’s support are in line with the results of the expert committees that advise AVI in identifying challenges and priority solutions for improving the Valencian Community’s production system. Moreover, one of these groups, consisting of representatives of the scientific community, technological institutes and business, has already specifically identified the main opportunities for innovation in the field of agri-food.
Through these incentives, different representatives of the innovation system cooperate in the development of the innovation system. New technologies for early detection of pestsmore effective and sustainable treatments against them; foods and ingredients with beneficial effects for humans, new ways to recycle waste on the field, more sustainable packaging that delays expiration, or optimized systems for the control of pathogens in production lines, among other projects.
In the section on beneficiaries, the role of Ainia, a technology center specializing in agri-food, that has received more than €1.3 million in assistance to run eight innovation initiatives, as detailed by the Agency’s secretary general, is highlighted.
In her speech, Estrella also underlined the versatility of this institute, which has expanded its capabilities into other areas of knowledge such as healthcare or the circular economy. In this way, Ainia is involved in the development of new systems for detecting defects in food packaging or extracting functional components from agricultural residues, while also participating in projects for brine recovery or designing a robotic assistant for diagnosing diseases. cancer in dermatology.
Success Stories
In full, the day was counted to reveal different success stories, with the contribution of representatives of the companies Cleanity and Grupo Gimeno, in which this institute actively cooperates with other representatives of the innovation system.
In particular, Cleaning project manager Alexandre Martínez described the progress in the development of a system. biotech pathogen removal system with application in healthcare and food industry settings; A joint project with Lumensia Sensors and three research centers (Fisabio, IATA-CSIC, ICMol-UV) in addition to Ainia.
gain biofertilizers, bioplastics and biogas from sewage sludge for its part, it focused on the intervention of Rubén García, the R&D technician of the Gimeno Group, who reviewed different Agency-funded projects through R&D support programs such as Bioferes and Bioedaria, run in collaboration with Ainia.
In this sense, Olivia Estrella, AVI’s general secretary, encouraged representatives of the innovation system to join the new €50m aid call that the agency has just launched.
“With this projected budget support about 450 help apps “For the development of joint R&D projects, most of which are associated with strategic collaboration projects and support programs for the business value chain that have the greatest impact on the productive fabric,” Estrella continued, “The application period for these incentives will remain open until May 6.
Cristina del Campo, CEO of Ainia, underlined the role of technological institutes, and in this case Ainia, “as a technological ‘partner’ with great potential to accompany companies on innovation projects. To do this, they have to take a long time to help them overcome their innovation challenges.” We have a highly qualified team with years of technological knowledge and state-of-the-art facilities and equipment”. owned by Ainia 1600 clients and more than 200 projects developing R&D per year, many of which are linked to AVI lines, to help companies be more competitive.
Eduardo Viana, head of the Valencia Innovation System Collaboration Service, also attended the webinar, detailing the different types of programs and grants; and Andrés Pascual, the center’s innovation director, revealed Ainia’s main lines of work and its connection to the challenges and solutions that the Agency prioritized in its call.