ALIBETOPÍAS 2022 focuses on cooperative R&D&I in the agri-food sector
The Innovation ecosystem of the Food and Beverage industry gathered at the eighth edition of ALIBETOPÍAS, an event organised by FIAB and the Food for Life Spainy Technology Platform, with our support among its main sponsors.
ALIBETOPÍAS 2022 showcased the latest advances in innovation, focusing on relevant topics such as digitalisation, entrepreneurship and the importance of public-private collaboration in the execution of R&D&I projects.
More than 300 R&D&I experts met on 27 October in Madrid to discuss the challenges that the food and beverage sector must face in order to improve its competitiveness and international positioning. This is “ALIBETOPÍAS: new territories in food and beverages“, now in its eighth edition and consolidating its position as the benchmark event for food and beverage innovation.
ALIBETOPÍAS 2022 presented the latest advances in innovation in a face-to-face event held in Madrid and organised by the Spanish Federation of Food and Drink Industries (FIAB) together with the Food for Life-Spain Technology Platform (PTF4LS). In addition, this event has counted, once again, with our support as one of its main sponsors.
Specifically, the conference focused on digitisation, entrepreneurship and innovation in nutrition and sustainability, highlighting new technologies and the collaborative economy as key drivers for improving the sustainability, efficiency and competitiveness of production processes.
Furthermore, the aim of this event is to make R&D&I in the food sector more visible and to raise awareness of the importance of integrating it into the day-to-day work of all the companies that make up this industry. Thus, during the inauguration of ALIBETOPÍAS 2022, the Director General of FIAB, Mauricio García de Quevedo, pointed out the need to commit to innovation, especially in view of the difficult international situation that is currently affecting companies and consumers. “We have been instilling for some time the need for all companies to invest in innovation, to understand it as another resource within their organisations and to begin to give it more prominence in their business strategies”.
ALIBETOPÍAS 2022 also highlighted the importance of public-private collaboration. In this regard, the role of the Food ForLife-Spain Technology Platform was highlighted, which in 2021 supported the implementation of more than 135 projects worth approximately 135 million euros.
Public funds to continue innovating
ALIBETOPÍAS 2022 was once again supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, which was represented by the Secretary General for Agriculture and Food, Fernando Miranda.
During his speech at the institutional welcome to the conference, Miranda underlined the MAPA’s commitment to innovation as a fundamental element to guarantee the sustainability of the agri-food sector, as well as the importance of public policies to help the agri-food sector to promote entrepreneurship through digitalisation.
In this regard, Fernando Miranda pointed out that Spain has more than 480 innovative projects of the AEI-Agri (19% of the total), the second country in number of initiatives, which shows the involvement of both the central administration and the autonomous communities in this process.
In addition, the MAPA has relied on the National Rural Development Programme (PNDR) 2014-2020 to promote the creation of 177 supra-autonomous operational groups and the implementation of 102 innovative projects, to which it has allocated a total of 70.34 million euros, as explained by the secretary general.
In addition, the ministry has been able to add 12.2 million euros to the PNDR from the European mechanism for reconstruction and resilience in the 2022 call, for which the 22 projects proposed for approval (out of a total of 117 applications) are already known.
Likewise, the secretary general referred to the importance that innovation will have in the new CAP and indicated that, in its new framework, the ministry will allocate a total of 75 million euros to these innovative projects of the operational groups, which, together with the funds programmed by the autonomous communities, amount to more than 160 million euros.
Ingenia Startup Awards
ALIBETOPÍAS also hosted the presentation of the Ingenia Startup Awards, which rewards innovation and business entrepreneurship. The fourth edition of these awards recognised DEEP DETECTION as the winner, a new generation of multispectral cameras more sensitive to the detection of foreign bodies that emerges as an alternative to the traditional technology used in production lines.
In the silver category was OSCILLUM, a company that develops and markets smart labels that indicate the freshness, quality and safety of the product through a colorimetric method.
And finally, INNOMY BIOTECH won the bronze award with an alternative food project that focuses on researching and developing products based on fungi that serve as raw materials for companies in the food sector, combining vegetable and fungal protein.
