artica+i: A Strategic Partner for Galicia’s Food Industry

artica+i: A Strategic Partner for Galicia’s Food Industry

Galicia’s food industry is a strategic sector that contributes between 6% and 8% of the region’s GDP and generates more than 150,000 jobs across its entire value chain. Its strength is built on key industries such as fisheries and seafood, dairy, meat, and wine, combining tradition, quality, and strong export capacity. Innovation—driven by digitalisation, sustainability, biotechnology, and new product development—is essential to maintaining the sector’s competitiveness.

In this context, the Galician Food Cluster (Clusaga) plays a fundamental role in promoting collaboration, innovation, and internationalisation across the sector. During its 2025 General Assembly, Clusaga presented its 2026–2029 Strategic Plan, focused on digital transformation, sustainability, and market expansion.

As a member of Clusaga since 2024, artica+i has positioned itself as a strategic partner for Galicia’s food industry, supporting innovation, digitalisation, sustainability, and industrial investment projects that strengthen the sector’s competitiveness and sustainable growth.

The food industry is one of the strategic pillars of Galicia’s economy and a major driver of the region’s economic, social, and territorial development. Thanks to the quality of its natural resources and its long-standing production tradition, Galicia has established itself as one of Spain’s leading agri-food regions.

In 2025, the agri-food sector generated between €11 billion and €13 billion in revenue, contributing between 6% and 8% of Galicia’s GDP directly, and more than 12% when the entire value chain is taken into account. It is also one of the three largest industrial sectors in Galicia in terms of turnover.

Its impact on employment and territorial cohesion is equally significant. The sector provides between 35,000 and 45,000 direct jobs in the food industry and more than 150,000 jobs across the entire agri-food value chain. This activity contributes to the sustainable development of rural areas by supporting population retention and stimulating local economic growth.

Key sectors of Galicia’s food industry

The strength of Galicia’s food industry lies in its diverse range of productive activities, combining tradition, quality, and export capacity.

The most prominent sectors include:

• Fisheries and seafood, where Galicia is a national and international leader thanks to its highly developed ecosystem encompassing fishing, aquaculture, and seafood processing.
• The dairy sector, one of Spain’s leading producers, increasingly focused on differentiation and the development of higher value-added products.
• The meat industry, particularly recognised for its high-quality beef and pork production.
• The wine sector, driven by its five Designations of Origin and growing international presence.

Together, these industries form a strong and diversified agri-food ecosystem capable of competing in global markets while maintaining deep regional roots.

Innovation as a driver of competitiveness

Innovation is a key factor in the growth and competitiveness of Galicia’s food industry. Digitalisation, automation, artificial intelligence, advanced traceability, and sustainability are transforming the sector’s production processes.

To address challenges such as operational efficiency, environmental sustainability, food safety, and evolving consumer demands, Galicia benefits from a robust innovation ecosystem comprising food companies, producers, technology firms, universities, public research organisations, and technology centres.

The sector’s innovation priorities are also aligned with the objectives of the Agri-food PERTE (Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation) and the policies of the European Union. They are structured around four major strategic areas:

• Digitalisation and advanced technologies
• Sustainability and the green transition
• Biotechnology and new product development
• Market positioning, differentiation, and added value

Clusaga: A Driving Force Behind Galicia’s Agri-food Sector

The Galician Food Cluster (Clusaga), of which artica+i has been a member since 2024, has established itself as a key organisation in the development and transformation of Galicia’s agri-food sector. It promotes innovation, sustainability, business cooperation, training, and improved sector-wide competitiveness.

On 11 June, Clusaga brought together its 254 members for its Annual General Assembly, held at the Museo Centro Gaiás in the Cidade da Cultura de Galicia. The event was attended by our Business Development Director, Fernando Boned.

Clusaga plays a strategic role by fostering collaboration among companies, technology centres, universities, public research organisations, and other stakeholders across the food value chain. Through innovation projects, training programmes, and internationalisation initiatives, it helps address key challenges such as digital transformation, sustainability, and access to new markets.

Among the highlights of the General Assembly was the presentation of the new 2026–2029 Strategic Plan, which aims to foster an innovative, sustainable, and highly competitive Galician food industry capable of succeeding in global markets.

Approved unanimously, the plan focuses on addressing the current and future challenges facing the sector in Galicia through:

• Digital transformation
• Environmental sustainability
• Expansion into new markets
• Strengthening the Galicia Brand

Galicia Food Forum & Awards

Following the General Assembly, Clusaga hosted the Galicia Food Forum and the 12th Galicia Food Awards, recognising excellence in innovation, sustainability, competitiveness, and quality within Galicia’s agri-food sector.

This year’s edition received more than 100 nominations, with nine companies receiving awards alongside a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Among the winners were several long-standing artica+i clients, including Paco & Lola Winery, Airas Moniz Dairy, Granja Campomayor, Ouro de Quiroga, Sacrapastas, Los Peperetes, Larsa, and Lugar da Veiga. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Higinio Mougán in recognition of his contribution to promoting agri-food cooperatives in Galicia.

The awards were presented in several categories:

• Outstanding Product Award, recognising exceptional products across three categories (liquids, land-based products, and Atlantic products), including Paco & Lola Prime wine, Ouro de Quiroga olive oil, Sacrapastas biscuits, and a collaborative product developed by Los Peperetes and Airas Moniz.
• Market Strategy and Business Development Award, presented to Larsa for its strong positioning based on Galician identity and pasture-based farming.
• Sustainability Initiative Award, jointly awarded to Airas Moniz and Lugar da Veiga for their responsible, locally focused production models.
• Innovation Initiative Award, presented to Conxemar Lab for its educational approach to promoting knowledge of the seafood value chain.
• Innovative Product Award, awarded to Granja Campomayor for its advanced-technology pasteurised egg product.

The event concluded with the Galicia Food Forum, where industry experts discussed competitiveness, sustainability, food sovereignty, and the global challenges facing the agri-food sector.

Galicia: A Strategic Region for Our Engineering and Innovation Consulting Services

In this context of transformation and growth, artica+i has positioned itself as a strategic partner for companies in Galicia’s food industry seeking to enhance their competitiveness through innovation.

Based in Santiago de Compostela, artica+i supports organisations in the design and implementation of technology and production investment projects, as well as R&D&I, digitalisation, and sustainability initiatives. We help companies access public and private funding, define innovation strategies, and identify opportunities for technological improvement.

Our extensive knowledge of innovation support programmes, combined with more than 30 years of experience working with industrial and agri-food companies, enables us to help Galician businesses develop projects aligned with the sector’s major challenges, including:

• Digital transformation
• Automation
• Decarbonisation
• Energy efficiency
• Circular economy
• Development of new products and production processes

Through our Engineering Business Unit, we are also actively involved in Galicia in the design, construction, commissioning, and expansion of agri-food production facilities, working with key clients such as Gadisa, Innolact, and Airas Moniz.

Thanks to this comprehensive approach, together with our strategic collaboration with organisations such as Clusaga, we contribute to strengthening the innovation capacity of Galicia’s business ecosystem, fostering value creation, sustainable growth, and the long-term competitiveness of one of the region’s most important industries.