December and January news
We close 2022 and open 2023 with good news for the Innovation sector: PERTE Circular Economy and PERTE Agroalimentario start calls for grants to contribute to industrial and business growth with the injection of European Next Generation funds. In addition, the PTV presents its Innovation Awards in recognition of Spanish wine R&D&I.
First call 2023 of the Agri-Food PERTE is now open
The 2023 call for applications for aid for actions to strengthen the food industry within the PERTE Agroalimentario is now open. The application period will remain open until 28 February 2023.
This call is endowed with 510 million euros, of which 310 million will be granted in the form of a subsidy and 200 million in the form of a loan, with the possibility of increasing by an additional 200 million.
The aid will be available to groups without legal personality that have established, prior to the submission of the application, an internal agreement governing its operation, and that meet the requirements set out in the order. These groups must be made up of a minimum of 4 entities and a maximum of 60 entities. Only private commercial companies, cooperative societies and Agricultural Transformation Societies may form part of them.
Each group may present a single tractor project, which will be made up of a set of primary projects -individual and in cooperation-, through which the actions defined in the blocks of competitiveness, traceability and food safety are covered.
All the primary projects must in turn fall within one of the types of projects in the lines of research, development and innovation, as well as innovation in environmental protection and energy efficiency, as defined in the regulatory bases.
The call provides for the possibility of granting aid in the form of a grant, a loan (0% interest rate) or a combination of both, and the aid will be disbursed prior to the implementation of the projects benefiting from this PERTE Agroalimentario aid.
More information about the call: Disposición 23727 del BOE núm. 312 de 2022.
The PTV Innovation Awards 2022 are presented
On 14 December, the Wine Technology Platform presented its Innovation Awards. A recognition of the commitment of the wine sector as a whole to R&D&I that highlights the value of innovative initiatives aimed at improving the competitiveness of the Spanish wine sector.
This year 2022 we have had the honour of participating, on behalf of the technological agents of the PTV, among the members of the Jury that selected the winners. Thus, we have assessed all the nominations received together with representatives of strategic entities and institutions for the wine sector such as: the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the State Research Agency of the Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Centre for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI Innovation), the Spanish Wine Interprofessional Organisation (OIVE), AgroBank and representatives of the Technical Commission and the International Scientific Committee of the PTV.
This recognition of R&D&I in the wine sector awards five prizes in four categories: Young Researcher Award -sponsored by AgroBank with a prize of €3,000 for the winner-, R&D&I Project -Individual and Consortium-, R&D&I Management and Honorary Award.
- Young Researcher: Cristian Vaquero Miguel, researcher at the UPM, for his work “Improving the freshness and acidity of wines from warm areas through fermentation biotechnologies and emerging non-thermal technologies”.
- Honorary Prize: Mr José Antonio Suárez Lepe, researcher and professor at the UPM.
- Individual Project: Bodega González-Byass Jerez for its project “The fingerprint of sherry by means of nuclear magnetic resonance”.
- Consortium Project: Bodega Matarromera for its initiative “Development of advanced microbiology with differentiated properties for the optimisation and improvement of oenological processes” (INNOMICROVIN).
- R&D&I Management: Wine Technology Centre (VITEC) for the highest number of R&D&I projects promoted and approved during 2021.
First call for PERTE Circular Economy grants
The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has launched the first call for aid worth 192 million euros corresponding to line 2 of the Circular Economy PERTE to promote the implementation of circular economy projects in the business sector.
With this call, the MITECO seeks to promote the sustainability and circularity of industrial processes through the implementation of strategic R&D&I projects, the deadline for submission of which closed on 21 January 2023.
The aid, which will be financed in accordance with the provisions of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, will be granted in the form of subsidies on a competitive basis and includes four categories of eligible actions:
- Reduction of the consumption of virgin raw materials, endowed with €48,065,000.
- Ecodesign and placing on the market of products made under ecodesign schemes, endowed with €70,730,000.
- Improvement of waste management, with a budget of €43,205,000.
- Digital transformation of processes through infrastructures and systems, with €30,000,000.
The amount granted for the total of each investment will range from a minimum of €150,000 to a maximum of €10 million per project and entity, except in the case of feasibility studies and digitalisation projects, which will have a maximum amount of €5 million.
The deadlines for the implementation of the projects submitted will vary according to the amount of aid allocated:
- Deadline of 31 December 2023 for projects with aid between €150,000 and €400,000.
- Deadline of 31 December 2024 at the latest for projects with support between €400,000 and €2,500,000.
- Deadline of 31 December 2025 for projects with support between €2,500,000 and €10,000,000.
More information about the rules of the call for proposals can be found in the publication published in the BOE on 7 December 2022.
