AVS Consulting and PONS IP present EcoFood 2023, the largest innovation ecosystem in the Spanish agri-food sector

Proposal addressed to PERTE Agri-food

The value proposition of Ecofood2023 involves addressing the R&D&i of the main value chains of the food sector through 12 autonomous communities.

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AVS CONSULTING y PONS IP, leading consultancies in their respective fields of public aid management R+D and technology management and industrial property respectively, have presented EcoFood 2023, the largest innovation ecosystem in the Spanish agri-food sector with nearly 100 member companies that will be presented at the next call for applications. PERTE Agri-Food within the framework of Transformation, Recovery and Resilience Plan financed by the European Commission with a proposal that will require an investment of more than 100 million euros and will involve the creation of nearly 2.000 direct jobs and the maintenance of 4.500 existing ones linked to EcoFood2023 companies.

 

The value proposition of Ecofood2023 involves addressing the R&D&I of the main value chains of the food sector through 12 autonomous communities such as the Valencian Community, Catalonia, Region of Murcia, Galicia, Castilla La Mancha, Madrid, Castilla y León, Andalusia, La Rioja, Asturias, Basque Country and Extremadura. Thus, the EcoFood2023 initiative proposes to work on 41 coordinated projects that cover practically all technological advances in 9 strategic value chains for the sector such as wine, beverages, fruits and vegetables, meat products, sweets, dairy products. , the bakeries and the fishing activity.

 

EcoFood2023, open call

 

Currently, the project is still in the recruitment phase of Spanish companies in the agri-food sector that may be interested in joining EcoFood, given that the objective of the promoters is to achieve up to 150 members before the formal presentation of the project to the PERTE Agri-Food addressed to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism. Companies can participate with different degrees of integration, with individual, transversal or coordinated projects.ated, and always maintaining the individual confidentiality of their R&D&i and the reserve of their Industrial property. Thanks to Ecofood, companies can definitely access the Next Generation funds, in a call that will be published in November 2022, it will be resolved on the 1st Tim of 2023.

 

For each of these sectors, R&D&I projects will be developed that allow the incorporation of new technologies for critical areas such as food traceability, environmental protection or energy saving measures with the aim of modernizing the sector through innovation in the value chain, the digital transition, the ecological transition and training actions for employees.

 

This project was born with an innovative vocation, also in management. Thus, EcoFood2023 will have a Technology Management led by AVS CONSULTING and PONS IP where, according to both promoting entities, industrial property will be one of the main tools for the management of innovation with the objective of supporting partners in a transversal way in the identification and definition of protection strategies and enhancement of the assets that are generated.

 

The EcoFood2023 initiative proposes to work on 41 coordinated projects that cover practically all technological advances in 9 strategic value chains for the sector.

 

In that sense Nuria Marcos, general director of PONS IP, pointed out that Ecofood “is a great opportunity to accelerate innovation in the agri-food industry in its broadest sense, promoting aspects such as food traceability or the automation of industrial processes towards more sustainable models. At PONS IP we work with companies in this sector that are already aware of industrial property management as a fundamental factor within their R&D&I systems. They are already protecting their brands, their software, their products and processes…With this initiative we intend to go one step further and generalize these good practices.”

 

Meanwhile Raúl Natividad, CEO of AVS Consulting, stressed that Ecofood is an “unprecedented” opportunity for agri-food industrial companies throughout the country, and also for general technology companies that develop technologies applicable in the Agri-food world. “Ecofood is, in short, a flexible platform in which the company can easily place its advances in R&D&I, digitalization and investments in the Circular Economy over the next 3 years to reach up to 70% Subsidy.”

 

The presentation day of EcoFood2023, held at the headquarters of PONS Foundation in Madrid, had a broad institutional presence with the participation of Miguel Garrido. President of CEIM, Luis Socías, Head of the CEOE European Projects Office¸ Angel of Otheus DG of Agriculture, Livestock and Food. and Galo Gutierrez, General Director of Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises of the Ministry of Industry.

The importance of R&D in the food sector

 

Internal investment in Research and Development (R&D) in the agri-food field in 2020 was 845 million euros, which represents an increase of 3,6% compared to the previous year and 13% in relation to the average of the last five years. This figure represents 5,4% of total national spending on internal R&D activities in Spain in 2020, according to the study “Innovation in the Agri-Food Sector”, which the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) posted on their website

 

At European level, Spain is classified in 2020 as a “moderate innovative” country. Our country occupies 16th place in the EU-27 as a whole, both in public spending on R&D (0,54% of GDP compared to the EU average of 0,73% of GDP), and in in R&D of the business sector (0,70% of GDP compared to average UE 1,46% s/GDP).

 

In Spain there are 2.103 companies in the agri-food sector that develop technological innovation, with an expenditure of 959,4 million euros. The role of the agri-food industry stands out, both in number of companies (1.490, 23% of the total companies in the branch with more than 10 employees) and in spending (€799 M, 4,7% of total spending on innovation ), only surpassed in the industrial sector by the pharmaceutical and motor vehicle industries. In Spain, the agri-food sector is made up of 914.000 agricultural and livestock farms, more than 30.200 industries and 24.000 commercial stores. In 2021 it accounted for 9,2% of the total Spanish GDP and generated 2,3 million direct and indirect jobs. In addition, it is the fourth largest value of agricultural production in the European Union, with more than 56.000 million euros.