foodinnovation Archives - Eatable Adventures

Eatex Food Innovation Hub launches its second call to promote technology transfer in the agri-food sector.

23/02/2023/in Challenge, Foodtech, Open Innovation, Partnership/by Eatable Adventures

The Hub has opened the application period for Exponential projects to participate in its innovation and technology transfer program.
The program promotes and finances collaborative R&D projects to develop innovative technological solutions that can be transferred from R&D centers to the agri-food industry.

Eatex Food Innovation Hub, the collaborative innovation hub for the transfer and implementation of technology in the agri-food industry has opened the deadline for receiving applications for exponential projects for the Innovation and Technology Transfer Development Program. The program is part of the main activities developed by the hub to promote and finance collaborative R&D&I projects for the development of innovative technological solutions that can be transferred from R&D centers to the agri-food industry.
Created a few months ago, Eatex Food Innovation Hub is a project driven by CNTA (National Center for Food Technology and Safety), with the support of the Government of Navarra and the collaboration of more than 10 R&D centers of the Navarra R&D&I System (SINAI), which promotes technology transfer in the agri-food sector to improve business competitiveness and find solutions to the industrial challenges of today and the future. This open and applied innovation ecosystem adopts a holistic approach, based on the implementation of agile and advanced research dynamics and models.
The program is addressed to companies and startups from any geographical location and SINAI R&D centers operating in the agri-food sector seeking collaborative projects based on consortia between companies and R&D centers. The companies are the promoters and are responsible for defining the technological challenge and the R&D centers are the main executors of the research activities.
In addition, the program contemplates two different modalities: Express projects, with fast execution (maximum duration of 6 months projects), and Exponential projects (with R&D&I activities that address complex problems with a variable execution period (from several months up to 2 years)). Pre-application for both modalities is open continuously from December 2022 and upon approval, the application phase will start. For Express projects the call will be open continuously, while for Exponential projects the call will remain open until May 22, 2023.

The projects will address new proposals and solutions in six key research areas for the agri-food industry: Promotion of the Agriculture and Livestock of the Future, Search for New Ingredients and Production Models, Development of New Food and Beverages for a Healthy Diet, and Implementation of the 4.0 Industry and Hyperconnected Processes.
According to Silvia García de la Torre, director of Eatex Food Innovation Hub, “The Program for the development of innovation and technology transfer is a unique opportunity for companies in the agri-food sector to solve their industrial challenges in an agile way, optimizing their resources and minimizing innovation risk.”
More information about Eatex Food Innovation Hub at www.eatexfoodinnovationhub.com

Alianza Team® launches it’s new Open Innovation Portal

12/12/2022/in Open Innovation, Partnership/by Eatable Adventures

A new platform to address the challenges in the food industry
Alianza Team® is one of the leading innovation companies in Colombia, thanks to the development of 21 patent families and the confidence placed in global startup investments in the foodtech sector for 3M USD.

Alianza Team®, a Colombian-based corporate group, expert in lipids and fats and leader in the food sector, has announced the creation of a new Open Innovation Portal to foster collaboration between startups and industry, thus responding to the most important challenges of the sector, especially in the field of sustainability. This portal is aligned with the company’s aim of “nourishing a better tomorrow” through the development of innovative products and solutions to respond to new market and consumer needs.

The new open innovation platform was created by Albora, with the support of Eatable Adventures, one of the three most important food technology accelerators in the world. Startups that collaborate with the platform could benefit from an investment plan, access to Alianza Team’s ® facilities that are equipped with the latest technologies, and its logistics network, as well as the know-how of the company’s R&D team of professionals.

This is a unique opportunity to develop their innovative ideas and reach the market quickly, from the hand of one of the leading companies in open innovation in the food and beverage sector in Colombia and one of the 10 most innovative companies in Colombia according to the ANDI (National Business Association of Colombia), the most representative economic guild in that country. Alianza Team® has obtained these recognitions thanks to the development of 21 families of patents and the trust placed in global startup investments in the foodtech sector for 3M USD.

Let’s Raise the Bar Challenge

The innovation platform will kick off with the Let’s Raise The Bar challenge. Its first challenge aims to find the most disruptive startups in the soap industry, in all sectors, to obtain a sustainable raw material that offers a good quality product for its consumers and whose production is friendly to the planet.

Entrepreneurs who participate in this challenge could be able to partner with Alianza Team® for the development of new soap lines for future projects, or have the company’s collaboration for the design and manufacture of a specific product, optimizing costs and scaling through access to the company’s technology. They could also be able to potentially access other markets and obtain an investment plan.

“Innovation is part of the DNA of our company, being a value that we seek to promote in all areas internally and in the development of the value chain externally. Our commitment with our Open Innovation Portal is to promote an innovative ecosystem that leverages the growth of all the actors that are part of the chain,” said Maria Paula Rios, Vice President of Innovation and Digital Transformation of Alianza Team®.

In the words of Mila Valcárcel, Managing Partner of Eatable Adventures, “We are proud to launch this new innovation milestone with Alianza Team®, a leading company in the food industry and a pioneer in implementing innovative solutions to respond to and anticipate new market challenges. The collaboration between startups and industry offered by the open innovation model is key to develop and bring to market new products and proposals in a very fast and much more efficient way”.

For more information visit: www.albora.co/portal

Food 4 Future – Foodtech World Summit in Bilbao

28/04/2022/in Ecosystem, Events, Foodtech, Partnership, Uncategorized/by Eatable Adventures

Food 4 Future– Expo FoodTech (#F4F2022) the international reference forum where food and beverage industry professionals learn about the latest trends, solutions, and technologies to optimize and innovate throughout the value chain, will take place from May 17 to 19 in Bilbao.

This year, Food 4 Future celebrates its second edition which is expected to attract more than 7,000 congress participants and 253 exhibiting brands. A meeting point for innovation managers, IT managers, marketing managers, and CEOS of the food industry, emphasizes the major challenges of the industry: sustainability, food safety, and the digitization and automation of industrial production processes.

Food 4 Future encourages the transfer of knowledge and experience among international professionals and experts, including renowned scientists and researchers, startups that are redesigning the food industry, top chefs, and representatives of the public administration. Food 4 Future, organized by NEBEXT and AZTI, has the support of the Basque Government, the City Council of Bilbao, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, the BASQUE TRADE, ICEX, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of the Government of Spain; and the associations and collaborators that are leaders in this industry as HAZI, NEIKER, ELIKA, EIT Food, ILSI Europe, Food for Life, SPRI, Eatable Adventures, SanTelmo Business School or IASP (international association of science parks and innovation areas).

Agenda

The congress will feature more than 70 sessions and vertical forums for each sector of the agri-food industry, which will focus the debate on the major challenges facing the industry, with special emphasis on the application of automation and robotics, the transition to the new Industry 4.0, and content related to sustainable and healthy food.

As strategic partners in this event, we would like to highlight that Eatable Adventures’ Ecosystem Manager & Innovation Consultant Paula Álvarez Ameijeiras will moderate a round table where leaders in the industry such as Anthony Finbow, CEO of Eagle Genomics, Charis Galanakis, R&I Director of Galanakis Laboratories & Mathew Gorton from New Castle Unversity will be discussing “R&I for sustainable and healthy food systems” on May 17th at 12.00h.

Furthermore, Eatable Adventures’ Managing Partner & Co-Founder Mila Valcárcel will be speaking in a session about “Building a strong global foodtech ecosystem from Spain” on May 18th at 12.45h.

For more details about the Agenda of Food 4 Future Summit visit their webpage.

Baking the Future closes successfully its first edition and opens its doors to new startups with revolutionary ideas

22/03/2022/in Ecosystem, Foodtech, Partnership/by Eatable Adventures

The first edition of our acceleration program Baking the Future, came to an end yesterday with the celebration of the “Demo Day”, a virtual event that aimed to present the projects of the three accelerated startups and communicate the opening of a second edition.

Innovation is part of our DNA. The company itself was born from an idea that revolutionized the bakery sector and since then, Europastry has always sought to be at the forefront of the sector, anticipating new trends and offering its
customers the most disruptive products. “If you stop innovating you end up losing competitiveness and capacity for growth. That is why it is very important to keep reinventing yourself and never think that what you have is for life“, said Jordi Gallés.

The Baking the Future acceleration program plays a very important role in this constant renewal. Startups help us to innovate and open up new opportunities that allow us to take our products to the next dimension, while at the same time we provide them with all of Europastry’s muscle so that they can grow and develop their projects with the greatest possible resources.

“CEREAL DEMO DAY”

The celebration of the “Demo Day” took place at Cereal, Europastry’s Innovation Center, where the first idea was born and where today we continue to work with great passion to bring to market the best products in the sector. To conclude the first edition of the Baking the Future program, the three accelerated startups presented their projects whose drivers are sustainability and health:

The Chilean startup Done Properly with its cutting-edge technology which, through a bioprocess of fermentations, manages to reduce the amount of salt enhancing the natural flavors of food.
The Danish startup Agrain with its new way of producing food by recycling grains used in the brewing industry.
Spanish startup Bread Free, is the world’s first company capable of creating gluten-free wheat flour to make bread, pasta, and other bakery products.

BAKING THE FUTURE OPENS A NEW SELECTION PROCESS

Building an open innovation model for Europastry is the goal of the Baking the Future program. For this reason, we are opening a new selection process for Those startups that want to revolutionize the bakery sector with projects related to sustainability, improving the consumer experience, health, and food solutions and technologies aimed at improving production without losing sight of the quality of the products.

Starting today, those interested in being part of the project can apply on the Baking the Future website. Selected startups will have access to all the company’s resources – from mentoring sessions, workspace, and access to Cereal’s state-of-the-art technology labs to business plan design – to develop their products and test their viability in the market.

Meet the EAA Alumni: Ekonoke

24/02/2022/in Ecosystem, Foodtech, Interview, Partnership, Startups-article/by Eatable Adventures

Ekonoke is a Madrid-based company with a disruptive business model. It produces hops of the highest quality, ensuring sustainability and reliability of supply, and developing climate-resilient agricultural solutions with the least use of resources.

We had the opportunity to talk with Inés Sagrario, CEO and Co-founder of Ekonoke, which participated in our Eatable Adventures Acceleration Program (EAA) in 2019. Read on to learn more about Ekonoke’s experience as part of the acceleration program.

Could you narrate Ekonoke’s journey since you’ve been part of our accelerator program?

Ekonoke joined the Eatable Adventures Accelerator Program in September 2018. Our original project had nothing to do with what we are now. Even the partners at the beginning told us the project wasn’t quite right, but that they were confident in our team. We made fundamental decisions together to put the project on a better track, becoming who we are now.

In the first place, we suffered some confluence of our work with the Eatable Adventures team and the alterations of climate change we had to face. In March 2019 there was a beastly heatwave in Madrid, passing 40 degrees in the greenhouse, which was not prepared for it. This led to a drop in production, making us unable to get to serve customers we already committed with.
During this time we realized we couldn’t continue working in a greenhouse, and we had to switch to indoor cultivation.

With support from Eatable Adventures, we also realized that our vertical garden model focused on Horeca was not a scalable project, but rather an artisanal one. Responding to what our restaurant clients requested, we made our first change by offering ready-for-harvest live mini-gardens. Through Eatable, we were introduced to a variety of events, and in one of them, we met our partners Tallos microgreens. In combining the two projects, the brand Ekonoke was born.
Simultaneously, we continued testing with crops that did not have climate risk, one of them being hops, which has led us to what we are today.

Walk us through your rebranding process decision, why did you decide to focus only on one type of crop, as well as only selling your products at a B2B level?

We put together the situation Ekonoke was in at the time. On the one hand, our mini-gardens were not being profitable. Despite receiving very positive feedback from customers, we didn’t have the level of repetition that we had envisioned in our pre-covid business model.

On the other hand, having already been working with hops and being in contact with breweries, we realized that the brewing industry faced an important challenge of supplying their raw material sustainably and reliably.

Putting these two situations together, the answer was clear. One of the strongest supporters of our decision to completely change our business model has been Jose Luis Cabañero, CEO of Eatable Adventures.

What is the most valuable piece of advice you have received from Jose Luis in our Accelerator Program?

First of all, I would like to emphasize that the greatest advice I have received from Jose Luis was not really during the Acceleration Program period. Once you are part of the program, you create bonds, connections, and relationships that last a lifetime. It is very valuable to have a team behind your project with a vision and the ability to guide and support you as you make future decisions.

Having said that, the biggest piece of advice he told us was to decide to focus on growing hops. It was hard to accept and put aside our mini-garden project, but after long conversations with Jose Luis, he made us understand that the future of Ekonoke was in being a hops company.

Where do you envision Ekonoke in the short and long-term future?

In the short term, we are already working to have our first commercial-scale hop growing facility in Galicia. We want to show the world that different types of crops can be grown in different ways, starting with hops, so that food and ingredients do not have to travel thousands of miles, but rather the knowledge and technology will do.

In ideally 4-5 years, we will have our indoor hop growing facilities available worldwide, being the leading company that has completely revolutionized the hop industry.

Tag Archive for: foodinnovation

Eatex Food Innovation Hub launches its second call to promote technology transfer in the agri-food sector.

The Hub has opened the application period for Exponential projects to participate in its innovation and technology transfer program.

The program promotes and finances collaborative R&D projects to develop innovative technological solutions that can be transferred from R&D centers to the agri-food industry.