TECNALIA and TranXforma FOOD join forces to boost the sustainable transformation of the agri-food sector
The collaboration aims to boost the agri-food industry ecosystem by training and connecting the different actors in the chain, especially SMEs.
The TECNALIA research and technological development centre and the TranXforma FOOD innovation platform have joined forces to boost the agri-food industry ecosystem. These are two key players in this sector, who will join forces and combine capacities to promote the sustainable transformation of the agri-food industry, focusing mainly on SMEs and on the projects that can be developed within the framework of this collaboration.
The aim is to promote innovation in an essential sector, complementing and enriching other existing instruments of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. To this end, they have signed a collaboration agreement within the framework of the Food4Future fair, held in Bilbao in May.
TranXforma FOOD is an initiative aimed at promoting the sustainable transformation of SMEs in the agri-food industry through innovation. It bases its activity on the development of collaborative projects between corporations and innovation-generating entities (technology centres, universities, etc.) based on the identification of industry challenges and their subsequent resolution.
TECNALIA is the largest applied research and technological development centre in Spain, a benchmark in Europe and a member of the Basque Research and Technology Alliance. It collaborates with companies and institutions to improve their competitiveness, people’s quality of life and achieve sustainable growth. Thus, it has more than 35 strategic alliances all over the world with research centres and benchmark companies, a network that continues to grow with agreements such as the one with Tranxforma Food.
“With this new alliance, we contribute knowledge and experience as a technology centre in order to dynamise the agri-food industry ecosystem and, more specifically, to boost it and generate new business opportunities”, says Jesús Valero, CEO of TECNALIA. In addition, the technology centre will participate in the TranXforma FOOD Platform’s Board of Directors and will acquire the status of “mentor”, advising on projects and contributing its knowledge and experience.
Platform for innovative SMEs
TranXforma FOOD is developing a project to boost innovation in order to promote the sustainable transformation of SMEs in the agri-food industry. This new initiative aims to articulate the development of collaborative projects between SMEs and startups, seeking solutions to challenges that generate new market opportunities.
According to José María Cobo, founder and CEO of TranXforma FOOD, the company’s methodology consists of a “company building” model, and its subsequent scaling, which allows the identified objectives to be achieved: reconversion of business models, retention of talent, generation of innovation, increasing investment and positioning the Spanish agri-food sector as a relevant and priority sector on an international level.
At present, TranXforma FOOD is already working on different projects that are at an advanced stage of development, acting in the areas of preserving food quality and shelf life, the generation of biocompostable thermoplastics for food use and the use of biomass from agricultural production, among others.
