Monday 03 June 2024 at 17:00
At the premises of the Alexandrian Innovation Zone
The Region of Central Macedonia and the Agrotechnological Export Cluster (ATECluster) organised a Workshop – Brainstorm Session entitled “Food Biotechnology – the Region’s Future“, which took place within the framework of the European Biotech4Food project developed by the I4CE partnership.
The Biotech4Food project aims to facilitate investment and innovation in new value chains between biotechnology and agri-food industries through interregional partnerships. The agri-food industry is called upon to become more sustainable by implementing circular production practices, effectively utilizing biomass resources, connecting with consumer demands and responding to global nutrition, protein and health challenges. The programme focuses on industrial biotechnology (fermentation, enzymes, microbial proteins, etc.) with the development of innovative biotechnology solutions (TRL6+level).
The workshop was developed in three different axes to establish the setup for the following discussion concerning the future of biotechnology in the Region of Central Macedonia (GR):
Research
Presentations from CERTH/INAB (center for Research & Technology Hellas/ Institute of Applied Biosciences) presenting “Applications of Microbial Biotechnology in the production of value-added products” by Dr. Makris and “Exploitation of bio-data to improve the value chain of iconic and dynamic food products” by Professor Dr. Notis Anagnostou.
Industry
Presentations of the respective innovation projects (biotechnology based) from the 3 Greek partners of the Biotech4Food project, KOUKAKIS FARM, EVYP and PROVYL.
Presentations have been also given by innovative startups in biotechnology, AGRONOW “The use of AI in food safety – FOODAKAI” and HELIX SPIROULINA “Functional Food and Spiroulina”.
Innovation
Presentations by Mrs Maria Goulapsi, RCM, concerning the state of biotechnology in the region of Central Macedonia and by Mr. Theodoros Tsamourtzis, ATECluster analysing the findings of the Biotech4Food’ on-line survey concerning the biotechnology use within the respective regions of the project’s partners.
The discussion that took place was focused both on the challenges related to the application of biotechnology in the food industry at regional level and on the necessary actions/ measures that should be taken by the region to improve/ facilitate the use of biotechnology.
The following issues have been raised:
Research
Research stands relatively high in producing results (both basic and applied research) and being involved in innovative projects.
Unfortunately, the number of startups coming out of universities is very low due to a lack of entrepreneurial skills and access to finding.
Stronger on-going collaboration between RTOs and industries is required, beyond standalone projects. It needs to be facilitated both by research, university and regional authorities.
Large scale pilot plants are missing thus forcing both research and industry to abandon innovative projects as they cannot scale up laboratory results.
Industry
Industry is relatively reluctant to adopt biotechnology improvements to products mainly due to additional higher investments and technical expertise required.
Improvement of production processes is required to adopt for biotechnology.
Market penetration of biotechnology involved products is low and difficult to achieve.
Innovation
Create/ organize a strong ecosystem that favors startup creation in the food industry.
More interesting sectors to further look at the RCM level such as Plant based foods/ Use of alternative proteins (fruit, vegetables, fish, algae), Fermentation/ Enzymes/ Precision fermentation (milk, olives, wine), Probiotics (functional foods), Emulsifiers (baked goods).
Financial barriers (high investments costs).
Other
Consumers’ perception (not trained to understand food biotechnology related issues such as safety, ethics, etc).
Regulatory issues at EU level.
Health and safety concerns.
Concerns about the use of biotechnology (GMOs) for food applications without adequate safety studies or without proper information of the consumers.
In the context of circular economy and the reuse of bio-products ensure the qualitative characteristics of the fermentation feedstocks so as not to introduce harmful/toxic compounds (e.g. heavy metals, antibiotics etc.) in the food chain.
What do you think about all these questions? What do you think about the term biotechnology? We would like to hear your views to understand how people react to this new technology. Also to prepare new content that may be of interest to people outside the biotechnology sector. Write your comment in the section below!
