Today marks a key milestone for the AgriFoodTech sector in Europe, as the first regulatory sandbox for the agrifood industry lands in Spain, more specifically in Navarra. This initiative is a joint venture between the ministries of Science and Innovation and Agriculture and Food, the regions of Navarra and La Rioja and CNTA, and it will be managed and implemented through CNTA’s Food innovation Hub EATEX.
Regulatory sandboxes are powerful tools to test and challenge novel technologies, products, services and other innovative ventures which have not yet received full regulatory clearance. Through these controlled environments, different participating stakeholders can extract invaluable lessons applicable to their case study, define novel added-value applications as well as identify rules and regulations that might be lacking or in need of improvement to define the necessary operational framework. They also represent a communication space that fosters exchanges between parties.
The EU had already deployed some other regulatory sandboxes for other strategic areas, like AI or blockchain technologies, but has now moved on to expand them to the food technology sector. This way, Spain spearheads the use of such approaches to foster and accelerate innovation in the field, which will also include many biotech applications (e.g., precision fermentation, biomass processing, etc.).
For its first call of projects, the main areas of innovation will include the development of new ingredients, formulation of novel products, new strategies for packaging and conservation, or the valorization of residues and co-products from other value chains, to mention a few.
April, 11th, 2025
