Clusaga promotes SmartLabels and HSI-FOOD projects to foster innovation in the food industry

Submitted by Roberto Alonso on 03 November 2020

The Galicia Food & Drink Cluster (Clusaga) participates in the national collaborative projects SmartLabels and HSI-FOOD, which have been selected in the last call for the national support programme for clusters (Agrupaciones Empresariales Innovadoras), convened by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, with the aim of improving competitiveness and progress towards the factory of the future in the Galician food industry. The projects, which have been selected from a total of more than 250 applications, involve an investment of close to 400,000€ and will run until March 2021. Different technology centres, clusters and food companies participate in these projects. The development of SmartLabels and HSI-FOOD will mean a boost in R&D and a reinforcement of the innovative capacity in the Galician food industry, two of the main lines of action of Clusaga's strategic plan, in addition to favouring cooperation between companies and technology and research centres.

HSI-FOOD, a project to improve the quality control of raw materials and products

The HSI-FOOD project aims to test the use of hyperspectral photonic technology for the determination of quality parameters in raw materials and final products, developing mathematical models for different food matrices. This will allow to assess the fit of this technology and of the mathematical models developed in the productive processes of companies, using machine learning techniques and intensive computational processing systems.

Clusaga coordinates this project in which the food companies Galifresh and Daveiga and the technology centre ANFACO-CECOPESCA also participate, all of them members of Clusaga.

SmartLabels, development of smart labels based on contactless technology

Similarly, SmartLabels is an inter-cluster and cross-regional initiative, promoted by clusters of the regions of Catalonia and Galicia. The project aims to develop and test new printing technologies for the manufacture of contactless smart labels.

The project will test NFC printed electronics technologies and two-dimensional codes with invisible inks. Its development will allow companies in the wine sector to evaluate the benefits and viability of integrating these technologies into the production processes of the wineries in order to carry out a more exhaustive control of the traceability. The use of this type of smart labels in food packaging will improve aspects such as traceability, authentication, monitoring or marketing.

The consortium for this project, led by the Packaging Cluster of Catalonia, includes Clusaga, EURECAT Centre Tecnològic de Catalunya and the companies IPE Industria Gráfica, Bodegas Paco & Lola and Bodegas Matarromera.

Cluster organisation
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