"The alliance will develop technological solutions to address the major challenges facing the food and marine industry
We have sealed an alliance with AZTI to accelerate sustainable and digital innovation in the agri-food sector and the blue economy
TECNALIA and AZTI have signed a collaboration alliance in order to accelerate the technological transformation of the agri-food sector and the blue economy.
This strategic agreement came about with a clear purpose: to promote the development of advanced, sustainable and digital solutions to address the main global challenges of the sector, such as climate change, energy efficiency, natural resource management or increasing business competitiveness.
An alliance to accelerate innovation and industrial impact
The collaboration between TECNALIA and AZTI will enable them to integrate their capacities to offer technological solutions that are more comprehensive, competitive and have a greater impact, facilitating:
- Acceleration of innovation processes
- Optimisation of infrastructures and technological assets
- Reduction in development times
- Creation of highly specialised multidisciplinary teams
Together, this alliance reinforces a model based on open innovation and cooperation, aimed at generating value for companies, public administrations and society as a whole.
According to Jesús Valero, Managing Director of TECNALIA, "the alliance seeks to act as a competitiveness tool for industry by accelerating innovation processes, reducing technological development times and increasing the capacity to respond to an increasingly demanding and changing context".
Technology for the entire agri-food value chain
The alliance will have an impact on the entire agri-food value chain, integrating advanced capabilities in key areas such as:
- Industrial digitalisation, artificial intelligence, robotics and sensors
- New materials and industrial biotechnology
- Sustainable food systems and development of new foods
- Nutrition, health and advanced analytics
- Circular economy and recovery of by-products
This approach will enable innovative solutions to be developed not only for producers and processors, but also for ancillary companies, ingredient manufacturers, industrial suppliers and the packaging sector, helping to increase the competitiveness of the ecosystem.
Digitalisation and sustainability as areas of transformation
One of the key pillars of this alliance will be the use of digital technologies to move towards more efficient and sustainable models. We will work together on the development of solutions to monitor and manage aquatic ecosystems, incorporating advanced data analysis tools that enable:
- Production processes to be optimised
- Environmental impact to be reduced
- Operational efficiency to be increased
- Waste in the value chain to be minimised
The blue economy and new business opportunities to be boosted
The alliance also reinforces the development of the blue economy, based on the sustainable use of marine resources as a driving force for growth, innovation and sustainability.
The main lines of work include:
- The recovery of marine resources to generate higher value-added products
- The development of new technological solutions for the marine industry
- Boosting blue biotechnology, through bioprocesses, advanced fermentation and new marine-based functional foods
These initiatives will help to open up new business opportunities and strengthen the sector’s position in an increasingly demanding global context.
The Basque Country, a benchmark in agri-food innovation
Through this alliance, TECNALIA and AZTI will reinforce the positioning of the Basque Country as a European hub for sustainable and digital agri-food innovation, capable of leading the transformation of the sector and generating economic, social and environmental impact.