Six BFFood startups and Clusaga’s Food-scalEUp and Value4Pack projects showcase their work at FOOD 4 FUTURE

The Galician Food Cluster (Clusaga) and the Business Factory Food (BFFood) participated from April 16 to 18, 2024, in the FOOD 4 FUTURE – EXPO FOODTECH trade fair, which took place in Bilbao. Several startups supported by BFFood—YowUp!, Gradhoc, Logicmelt, AMARELA LEAF WHEY, Ntente, and Remolonas—along with the Aula de Produtos Lácteos e Tecnoloxías Alimentarias and Bioga, were present at the group stand promoted by the Galician food sector accelerator.

This group participation was an excellent opportunity to establish new contacts and collaborations, increase the visibility of the work of the startups supported by BFFood, and also highlight the activities that Clusaga carries out through some of the projects in which it collaborates, such as Food-scalEUp or Value4Pack.

The startups involved had the opportunity to learn about other trends in the foodtech sector and, especially, to give visibility to their solutions and technologies. On one hand, companies from previous editions of BFFood participated. Thus, YowUp! showcased its range of dairy products for pets; Gradhoc presented an AI-based multi-protocol platform for monitoring and asset management, optimization and automation of refrigeration facilities, and preventive and predictive analysis; and Logicmelt displayed its plug & play AI-based smart camera system to detect anomalies in the food production chain and maximize food safety guarantees and information processing speed.

Companies from the current VI Edition of BFFood also attended. In this way, AMARELA LEAF WHEY presented a sustainable packaging solution for the dairy sector, which uses paper created from food by-products that increases the shelf life of food and its sustainability; NTENTE showed a communication solution to optimize the shopping experience and maximize brand visibility, as well as their location at different points of sale; and Remolonas launched its proposal to combat food waste through the creation of new distribution channels for production surpluses for their reintroduction into consumer channels.

Furthermore, the Clusaga team present at the fair participated in several sessions of the program. The round table “The Great Challenges of Packaging in the Food Industry,” held on April 17, was moderated by Noelia Dosil, coordinator of the Innovation, Digital Transformation, and Entrepreneurship Area; and Raquel Díaz, Project Technician from the same area, presented the European project Value4Pack, in which Clusaga participates. Other speakers included representatives from Vichy Catalan, Carrefour Shopping Centers, and Inèdit. The panel addressed major challenges related to the evolution of European regulations, consumer perception, and the operational and technological barriers that food companies must tackle.

Noelia Dosil also participated as a speaker in the round table “Implementation of high quality services for scaling up agri-foodtech startups: Success stories,” presenting the case of Business Factory Food through participation in the European project Food-scalEUp, which Clusaga coordinates. The session featured representatives from the Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency, CEIN, and Food Valley. They all also presented progress in their respective business acceleration pilots, which are being implemented through the Food-scalEUp project.