FoodPackLab Pilot Event in Barcelona

On 18 December 2018, the FoodPackLab coordinator secpho collaborated with the Cluster Foodservice, organizing an innovation workshop about how to apply photonics technologies in the food industry. The event was hosted by the Institut de Ciències Fotòniques (ICFO). The objective of the event was the identification of technological solutions to challenges in the field of food that can be addressed through collaborative innovation projects.

More than fifty key agents in the innovation of the food industry and experts in photonic technologies gathered on this day, including: AINIA, ALBA SYNCHROTRON, AUDENS FOOD, BCB Computing and Control, BIOD, BSH Electrodomésticos, CEIT, COCUUS, COHERENT ROFIN, COLORSENSING, EURECAT, FRIT RAVICH, ÁLAVA GROUP, GUSTOS, HAMAMATSU Photonics, IBEROPTICS, ICFO, IRIS, IRTA, LASER 2000, LEITAT, MONOCROM, PHOTON LINES, PONTI STRATEGIC IP, RADI, SAMTACK, SERHS FOOD, SOTHIS , TEKNIKER, TUPINAMBA, VISIONA Industrial Control, XARLOT, besides the support of Packaging Cluster and ACCIÓ. You can see the photo album of the event here.

The format of the day was very dynamic and was fully focused on providing value to the attendees, so they could choose which debate to attend or who to do networking with. Thus the event was organized in four blocks:

DISCOVER, which consisted of a session of short presentations on the technological trends in the field of photonics applied to the food industry. At the beginning of this session, secpho presented the new issue of its magazine light! directed to the food industry. You can look at it it by clicking here.

GENERATE, the core of the workshop, fully interactive to generate collaborative innovation projects. In this block, four consecutive debates were organized around these challenges: C1 · Rapid methods for the detection of acrylamine during the processing of food; C2 · Detection and control of allergens in prepared foods; C3 · Development of active and intelligent packaging for the conservation of fresh foods; C4 · Monitoring of the cold chain.

CONNECT, which consisted of 30-minute B2B sessions to strengthen ties and generate trust among the participants, carried out in parallel to the debates and also after lunch.

TECHNICAL VISIT to two ICFO laboratories, from which an approximation was given to his work on graphene, as well as to the innovative technology of the SIXSENSO spin-off on the detection of microorganisms in liquids.

All attendees were very happy about the event outcome and their connections made thanks to it, since it really showed that there is a need for innovative technologies in the food sector based on photonics. Hopefully all the connections promoted will lead to innovative collaborative projects. 

If you are interested in finding out more about the presentations held during the DISCOVER block, you can get in touch with Sergio Saez (sergio.saez@secpho.org) who can put you in contact with the companies you would like to get to know better.

Below you may find some photos from the event.