Joint large scale R&D strategic projects in agri-food sector

Innovation and new technologies in agrifood need demonstrators and a joint effort between research, companies and users to scale up from labs to fields and then to market. Emilia-Romagna Region in 2015 launched a new supporting scheme to foster strategic industrial research projects targeted at priority areas of the Smart Specialization Strategy, including agri-food. Such scheme was intended to stimulate the evolution of regional cluster for innovation and competitiveness, based on a network of industrial research laboratories and technology transfer centers operating in strict connection with the business sector.
The funded strategic projects were addressed to the realization of new technological achievements relevant for key regional value chains, developing and testing technologies whose feasibility (proof of concept) has been already demonstrated. Projects had to focus on the technology validation in a laboratory environment and its demonstration in the industrial environment. They had to start from a TRL4 already acquired and plan to reach at least TRL6 at the end of the project.
Projects had to be implemented by consortia leaded by industrial research labs, part of the regional High Technology Network and had to ensure the effective participation of enterprises, involving at least two companies with headquarters in Emilia–Romagna. Actual industrial fallout of the results generated by projects will take advantage by a dedicated dissemination and exploitation plan.