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Innovation opportunities for the functional and healthy food sector

4 de September de 2023

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FEDACOVA

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The next Innotransfer forum will bring together companies, technology institutes, researchers, entrepreneurs and professionals from the food value chain on 25 May at the Polytechnic City of Innovation to address key challenges in the field of the microbiome and bioavailability.

The face-to-face and online event “Microbiome and Bioavailability. Key challenges for the value chain of the food sector” aims to give visibility to the opportunities for innovation in the field of microbiome and bioavailability. This technical meeting to be held in the auditorium of the blue cube of the Universitat Politècnica de València science park from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. will offer a global vision of the tools that science provides to know in advance the interactions between processed foods and their nutrients during digestion and their implication in digestibility and bioavailability. From the point of view of human health, this scientific-technical concept allows the development of functional foods for specific individuals or populations of interest.

To this end, the conference will also showcase success stories in the development of products and services based on this knowledge, as well as challenges and possible solutions to the challenges faced by the healthy food sector. These innovation challenges have been identified by the Polytechnic City of Innovation (CPI), a science park of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), with the collaboration of FEDACOVA, AINIA, BIOVAL, FOODUPV and FISABIO.

Knowing the bioaccessibility of nutrients is of great importance for the agri-food industry, the health sector and, in general, any service related to the well-being of people that originates from food. This fact allows, for example, to evaluate the release processes and efficiency of bioactive compounds, probiotics and food supplements in simulated gastrointestinal conditions, as well as the gastrointestinal resistance of compounds present in food that are potentially harmful, and even the digestibility and absorption of nutrients in altered gastrointestinal conditions, either due to age or as a consequence of chronic diseases.

The Innotransfer initiative is supported by the Agència Valencia de la Innovació (AVI) as a key activity framed within the priorities detected by the agency’s Specialised Strategic Innovation Committees (CEIE).

 

About INNOTRANSFER

Innotransfer is a multisectoral open innovation initiative promoted by the Network of Science Parks of the Valencian Community and funded by the Valencian Innovation Agency, which aims to create socio-economic impact in the Valencian Community through innovation. The initiative is coordinated by the Polytechnic City of Innovation, together with the science parks of the Valencian Community. Since 2019, the open innovation platform has managed more than 250 innovation solutions responding to more than 50 innovation challenges from the Valencian industrial, services, technology and agri-food ecosystem. It currently has a network of more than 100 Innotransfer managers from more than 60 collaborating entities in the Valencian Community. The five Valencian public universities, business and technology associations, technology institutes, institutes and research centres and organisations from the Valencian innovation ecosystem are part of the lnnotransfer initiative.