Fundación LAB Mediterráneo addresses open innovation on the sixth anniversary of Ftalks
Valencia, 19 June 2024. Fundación LAB Mediterráneo, a project promoted by the Employers’ Association of Valencia (AVE), supported, for the fourth year running, ftalks Food Summit, the leading international event in food innovation organized by KM ZERO Food Innovation Hub. With over 100 experts and over 100 entrepreneurial leaders in this same field.
In a round table moderated by Miguel Herrero, director general of Industria Alimentaria MAPA, Nuria Ballester, director of Strategy, Innovation and Communication of Logifruit, Mary Carmen Vidal, product development manager of the Dacsa Group, Guillermo Berlanga, director of Innovation of the Gimeno Group, and Raúl Martín, CEO KM ZERO, discussed open innovation as a lever of change.
During the round table, Nuria Ballester explained that Logifruit’s approach is based on having one foot inside and the other outside the organization. All stakeholders need to be actively listened to and close contact must be kept with the different suppliers, innovation hubs, technological startups, research institutes… This allows you to stay up to date with what is happening and identify such challenges as can be overcome faster if they are addressed jointly.
Mary Carmen Vidal highlighted the group’s commitment to sustainable development and particularly the recovery of byproducts, bioprocesses and alternative plant proteins. In the future, likewise important will be the acquisition of knowledge as a consequence of the programme promoted by Dacsa to collaborate with startups.
Guillermo Berlanga underlined the fact that the Gimeno Group’s future strategy includes areas such as Bioeconomy and digital transformation and Artificial Intelligence applied to the improvement of processes and the management of infrastructure and services.
Raúl Martín stressed that “We approach innovation in an open way, where we can share knowledge and experience. For us, it is important to generate ecosystems. This is about adding up. Our approach is doing things that bring returns. This is an intrinsic value for both the company and the consumer”.
The 6th Edition of Ftalks Food Summit, one of the main food forums in food innovation in Europe, was held on 18 and 19 June in Valencia. The event gave a voice to leaders in the transformation of the food system. The space was divided into two zones, the Food conference zone, in which talks and round tables on different subjects of interest in the field of food technology were organized and, on the other hand, the Startup Forum and Future Market space, an exclusive zone to taste futuristic foods and to approach the technological world of innovation in the restaurant industry.
Fundación LAB Mediterráneo
Fundación LAB Mediterráneo is a project created by AVE with the mission of positioning the Region of Valencia as a national and European benchmark in entrepreneurship, innovation, technology and research.
To achieve this, it has set itself five objectives: to promote the creation and attraction of technology start-ups; to work to attract national and international technology companies to set up in the Region of Valencia and create a ‘tractor effect’; to promote support for companies in non-technological sectors to accelerate their digital transformation; to contribute to increasing private investment in R&D&I; and to help promote research.
The Foundation’s Board of Trustees is made up of the following entities: Aceitunas Cazorla, Aquaservice/Plug and Play, AVE, Baleària, Banco Sabadell, Boluda Corporación Marítima, CaixaBank, Dacsa Group, Embutidos Martínez/KMZERO, GDES, Grupo AZA, Grupo Bertolín, Grupo Gimeno, Helados Estiu, Importaco, Lanzadera, Logifruit, Nunsys, Royo/ Invext, S2 Grupo, SPB/Cleanity TIBA/Romeu, Verne Technology Group and Zeus/Sesame.
