The third edition of the InnoFood Awards, promoted by Mercabarna and Barcelona Activa, you already have a winner. This is InnoLarva, a project that uses insect larvae for transform organic agri-food waste in natural compound.
These awards are part of the InnoFood program to encourage projects and emerging companies to provide new solutions and improvements in any of the processes of the food value chain. The awards are ‘the icing on the cake’ of a mentoring program based on the growth of projects in the food sector that apply innovation systems from the moment of their creation.
The awards ceremony was held this morning at Mercabarna. The general manager of the large market, Jordi Valls; the Director of Entrepreneurship of Barcelona Activa, Montse Basora; and Pablo Vilanova, Director of Sustainability, Strategy and Innovation at Mercabarna; They have been in charge of delivering the awards, before all those who have opted for the awards, as well as members of the jury and representatives of institutions, companies and entities of the agri-food sector.
This year, the participating projects have been more ambitious than in previous editions in terms of innovative solutions and sustainable aspects that want to respond to future challenges in the food sector. It should be noted that the development of the program has taken place in parallel to the celebration of the World Capital of Sustainable Food, based in Barcelona, and for the first time group sessions and individual tutorials on this subject have been included. In addition, Barcelona is a hub of food innovation with top-level meetings in the City, such as the Food Fair, which has just been held, or the new SeaFood.
Up to 21,000 euros in prizes
The winner, InnoLarva, takes €12,000 and six months in one of the startup incubators in Active Barcelona, with mentoring and accompaniment. The other two awards have been for InsFeed, a project that develops new ingredients for the production of animal feed and organic fertilizers, also from insects, which obtained 6,000 euros; and in third place, with 3,000 euros, Euprot, about to start a pilot test for the sale of a cream with dehydrated powder based on pea vegetable protein as a substitute for red meat for people in hospitals and residences.
circular economy
The needs of the population and of the world in these areas make more and more ambitious projects emerge. Both the winning project, the finalists and the rest of the participants, 15 in total, have focused on sustainability, many of them aligned with the circular economy and the use of resources, with responsible consumption networks and with food products and diets. healthier for citizens. Of the 15 participating projects, 10 are led by women and five by menaged between 23 and 58.
More in detail, projects have been presented (in very early stages, about to go on the market or in the first moments of operation) from those that work on the production of animal feed and organic fertilizers from insects, the revaluation of waste from coffee in cosmetics and food products, to live and interactive online cooking workshops led by chefs.
From the last two editions of this award, there are startups that have become emblematic and have now taken off, such as Heura byFoods for Tomorrow. The winner of the previous edition, Voila, an edible cutlery company made from cereals, was present at this year’s 4YFN-MWC.
The InnoFood program has intensive weeks dedicated to the business plan and skills, and with sectoral sessions in Mercabarna, with training and visits to companies. Despite the fact that the pandemic has conditioned some sessions in online format, a large part of this edition has been carried out in person. The jury is made up of 18 relevant people from the food sector, representatives of companies such as Ola Veggies, and institutions such as IRTA, EURECAT, Leitat or Environmental Forum, among others.
