Bringing food SMEs up to “Industry 4.0” speed: €3.9m EU funding for smarter food production

02 Jul 2019 --- In a bid to improve the efficiency and sustainability of the European food industry, thirteen partners, including the Danish Food Cluster, have joined forces in the S3FOOD project. The initiative will supply €3.9 million to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the food industry, make better use of digital technology. Through the S3FOOD project, the partners will focus on facilitating and accelerating the use of smart sensor systems for improved quality control, better resource efficiency and a higher level of food safety and traceability – all important steps towards solving central challenges in the agri-food system.

The three-year project is funded by the Horizon 2020 initiative – the EU’s research and innovation framework program and partner contributions. The initial objective is to gain a full picture of food company needs and challenges and identify relevant research and technology providers that can support them. SMEs will also be invited on study-visits to living labs and frontrunner companies, where they can see smart sensors in action and attend “matchmaking events” for finding relevant partners.

With “Industry 4.0,” or “the fourth industrial revolution, as it is known, in full swing, leading companies are increasingly opting for the automation and digitalization of their processes and production. Automation has made processes easier, more agile and faster. These are important factors that have led many industries, including the food industry, to gravitate towards implementing pioneering artifical intelligence (AI) systems. This includes benefiting from the related data generation, which opens the door to identify processing issues quicker and gives opportunities for continuous improvement.

S3FOOD targets the many SMEs in the agri-food industry in Europe that currently lack the awareness, partners and funds to start this same journey.

Through the S3FOOD project, the partners will focus on facilitating and accelerating the use of smart sensor systems for improved quality control, better resource efficiency and a higher level of food safety and traceability.“The idea with S3FOOD is to establish an innovation-friendly, cross-border ecosystem to help SMEs start their Industry 4.0 transition. Companies that still rely on a few in-house specialists to register and interpret processing data are at risk of losing important knowledge and expertise. Using smart sensors, they can secure it all in automated systems and bring sustainable benefits to their business,” says Anders Iversen, Innovation Manager at Danish Food Cluster.

The S3FOOD technology training and business coaching package will assist SMEs in developing their digitization plan. SMEs can then apply for funding up to €60,000 to bring their plan to life. S3FOOD is a €5 million project, where 79 percent, corresponding to €3.9 million, goes directly to SME support in the form of funding vouchers and training and business coaching.

Some of the project’s partners include Flanders’ FOOD form Belgium, INNOSKART from Hungary, AgriFood Capital BV from The Netherlands and CORALLIA from Greece.

Other notable initiatives in favor of innovation
In March, it was announced that the UK-based Quadram Institute Bioscience (QIB) secured funding from The European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) Food. The investment is part of the €46.4 million funding the EIT has received from Horizon 2020, to support its mission to transform the agrifood system by investing in innovative projects.

Last year, SpecPage, which enhances digital solutions for the recipe-based manufacturing industry, partnered with SVC Ltd., part of Credit Suisse, for risk capital for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SVC Ltd. promotes Switzerland as a center for business while also allowing unique Swiss businesses to leverage their “high qualitative standards in niche industries across the world.”