The INTEC Foundation is involved in the HIBA project to create a Pluriregional Hispanic/Luso Ecosystem

C

The European Foundation for Innovation INTEC, along with 18 other entities that are related to entrepreneurship in the agrifood sector, participate in this Interreg Spain-Portugal program (POCTEP), which has a budget of 5.3 million euros for all entities.

Interreg "Hub Iberia Agrotech", a Spanish-Portuguese project, has a budget of 5.3 millions euros and 75% co-financed. It aims to create a multi-regional ecosystem for digitizing the agrifood sector via the Digital Innovation Hubs. HIBA will connect different actors, including several DIHs in Portugal and Spain, to strengthen the connection between local agrifood innovation ecosystems.

The total number of beneficiaries partners includes entities that are related to innovation and digitization in the agri-food industry in Spain and Portugal. They will work together until December 31, 2022 to create an Iberian network for DIH in Agrotech. This will promote entrepreneurship and increase business competitiveness through digital innovation.

The HIBA project, which is led by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainable Development of Andalusian Government through Andalucia Agrotech DIH, aims to create testing and experimentation service for technologies related earth observation, robotics, and artificial intelligence. It will also develop training itineraries for digital transformation and entrepreneurship, for university training, and for all citizens.

The role of the INTEC Foundation to improve competitiveness through entrepreneurship and innovation with Smartagrifoodsummit.com

The INTEC Foundation will coordinate the activities related to entrepreneurship in Spain and Portugal in agri-food, along with other entities. Through entrepreneurship, digital innovation, and experimentation, support for digitization of agricultural businesses.

HIBA's innovative nature lies in its multi-stakeholder, multi-regional cooperation approach. It is a space for training, entrepreneurship, and testing innovative technologies in agriculture.

For the Executive Vice President of the INTEC Foundation, Juan Francisco Delgado, "this project comes to consolidate the role that we have been playing for more than 4 years in support of the entrepreneurial fabric of the entire agri-food chain, to the entrepreneurial processes, where we have already been able to help some 300 companies through the more than 60 events that we carry out around the world and especially in our SmartagrifoodSummit.com that we carry out the 4th edition in Malaga next September 30 and October 1, 2021, where they will be also all the actors of the European and world agri-food sector.

The HIBA project will consolidate the multi-regional business network through smart specialization and open innovation programmes. This is in accordance with the Horizon Europe Strategy and Digital Europe policies. It also supports structured collaboration between the Digital European Innovation Hubs.

These activities are in line with the European Green Deal, which encourages efficient, sustainable and collaborative management of resources. The proposals in the Border Orientation Paper for Spain-Portugal border by the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission (DG REGIO), on cooperation issues, give priority to common areas within regional specialization strategies (RIS3). This will support the management and training of innovation and market-oriented activities.