Projects funded 2022-2023

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ELKAR-EI project funded

CONCESSION

ELKAR-EI project funded

2022·11·16

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The ELKAR-EI project, Etorkizuneko elikadura industria elkarrekin eraikiz, has been funded by the Etorkizuna Eraikiz - Misioak programme of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, in the 2022 call for proposals. Referencia: 2022-LAB4-000003-01

Sumary of the project:

The aim of the project is to set up cooperation actions between companies in the food sector (SMEs and large companies), universities and Gipuzkoa society to search for innovative and sustainable solutions (products and services) that respond to the challenges that the socio-economic system of Gipuzkoa has to face in relation to sustainable food. To this end, firstly, as a pilot project, an international cooperation network will be set up comprising citizens, Gipuzkoa and European universities, and Gipuzkoan companies (including their headquarters located in Europe), which will subsequently participate in various actions, appropriate to their characteristics, for the identification and development of innovative and sustainable solutions that respond to the challenges presented by sustainable food and the food industry.

Internationalisation and knowledge transfer are key to the search for innovative solutions, and for this reason, it has been considered essential that the cooperation network is formed not only by Gipuzkoan companies located in the territory but also by their headquarters located in Europe. In the same way, it has been considered essential that European universities (located in the same place or close to the headquarters of the companies in Gipuzkoa) also participate in the project.

Concretamente el piloto de la red de cooperación internacional estará formado por los siguientes agentes. En primer lugar, la sociedad guipuzcoana tomará parte en las actuaciones desarrolladas siendo la fuente de información clave para la identificación de necesidades y posibles soluciones. En relación a la esfera universitaria, tomará parte la Facultad de Ingeniería de Mondragon Unibertsitatea (MU-GEP), y la Universidad Técnica de Delft (TU-Delft), localizada en los Países Bajos. Respecto al tejido empresarial, dado que el proyecto busca llegar a empresas grandes y pymes, en la primera actuación tomarán parte Natra S.A Oñati y Natra Malle (Bélgica), y una segunda empresa (pyme) pendiente de confirmar en la segunda actuación. La identificación y captación de esta segunda empresa se realizará al inicio del proyecto.

Once the network of participating agents has been set up, the following two actions will be developed. It should be noted that, given the differences in the needs of large companies and SMEs, the actions to be developed will be different.

On the one hand, a cooperation action will be launched between Natra Oñati, Natra Malle, MU-GEP and TU-Delft. In order to carry out this cooperation action, firstly, a course on sustainability, entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity will be launched in which students from MU-GEP and TU-Delft will take part. This training will provide students with the necessary tools to subsequently participate in a competition to develop innovative and sustainable solutions that respond to the needs of the territory of Gipuzkoa in the field of sustainable food. The ideas will be related to Natra Oñati's business activity (production and distribution of chocolate products and cocoa-derived ingredients). In this course, students will acquire tools for the identification of social needs in relation to sustainable food, and the development of solutions based on innovative and sustainable products and services. Thanks to the course, students will have the necessary tools to carry out innovative and sustainable entrepreneurship/intra-entrepreneurship projects.

The identification of needs on the part of the students will be carried out through the involvement of Gipuzkoa society in the project.

With the aim of obtaining more innovative ideas and better trained and skilled talent, the participation of students in the competition will take the form of mixed teams in which MU-GEP students will work with students from TU-Delft. To ensure the smooth running of the teams and facilitate the transfer of knowledge, a one-week trip to TU-Delft will take place at the beginning of the training. The training will include a visit to both the local company Natra Oñati and Natra Malle. It is worth mentioning that during the course the students will receive lectures from experts in the field of sustainable food.

On the other hand, the cooperation action will be developed with an SME. In this case, it is considered that given the limited resources available to this type of company, the action should focus more on training the company itself and accompanying the implementation of the knowledge acquired in the course. In this training, the company will acquire tools for the identification of needs and the development of solutions based on sustainable and innovative products and services. In a second phase, the training will include the implementation of the contents, by means of a real intra-entrepreneurship project in which MU-GEP teachers will accompany the company in the identification of problems and the development of solutions.