ACCELERATOR

BIC Focus Areas

Nutrition & Health

► The demand and offer for healthy products is growing, with particular attention to organic food.

► On the other hand, every day consumers request personalised products, based on specific needs or an increased attention to their own health: allergies, microbiome, DNA can influence on the optimal nutrition for everybody.

► Nutrition & Health includes technologies, solutions and ideas concerning:

 
  • Alternative Meat & Proteins
  • Healthy & Organic Food
  • Integrators
  • Gene Editing Technologies
  • DNA Based nutrition
  • Human Microbiome
  • Nutraceuticals / Functional Food
  • Sugar Alternatives

Smart & HiTech Farming & Livestock

► Current farming and livestock methods have serious consequences for land stewardship, resources, the environment, and society.

► About 30% of all land globally is considered degraded. This land is rapidly losing its ability to provide sufficient food to local and far-flung populations. Meanwhile, climate change—in part driven by greenhouse gases produced by farms—is aggravating soil damage and making agricultural systems worldwide much more fragile.

► For such reasons, the need for new methods and solutions of farming and livestock is now compulsory, including:

 
  • Alternative farming
  • Prediction on farming
  • Precision Farming
  • Sustainable Farming
  • Smart Livestock
  • Smart Farming

Food Processing, Quality & Safety

Food processes are changing in order to meet demanding customers’ requests for quality and personalization.

► In addition, today’s food supply chains are often not only inefficient, but also imprecise. They bring together a great variety of actors, which make it difficult to guarantee the quality and safety of the products. The demand for transparency is everyday stronger.

► In order to face such challenges, we need to focus on:

 
  • 3D food printing
  • Food flavouring
  • RF heating
  • Nutritional content control
  • Light treatment
  • Anti-oxidation
  • Odor management
  • Shelf-life
  • Food Traceability
  • Chemical & Biological Analysis
  • Vision Systems
  • Filling Processes
  • Food Sanitizers

New Packaging Solutions

► “Focusing on innovation, better packaging design and end-of-use systems will not only generate long-term benefits for the environment, but is also a huge economic opportunity.” Ellen MacArthur, Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

► When it comes to packaging innovation, two main areas are now being explored:

  • Smart Packaging solutions, which are those that monitor the condition of packaged food to give information regarding the quality of the packaged food during transportation and storage. These technologies are designed to the increasing demand for safer foods with better shelf life.
  • Sustainable Packaging solutions or green packaging, which are gaining greater attention from end-users. The major processes used for sustainable packaging includes recyclable, reusable, and biodegradable. Furthermore the growth in the food and beverages industry is one of the major factors fuelling the expansion of the sustainable packaging market.

Sustainability & Circular economy

By 2050, the world's population will have reached 9 billion people. To provide enough nutritious food for everybody, while preserving natural resources, we need to switch to more sustainable food systems. This not only involves changing how we produce food globally, but also reducing food losses and waste in the food chain and minimizing the impact of packaging waste.

Circular Economy is an economic system aimed at minimising waste and making the most of resources, bringing together different actors of the value chain with common view and goals.

► Different solutions and technologies can be implemented for that purpose:

 
  • Food Waste Management
  • Food Reuse
  • Sustainable Materials
  • Supplier collaboration
  • Sustainable Food Chain
  • Affordable & Clean Energy

Personalized Experiences & Products

► Nowadays, in a reality of a connected customer, the role of the customer experience in increasing, including the multi-channel, omni-channel or channel-agnostic customer behavior. The goal is to allow him to find what he needs in a fast and easy way, regardless of touchpoints. New experiences will leverage on the integration with Smart city infrastructures.

► In addition, customers are looking for new and personalised experiences, which necessarily require new processing to gather customers’ data and preferences.

 
  • New formats for sales and tasting
  • Consumer Dietary Technologies
  • End-user engagement
  • Personalised Offer
  • Restaurant Management
  • Customer driven development
  • New formats for distribution
  • E-commerce
  • Food delivery
  • Kitchen Tools
  • Meal Kit
  • Recipes
  • Food preparation accessories
  • Food recognition
  • Customer Insights
  • Integration w/ Smart cities

Innovators Profile

Start-ups

Researches & univ. spinoff

Young techies

AGROFOOD BIC FOR START-UPS

Start-ups in our accelerator program receive

LABS AND PLANTS

Domain

  • You can leverage our labs and plants

PROGRAM

Action plan

  • You’ll gain access to our startup programs.

MENTORSHIP

People

  • You’ll work with our team of mentors who bring years of experience to the table and who are highly strategic and tactical. Steering commettees composed by empowered decision makers.

SPACE AND CAPABILITIES

Domain

  • You can leverage our space for you and your team (Villa Due Torri 30 Bologna). Smart access to BIC’s partners capabilities both for screening and alliance.

WEEKLY MEETINGS

Chat- call - lunch meetings

  • Not sure if you’re still on track? Our weekly meetings keep you accountable and moving in the right direction.

ACCESS TO OUR NETWORK

Person_add

  • From industry to angel investors to other startups, you’ll gain full access to our network when you join the accelerator.
TOP