The kick-off meeting of the Circular Economy and Sustainable solutions for Agrifood in the Mediterranean (CESAM) project took place on the 17 October 2023 in Perpignan. Supported by the EPM’s Innovation Commission, the CESAM project provides support and investment for local SMEs developing sustainable and circular economy solutions for the agrifood industry. The partnership, coordinated by the Euroregion, is made up of key players in the innovation ecosystem (ACCIO, Agri Sud-Ouest Innovation, FundacioBit and Ad’OCC) and 5 SMEs who will be developing their technological projects with the support of the partners.
Based on the Intelligent Specialisation Strategies of the 3 regions, the project covers 4 thematic areas in the agri-food sector:
1. Treatment and recycling of industrial water / Concerted use of water
2. Packaging: eco-design / moving away from plastic, new materials and circular solutions
3. Process optimisation and circular processes: waste reduction
4. Adding value to co-products
In addition, a €900,000 Euroregional call for projects aimed at SMEs will be launched as part of the project.
Finally, the project also aims to strengthen links and interconnections between partners in the innovation ecosystem by proposing exchanges of best practice and the organisation of joint actions. The CESAM project has been selected under the European I3 (Interregional Innovation Investments) call for projects issued by the Executive Agency for the European Innovation Council and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises EISMEA.
The program of the event can be downloaded here.