Virtual Cluster for bioeconomy (Romania) is implementing one of the Local Action Plans of Danube S3 Cluster project. The focus of this LAP is on Healthy Food (including agriculture, agro-food, functional food, new food products, healthy and nutritionally enriched and smart agriculture) and the objective is to propose different tools and services to enhance successful commercialization of research results in this field, develop specific innovation support services, enhance mutual learning and capacity building and finally assess the opportunities to foster a sustainable Joint Action Plan (JAP) for Innovation and Technology Transfer for 2021-2027 on the basis of existing structures and good practice and to prepare the ground for the development and partnerships for Digital Innovation Hub.

A short presentation of the Regional Innovation Strategy in the field and a Swot analysis was provided.  The correlated priorities of S3 Cluster strategy was to increase transsectoral cooperation and internationalization (P5).

Four project ideas are implemented within this LAP (all, based on patents):

Modulated installation for obtaining bee products, ecological and bee development - relates to a modulated institution for obtaining bee products, ecological, and bee development, in open spaces, greenhouses and solarium, through the pyramid effect, used in beekeeping.

Gluten-free rice bread, affected by addition of hydrocolloids and emulsifiers – with the aim to proposes a variety of breads that can be used as replacements for traditional wheat breads, trying to provide alternative gluten-free products.

Automatic precision system for differentiated weeding of weeds in agricultural crops– the aim is to implement a new technology relates to an automatic precision system for the differentiated herbicide application on agricultural lands, destined to control weeds in agricultural crops, with the optimization of the quantity of applied herbicides.

Automatic guidance system for agricultural aggregates – aiming to introduce a technology relates to a dynamic system for automatic adjustment of anti-drip pressure for precision herbicide, intended for equipment equipped with a system of discrimination and classification of weeds, under the influence of travel speed, to control weeds in agricultural crops, optimizing the amount of herbicides applied.

The LAP was prepared through discussions with regional actors involved in agriculture/agro-food: Companies producing agricultural products, fertilizers, services, regional clusters.  

In those discussions, IPA CIFATT had the role of catalyst, supporting formation and obtaining of ideas and especially project files that underpinned the Regional Strategy for Intelligent Development.

The results of project ideas was disseminated to regional and internationals stakeholders, with rich experience in knowledge transfer, during economic missions, forums for innovation, brokerage events and presentations, aiming to find partners for technology transfer and introduction on production. As result, four cooperation agreemets was signed.