ion zarasol
We create the non-profit organization Aragrowth Innovacion to practice and to promote the spirit of innovation
In a restricted sense, we consider innovation in the enterprise as the introduction of organizational disruptive change in the presentation, creation, delivery or monetization of value, to gain competitive advantage. Similarly, we consider the innovation policy of a government or institution as the identification of strategic priorities and, then, the allocation of public resources and mobilization of private investment in specific directions to catalyze development processes in line with those strategic goals
In the context of our activity, innovation refers synecdotically to all the key elements that sustain entrepreneurship, competitiveness and search for excellence. We get inspiration by the driving principles listed by Gwynne Shotwell [2201]:
When government gives guidelines, consumers are demanding more quality or better products, and companies see market opportunities, there appear new mentalities and opportunities
We endorse these principles in our organization and we offer our knowledge to apply them in companies in our region
We also include in the vision that we want to project principles included in the Tesla Handbook:
With these principles, we defined our corporate profile:
[2201] https://youtu.be/X1mp1j0ef8c?t=463
Gwynne Shotwell says [2201] " I think engineers think better when they’re pushed hardest to do great things in a very short period of time, with very few resources". Excellence is incompatible with excess of resources
The purpose of investing is to spread knowledge, to modernize structures, to develop economic sectors, to innovate , to promote strategic orientations, to favor social choices
Investing in an enterprise should not be an occasional, short term activity, but it should be perceived as a process of continuous nature
The investment's objective in an enterprise is to gain a competitive advantage. this advantage can be achieved through economic, technological, organizational and social measures
Investment actions in the economic domain are oriented to initiate new activities and to improve the quality of offered products and services
Investments in the technological dimension aim to improve the productivity and to create new products and production lines
Investments in the organizational domain aim to increase flexibility
Investments in the social domain aim to make evolve the organizational culture, through training, motivation, and to align the enterprise with evolving social and cultural values
Financial support from EU funds are oriented to make affordable the cost and to reduce the risk of such actions.
Investmens can be addressed to the economic, organizational and social dimensions with observable gains:
We analyzed the sources available for early stage funding for highly innovative companies
One option that we analyzed was the European Angels Fund (EAF), an initiative of the European Investment Fund (EIB) which engages in co-investment relationships with experienced business angels across Europe [101] [102]
EU financial instruments are used as a source of implementation of cohesion policy acting upon the conditions for the creation and development of small and medium sized enterprises and to stimulate entrepreneurial behavior in Europe
Entrepreneurs can apply tor non-returnable EU subsides for operational programs in individual support areas. The financial aid provided to the company in the competition mode is to help in difficult competitive conditions, motivate companies to develop and strength the region in which the company operations.
Financial resources from operational programs of European Funds allow supporting investment activities in the SME sector, specially in the form of development investments as well as innovative and modernization investments
Investment of EU Funds is normally in two phases:
[] https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/funding-tenders-opportunities/display/IT/IT+How+To [] https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/funding-tenders-opportunities/display/IT/How+to+participate [] https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/funding-tenders-opportunities/display/IT/Manage+your+grant
All areas of {sector} are touched by the technological forces that have led to new entrepreneurship, unbridled innovation, and significant growth in interest by venture capital firms to become involved
we created Aragrowth Innovacion, a non-profit organization creation of legal entities is now part of our offer for innovation
We noted that, in February, there had taken place a conference of Fórum Smart Agro about Digitalization of the Food Chain, a subject that we consider of direct interest, with the participation of over 400 professionals. We contacted with the organizers, interempresas, who are dedicated to facilitating communication among enterprises, and they were very kind to help us organize the event with the Region on EU Programmes and funds
We noted also that Normandie there had been an event to present the possibilities to participate in EU programmes This event had taken place with participation of
We agreed with our Regional Government to organize a similar event in our region. It was a hybrid event, with direct and remote participation. It covered
We learned how to organize events. Organization of events is now part of our offer of innovation services
We noted that one of the projects realized in CITA is Estimation of a database for Non-Tariff Measures done by Ana Isabel Sanjuán López in 2017-2018 in collaboration with the Universion of Wageningen
We noted also that Irene Sanchez-Andrea had received the University Fund Wageningen Research Award 2021 because of the discovery a method by which microbes take CO2 and produce organic compounds
The Wageningen University & Research (WUR) has developed a five-step approach to help food producing companies create effective sustainability programmes together with supplying farmers
The Wageningen University & Research (WUR) is also leader in research and development in the domain of environment and the agrifood
We decided to have WUR as a reference partner for European Projects
The representatives of the Regional Government of Aragón in Interreg [4002] are Pablo Pérez Benedí and Miguel-Angel Garcia-Muro [4002] https://www.interregeurope.eu/in-my-country/spain/
The LIFE National contact points for nature and diversity Mr. Santiago Santillán Fraile Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica Subdirector General de la Oficina Presupuestaria Plaza de San Juan de la Cruz s/n 28071 Madrid Tel +34 91 597 60 76 Email: bzn-life@miteco.es
Roser Mestre is responsible of the Agrifood sector of Aragon Exterior, the organism of the Government of Aragon supporting the internationalization of the aragonese economy. Francisco Vigalondo is responsible of the Delegation in Brussels
We wanted to publish a website that would project our corporate philosophy, our guiding principles and our projects We wanted also to use our website as index of the news and events that we thought relevant for companies in our region
We registered the domain of our organization: aragrowth.org We chose an open-source framework that could be easily modified to host projects, news and events We also decided to have the site hosted in the cloud on a platform that would permit easy upload of content and free hosting
Now the creation and operation of enterprise web sites is part of our offer of innovation
While we were reviewing information about how to access community and regional funds we remarked the [website of the Normandie Region about EU Funds]9https://www.europe-en-normandie.eu/)
We liked the basic structure:
More in detail:
I have a project
I am beneficiary of EU funds
Information on EU funds
My region and the EU
We agreed with our Region to provide similar information in our Regional website
We noted that Nazaret Mateos Alvarez had received the a European award in agriculture [5003]. She has created EntreSetas. The website supports the commercialization of rural products, an element that we consider key for innovation in the agrifood sector
The Spanian Government has committed with the EU to digitalize one million SMEs (PYMEs). The digitalization of a company can be understood as the management through software of its main business processes. This is also the standard definition of and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) [5001]
ERP is supported by Business Management Software. This refers to a suite of integrated modules, increasingly cloud-based, that an organization use to collect, store, manage, and interpret data from all relevant business activities.
Modules in an ERP digital solution are
We considered the challenge of exploring how a wide number of SMEs in different domains could be digitalized with a coherent approach. To simplify the problem we adopted a few guidelines:
We got an initial list of solutions from [5002] and [5010] Then we decided to try: oddo, tryton, erpnext and vienna
Now the digitalization of SMEs through Enterprise Resource Planning is part of our offer of innovation
[5001] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_resource_planning [5002] https://fosspost.org/open-source-erp/ [5003] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odoo [5004] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ERPNext [5005] https://www.odoo.com/ [5006] https://demo3.odoo.com/web#cids=1&home= [5007] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tryton [5008] VIENNA Advantage ERP/CRM [5009] Tryton https://www.tryton.org/ [5010] https://opensource.com/tools/enterprise-resource-planning
Our first project was in support to a young student of engineering, passionate of nature and farming, who wanted to restore the original varieties of wine and olive in a small rural property in CyL
We contacted with an officer in the CyL regional government We explored the options to obtain EU funds
Circular economy and biodiversity is now for us a major focus on interest
The preparation of EU projects and the access to EU Funds is now part of our offer of innovation
The Annual Single Market Report of 2021 describes 10 industrial sectors, or ecosystems
[24001] https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/annual-single-market-report-2021.pdf
The Agrifood ecosystem [2] covers producers and suppliers. It overlaps with the Tourism and the Retail ecosystems
Transformative initiatives include:
Funding and Policy tools include:
Supportive regulatory environment include:
The Wageningen University & Research (WUR) has developed a five-step approach to help food producing companies create effective sustainability programmes together with supplying farmers
[6404] https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/annual-single-market-report-2021.pdf [6414] https://www.wur.nl/en/Research-Results/Research-Institutes/Economic-Research/show-wecr/WUR-approach-for-effective-sustainability-programmes-in-the-agri-food-sector.htm
Emerging technologies in the AgriTech, FoodTech and farming sector include:
The Cohesion Fund, set up in 1994, provides funding for environmental and trans-European network projects in the Member States whose gross national income per capita is less than 90% of the EU average.
European Cohesion Policy has two major goals:
European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), European Operational Programmes which aim to promote and support the overall harmonious development of its Member States and Regions. The Structural Funds have two components:
In Spain, the implementation of ESIF programmes
The total EU allocation of the Programmes in Spain is 40 000 Meurs with a National counterpart of 16 500 for a total of 56 500 Meurs. Out of these, 52 448 Meurs, or 93%, correspond to selected projects
Spain is the second most important beneficiary of REACT EU: EUR 10.9 bn (ERDF+ESF; 2021 tranche), that the Government plans to spend on health (including vaccines), but also support to businesses, education, digitalisation and green investments. The additional funds need to be spent by the beneficiaries by 31/12/2023.
Part of funds are allocated through public procurement. Points to be considered for tasks contracted in this way include:
Some points reported in relation to Spain's execution of the ERDF 2014-2020 operational programmes (OPs) include:
The 2020 Country Report of the EUROPEAN SEMESTER for Spain was published on 26 February 2020, before the outbreak of the Covid-19 crisis in Europe
In the context of the five post 2020 Cohesion Policy priorities (Smarter Europe, Low carbon and greener Europe, More connected Europe, More social Europe and Europe closer to citizens), the report indicates that Spain must pay attention to the following points:
The Report identifies the need for substantial investment under all 5 policy objectives and suggests thematic concentration of the ERDF investments to increase the effectiveness of the interventions by reaching a critical mass with a real impact on the socioeconomic development of the country and its regions
Specifically, the Report indicates that Spain should:
The following table (Launchpad 25/05/2021) shows the allocation of EU funds per Thematic Objective
01 Research & Innovation 6 765 16.9 % 02 Information & Communication Technologies 2 286 5.7 % 03 Competitiveness of SMEs 5 776 14.5 % 04 Low-Carbon Economy 3 438 8.6 % 05 Climate Change Adaptation & Risk Prevention 1 682 4.2 % 06 Environment Protection & Resource Efficiency 4 203 10.5 % 07 Network Infrastructures in Transport and Energy 2 162 5.4 % 08 Sustainable & Quality Employment 5 898 14.8 % 09 Social Inclusion 3 731 9.3 % 10 Educational & Vocational Training 2 739 6.9 % 12 Outermost & Sparsely Populated 472 1.2 %
TA Technical Assistance 776 1.9 % TOTAL 39 927 100.0 %
The Cohesion Policy in Spain in 2014-2020 was delivered through
44 Operational Programs (OPs) of which:
10 European Territorial Cooperation /Interreg Programs (ETCPs) of which:
Some of the estimated results achieved through the ERDF include:
Some of the estimated results achieved through the Partnership Agreement and the ESI Funds include (to be reassessed in the light of the social and economic consequences the COVID-19 outbreak):
According to thematic evaluations carried out by the Managing Authority on the long-term impact of Cohesion Policy:
[2001] https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/regiokm/display/GEO/spain [2002] https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/policy/cooperation/european-territorial/
The Regional Government of Aragon offers the Service of European Funds. In May 2021 no results appear in Tramites and Actualidad
The page includes information about the Programa Operativo Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional Aragón 2014-2020. It also includes reference to the Diagnóstico socioeconómico de Aragón
Aragon Exterior, the organism of the Government of Aragon to promote the internationalizaton of the aragonese economy, offers support for the drafting of proposals addressed to obtain European financing through specialized consultants. Roser Mestre is responsible of this organism in the agrifood sector and Francisco Vigalondo is responsible of the Delegation in Brussels
The Regional Government of Aragon publishes a page dedicated to exports
The website of the Regional Government of Aragon links a number of thematic spaces:
ARAID, the Aragonese Foundation for Research & Development, is an Agency created by the Government of Aragon with the aim of promoting research, development and innovation in Aragon.
CITA, the Agrifood Research and Technology Centre of Aragon, performs research on Agrifood with George Philippidis as reference researcher in the unit of Agrifood and Natural Resource Economics
One of the projects realized in CITA is Estimation of a database for Non-Tariff Measures done by Ana Isabel Sanjuán López in 2017-2018 in collaboration with the University of Wageningen
The website Pon Aragón en tu Mesa, a project financed by the Government of Aragon, the European Union, and redr, cooperates with organizations for the development of the aragones rural environment together with rural agrifood producers and distributors to valorize the quality of rural agrifood products produced in the region supporting their diffusion, making known the quality of their food products, supporting agrifood entrepreneurship and facilitating their commercialization; as a result, supporting rural development and energizing the agrifood sector in the villages of Aragon.
The page shows magazines and online shops
On 17 December 2020, the Government of Aragon, held the second stakeholder meeting of the LINDANET project
See French position on Fair Trade Food from news
UK Research and Innovation UKRI is the national funding agency investing in science and research in the UK. Operating across the whole of the UK with a combined budget of more than £6 billion, UKRI brings together the 7 Research Councils, Innovate UK and Research England
UKRI explains how to apply for funding for business innovation, including finding a suitable competition, the application process and loan agreement. It also lists the main Innovation competitions)
The guidance describes how to apply to grant funding, loans or procurements. Each opportunity has its own eligibility criteria and scope, available through the Innovation Funding Service
To get innovation loans
The EU long-term budget will continue to be financed through the well-known revenue sources of the EU budget:
Revenue ceilings
The increase of the own resources ceiling for payment appropriation to 2.00% of GNI is limited in time and will only be used in the context of the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. The enlargement of the headroom does not entail an imminent additional contribution to the EU budget by Member States, as it only functions as a joint guarantee for the issuance of bonds by the Commission on behalf of the EU. The own resources ceiling for payment will be decreased back to 1.40% of GNI when all funds have been repaid and all liabilities have ceased to exist.
Recovery plan for Europe
[6004] https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/recovery-plan-europe_en To help repair the economic and social damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the European Commission, the European Parliament and EU leaders have agreed on a recovery plan that will lead the way out of the crisis and lay the foundations for a modern and more sustainable Europe.
NextGenerationEU
[6005] https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/recovery-plan-europe_en#nextgenerationeu NextGenerationEU is a €750 billion temporary recovery instrument to help repair the immediate economic and social damage brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. Post-COVID-19 Europe will be greener, more digital, more resilient and better fit for the current and forthcoming challenges.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF)
The Recovery and Resilience Facility (the Facility) will make €672.5 billion in loans and grants available to support reforms and investments undertaken by Member States. The aim is to mitigate the economic and social impact of the coronavirus pandemic and make European economies and societies more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the green and digital transitions.
Interreg Europe is a platform, created by the European Regional Development Fund, for regional and local governments across Europe to share government investment, innovation and implementation solutions
Interreg publishes calls for project proposals and facilitates finding partners and sharing results
Interreg is addressed to three types of beneficiaries:
and supports financial support actions with under the following four categories:
See Funding
The European Green Deal defines the roadmap for making the EU's economy sustainable
The Deal aims to address climate change:
Specific objectives related to Climate include:
The Deal aims also to protect our natural environment with objectives:
The Plan aims to turn climate and environmental challenges into opportunities across all policy areas making the transition just and inclusive for all
climate, energy and transport
The Farm to Fork (F2F) Strategy is part of the EU Green Deal. It aims to
The European Green Deal legislative proposals in the second half of 2021 include on CBAM, deforestation, Farm to Fork Strategy
The Circular Economy is a central concept of the European Green Deal The Action Plan looks at how to make production more circular by mainstreaming the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle principles into all policy areas and across all sectors.
CINEA is the agency responsible for the entire grant management cycle of its delegated programs Its goal is to generate sustainable networks and investments in its thematic areas: climate action, environment, biodiversity, clean energy, research and innovation
The purpose is to mobilize resources and contribute to natural resource management, protect and restore biodiversity , prevent deforestation, address climate change (including green energy transitions, production methods and their CO2/environmental footprint), support circular economy, optimize the management of energy, water and waste
The LIFE program [8010] is addressed to SMEs, start-ups or entities looking for support to develop your cleantech solution and bring it to the market LIFE calls for proposals are published on CINEA's website [8011] They are also referenced in the European Commission’s Funding & Tenders portal [8012] Information on how to create proposals is described in [8013]
[8010] https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/life_en [8011] https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/life/life-calls-proposals_en [8012] https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/home [8013] https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/funding-tenders-opportunities/display/IT/Create+a+draft+proposal
2021 CALLS operating GRANTS for non-profit-making entities (NPEs) Non-profit entities may receive operating grants for framework partnership agreements (FPAs) and specific grant agreements (SGAs) These grants are oriented to non-profit-making legal persons with an environmental/climate objective that supports sustainable development
The next call for proposals for operating grants to support non-profit-making entities in view of concluding framework partnership agreements (FPAs) and specific grant agreements (SGAs) will be launched in Early summer 2021. The Deadline for applications will be Late summer 2021. the evaluation Autumn 2021 and the Signature of grants First half of 2022
The types of grants include Standard Action Projects, Strategic nature Projects, Strategic Integrated Projects, Technical Assistance Projects and Operating Grants
Information is available in [8121], [8122] and [8123] [8120] https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/life_en [8121] https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/life/life-calls-proposals_en [8122] https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/life/life-support-applicants_en [8123] https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/life/life-frequently-asked-questions-faqs_en
This means that solutions could be implemented in close-to-market conditions (at industrial or commercial scale), during the course of the project or shortly after its completion , in waste management, the circular economy, resource efficiency, water, air or climate change mitigation high level of technical and business readiness [8130] https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/life/life-close-market-projects_en
EU views related to the Digital Transition include:
EU objectives related to the Digital Transition include:
The EU intends to superate the digital divide supporting training: https://digital-skills-jobs.europa.eu/en/opportunities/training
https://twitter.com/InterregCE https://twitter.com/MEDProgramme
CREAN (Carrefour Rural Européen des Acteurs Normands) is a regional association created in 1997 with the objective :
" porter l’information européenne au sein même des communautés rurales et, ce faisant, de susciter des actions favorisant le développement de la région et la participation de la société rurale à la construction européenne "
" Bring European information to rural communities and, in doing so, create actions that promote the development of the region and the participation of the rural society in European construction "
Its co-founders, the Eplefpa of Vire (agricultural high school, CFA and CFPPA) and the Rural Economy Center of Calvados (now Normandy West), obtained from the European Commission the label of information center on the European Union.
This label reflects the willingness to share their knowledge from the EU, its financial opportunities and the possibilities that it offers for professional, personal and cultural enrichment.
In 2005 CREAN passed from being a regional center of rural information on the European Union to a "Center of information Europe Direct" and be a member of the French network of Europe Direct centers
In addition to its mission as member of Europe Direct, Crean is at the service of territorial developers (public and private structures) to develop and strengthen their European opening. Its board of directors reflects the diversity of actors in the territories (elected, associations, education-training, economy, ..).
tiko-pro is a Slovenian SME that provides services in the following areas:
business & project development
eu funding mechanisms
project coordination & reporting
training
The Funds listed in the web site include: regional development cohesion funds
[101] https://www.eif.org/news_centre/publications/eif_working_paper_2020_62.pdf [102] https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/finance-funding/getting-funding/access-finance/search/en/content/european-angels-fund-6
[201] Revenue ceilings https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/eu-budget/long-term-eu-budget/2021-2027/revenue/revenue-ceilings_en
[301] Spain - Stability Programme 2020 https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/economic-and-fiscal-policy-coordination/eu-economic-governance-monitoring-prevention-correction/european-semester/european-semester-timeline/national-reform-programmes-and-stability-or-convergence-programmes/2020-european_en#spain
[302] Recommendation for a COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION on the economic policy of the euro area https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-14356-2020-INIT/en/pdf
[303] Explainer: The Recovery and Resilience Facility https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2021/02/16/explainer-the-recovery-and-resilience-facility/
[304] REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL establishing a Recovery and Resilience Facility https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:1813ea3d-a0be-11ea-9d2d-01aa75ed71a1.0001.02/DOC_1&format=PDF
[4404] https://elpais.com/economia/2021-06-08/el-gobierno-se-compromete-con-la-ue-a-digitalizar-un-millon-de-pymes.html [4404] https://elpais.com/economia/estar-donde-estes/2021-06-09/gestoria-digital-por-que-se-ha-convertido-en-imprescindible-para-autonomos-y-pymes.html [4404] https://www.capitalmadrid.com/news_links/3600
COM(2020)0381 A Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?reference=COM(2020)0381&l=en 3.10.01.02 Rural development, European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) 3.70.01 Protection of natural resources: fauna, flora, nature, wildlife, countryside; biodiversity 3.70.20 Sustainable development 4.20 Public health 4.60.04.04 Food safety
2019/2956(RSP)
Resolution on the European Green Deal https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?reference=2019/2956(RSP)&l=en
3.70 Environmental policy
3.70.03 Climate policy, climate change, ozone layer
2018/0218(COD)
Common agricultural policy (CAP) 2021–2027 https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?reference=2018/0218(COD)&l=en
3.10 Agricultural policy and economies
3.10.03 Marketing and trade of agricultural products and livestock
Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027111 https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/thematicnote.do?id=2064000&l=en