March 2023

The S4agro 2023 International Congress, held on 2 and 3 March in Castelo Branco, reinforced the importance of linking academia with each other and with the agribusiness sector, with more than 170 participants and around 40 speakers. Organised by InovCluster, with the support of the S4agro project partners: the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, the Polytechnic Institute of Guarda, the Higher Agricultural School of Coimbra, the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, the University of Évora and led by the University of Beira Interior. It brought together specialists, researchers and agro-industry professionals from Portugal and Spain who, over the course of two days, shared their knowledge, experiences and vision of innovative methodologies and products to support the green and digital transition of the agro-industrial sector. Focussed on providing direct support to agro-industrial companies, this congress covered topics such as Reducing Food Waste, mainly using sustainable, active and intelligent packaging, and other practices to be implemented by companies in their production processes.

The S4Agro Project aims to support companies in the agro-industrial sector in their search for sustainable solutions, ranging from plastic packaging to the digitalization of the industry and circular economy practices. Led by Pedro Dinis, from the University of Beira Interior, it stands out for qualifying small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to adopt innovative and sustainable solutions, with the aim of increasing productivity and efficiency in Industry 4.0 and the circular economy.