innovation
DEMETRA PRIZE.
CALL FOR INNOVATIVE PROJECTS
Competition in support of innovative projects involving the agriculture supply chain and Italian nutrition, for young students, researchers and Italian entrepreneurs.
Demetra Prize – The winners:
1st Special Award – BENUOM
“Genomic technology for studying sugar beet nutrition”
Cristian Dal Cortivo, Claudia Chiodi, Chiara Broccancello, Francesco Occhi, Giovanni Bertoldo,
Manuel Ferrari, Massimo Cagnin, Piergiorgio Stevanato, Teofilo Vamerali, Valeria Barone
2nd Special Award – OMICA FARM
“Technological platform for precision farming”
Paolo Petrinca, Pablo Adrian Marzialetti, Claudio Di Giulio
1st General Award – PACKTIN
“Reuse of food waste to prolong food preservation”
Riccardo De Leo, Andrea Quartieri, Silvia Gigliano, Andrea Pulvirenti
2nd General Award – AGRIDRON
“Smart drones for precision farming”
Giuseppe Spallina, Antonio Raspanti, Chiara Carlevaro
The DEMETRA project
Through this project, COPROB is turning to students, researchers and aspiring young entrepreneurs, with the goal of:
- acquainting the younger generation (students, researchers and young entrepreneurs) with the Italian sugar beet sector by underscoring its positive contribution;
- stressing the importance of the sugar beet supply chain within the Italian agricultural sector as a whole;
- promoting high-level thinking about the importance of creating innovation, including in traditional sectors, through tangible support for research and innovative projects;
- spreading an innovative and entrepreneurial culture, and instilling an active dialog with young people as part of the process of promoting the supply chain with future generations.
Specifically, the DEMETRA project is designed to meet these goals by awarding projects and/or companies that:
- contribute to development and improvement within the agriculture supply chain and Italian nutrition (and specifically regarding the sugar beet sector);
- have a strong potential social and economic impact.
Those who may participate are:
- informal teams that are not established companies
- groups of Italian researchers and/or individual researchers
- newly-formed companies with their registered and/or operational offices in Italy.
The awards consists of vouchers worth 10,000 euros, participation in the 2016 “Leader del Futuro” program of The European House - Ambrosetti, which includes its annual September Forum, and the opportunity of receiving mentoring and support from COPROB managers.
For additional information about deadlines, selection and assessment criteria and how to enter, please refer to the Official Competition Rules.
COPROB, a cooperative with 5,900 members, is a leading company in the Italian sugar beet sector, producing 284,000 tons of sugar in its plants in Minerbio (BO) and Pontelongo (PD). The cooperative was founded in 1962 in Emilia Romagna and, in its over 50 years of activity, it has established itself on the domestic market as the only sugar producer cooperative in Italy.
COPROB is constantly in search of projects that contribute to its own growth and that of the local area. On one hand, this is part of the company’s ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability, and on the other aims at capitalizing on the entrepreneurial activity of its sugar beet grower members and innovation in the sugar beet sector. This innovation can be pursued through continuous improvement in the sugar production supply chain, as well as through research into the diversification of production activity based on the agricultural supply chain.
