Overcoming Barriers to Innovation in the Agri-Food Sector

Agri-food companies, particularly SMEs, encounter numerous obstacles during the scale-up, implementation, and commercialization of innovative solutions, including:

• Limited access to supportive infrastructures and organizations
  Many lack access to facilities that enable real-world experimentation with innovative solutions under relevant conditions. Such access reduces investment risks, enhances knowledge of innovation potential and challenges, accelerates technology upscaling, and shortens time-to-market. Establishing viable business models for these infrastructures and organizations remains a significant challenge.
• Financing and funding constraints
  Agri-food companies often struggle with financing needs that vary based on the type of innovation. A key difficulty is the lack of access to the right type of financing tailored to specific innovation requirements. 
• Shortage of expertise and skilled professionals
  Limited access to specialized knowledge and professionals with the necessary skills slows down innovation adoption and scaling.
• Regulatory barriers
  Regulations within the Single Market present challenges of scaling and commercialization, including: 
  • Workers' health and safety regulations.
  • Compliance with food safety standards like ISO 22000 and the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety. 
  • Novel food regulations.
    
  • Regulatory aspects of data sharing and other emerging technologies.