Eureka Innovation Days 2018 – Finland
The first stop of José Cuevas, Engineering Research Scientist of the CRI, was in Helsinki, Finland, to attend the Erueka Innovation Days. Eureka is an international cooperation platform for innovation, present in more than 40 countries and which aims to promote R & D projects in various areas.
On this occasion, the CRI was invited by CORFO to present its progress in the framework of the Intelligent Wine Industry program. As a business speaker, José was able to highlight the work carried out by the CRI and explain the impact that the results achieved could generate, in front of more than a thousand representatives of the world of innovation at a European and international level.
“There is an important advance worldwide, and particularly in Europe, in smart industries. There is a conviction at an industrial, academic and R & D level that the digital transformation is here to stay and is fundamental for the development and improvement of processes and services, vital for the competitiveness of companies and innovation”, the investigator explained.
In this sense, the CRI´s participation is of great importance, since it shows the innovation initiatives in Chile and especially in an area as important as the wine industry. “I had the opportunity to interact with different actors in the field, see new technologies in automation, IOT, communications, IT, etc., which could be applied in the framework of our CORFO project “Quality management platform for grapes and wines “, and in the future phase of technology transfer and innovation and escalation at a productive level”, he said.
This instance not only bring together the most prominent players in the area of innovation, but also emphasizes the importance of collaborative work, through the financing instruments of Eureka and other institutions linked to the area, such as CORFO in Chile´s case.
Macrowine 2018 – Zaragoza
At the end of May, the International Conference in Wine Sciences: Macrowine was held in Zaragoza, Spain. This year’s edition focused on how science can contribute to a better, safer, healthier and more stable production, in a context strongly restricted by climate change.
José Cuevas participated through the presentation of a poster about the use of machine learning to predict the concentration of proanthocyanidins and anthocyanins in red wines. “During the poster presentation sessions, several researchers from different European universities and companies related to the analytical field, consulted about our results and the impact that this type of tools can have to address the quality analysis of grapes and wines. We had enriching conversations and advanced in networking efforts that could open possibilities for future collaborations”, said Cuevas.
The CRI´s participation in this event not only made possible to publicize the advances in research that have been achieved, but also to assess at what level the center is located in relation to its peers. “I think we are very well positioned. Talking with different researchers and professionals from companies present at Macrowine, I noticed that we are addressing critical issues for the industry from an innovative perspective, using state-of-the-art technology, and incorporating expertise and tools that are usually alien to viticulture, but that in the medium- long term will come to generate great impact”, he concluded.
