Key Technological Innovations

Watson’s Key Technological Innovations

1.Blockchain Platform for Interconnection of Systems in the Food Chain
    • Owner: NTU – INT
    • Description: A secure and transparent digital platform for registering information on food supply chains, enhancing transparency and trust through blockchain technology, decentralized architecture, and smart contracts to ensure real-time product tracking and process automation.
    • Main Problem: insufficient product transparency and trust, operational inefficiencies, and regulatory complexities that plague traditional food supply chains.
    • Business Added Value: Improves supply chain management, fosters a trust-building ecosystem, and creates a sustainable business model through transaction fees.
    • Owner: Netcompany-Intrasoft (INT)
    • Description: A blockchain-supported system to enhance transparency and traceability in the food supply chain by addressing issues like food fraud and mislabelling, providing detailed product histories and ensuring compliance with industry standards.
    • Main Problem: Lack of transparency and trust in the food industry.
    • Business Added Value: Builds consumer trust, reduces fraud risk, and ensures compliance with industry standards.
    • Owner: CER
    • Description: An open-access agricultural testbed that consolidates heterogeneous digital technologies for advanced experimentation in Precision Agriculture.
    • Main Problem: Need for advanced experimentation and validation in Precision Agriculture.
    • Business Added Value: Facilitates faster deployment of innovations and creates valuable knowledge for optimizing crop production and management.
    • Owner: INESC TEC (INE)
    • Description: An interoperable IoT solution for advanced monitoring of vineyard cultivation conditions.
    • Main Problem: High variability in environmental conditions affecting vineyard cultivation.
    • Business Added Value: Enhances traceability and transparency in vineyard production, enabling informed production decisions.
  • Owner: SYN
  • Description: An IoT platform for agriculture and smart city use cases, enhanced with blockchain features for improved interoperability and data sharing.
  • Main Problem: Fragmentation of data and lack of interoperability across different stages of the food supply chain (farms, processors, distributors, and retailers). This fragmentation leads to inefficiencies such as delays, errors, and difficulties in tracing products, while also hindering transparency, collaboration, and a holistic view of operations.
  • Business Added Value: Increases interoperability, trust, and collaboration among stakeholders, enhancing the overall efficiency of the food supply chain.
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  • Owner: VTT
  • Description: A method exploiting unique properties of packaging materials for item-level traceability without the need for individual printing or labelling, to enhance product traceability and combat counterfeiting in the food and beverage packaging market.
  • Main Problem: Need for cost-efficient item-level traceability.
  • Business Added Value: Provides a fast, user-friendly, and cost-efficient solution for ensuring food authenticity and traceability.
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  • Owner: WCS
  • Description: A smartphone application to raise consumer awareness about the products they buy, providing details on the full food lifecycle.
  • Main Problem: Lack of consumer awareness about food product authenticity.
  • Business Added Value: Promotes healthier and environmentally friendly food products, enhancing consumer trust and engagement.
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  • Owner: ASINCAR (ASI)
  • Description: Algorithms for real-time detection of fraud in Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) honey (specifically Asturian honey). The algorithm employs advanced technologies such as Near-Infrared (NIR) and Hyperspectral Imaging (HSI) for real-time detection of adulteration and mislabelling.
  • Main Problem: Fraudulent activities in the honey market that target the adulteration with cheaper sugars and mislabelling regarding botanical origin, which significantly undermine the economic viability of EU beekeepers.
  • Business Added Value: Provides an easy-to-use, non-destructive, and real-time solution for detecting honey fraud, enhancing the integrity of PGI honey. Enhance the efficiency of honey inspections, reduce resource expenditure, and increase consumer trust in honey products, ultimately benefiting the honey value chain and promoting fair trade practices. 
  • Owner: INRAE (INR)
  • Description: A device for authenticating the feeding of animals based on the spectrum of muscle or fat tissues in the carcass.
  • Main Problem: Need for quick and easy authentication of meat quality based on animal feed.
  • Business Added Value: Provides a fast and easy-to-use method for ensuring meat quality, enhancing consumer trust and compliance with quality standards.
  • Owner: BioCoS (BIO)
  • Description: A portable system for on-site authentication of olive oil, with potential scalability also in fraud detection with lower quality vegetable oils.
  • Main Problem: Need for fast DNA testing to ensure the authenticity and integrity of an olive oil.
  • Business Added Value: Olive oil stakeholders ensure the authenticity of an olive oil label, enhancing consumer trust and in parallel compliance with quality standards.
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  • Owner: INESC TEC (INE)
  • Description: Software for fast coarse screening of wine colour using RGB images and mobile devices.
  • Main Problem: Need for quick and inexpensive wine colour analysis.
  • Business Added Value: Provides an inexpensive and flexible tool for wine colour analysis, targeted to support visually impaired consumers, enhancing consumer trust and compliance with quality standards.
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  • Owner: VTT, UPC (Joint ownership)
  • Description: Item level identification, traceability and lifecycle data to provide dynamic and context-aware services to end users, including proof of authenticity and tamper evidence to meet anti-counterfeiting needs.
  • Main Problem: Need for cost-effective and multifunctional smart tags.
  • Business Added Value: Provides a low-cost solution for item-level identification and condition monitoring, enhancing traceability and transparency in the food industry.
  • Owner: INESC TEC (INE)
  • Description: Software and algorithms for automatic analysis and information extraction from wine labels.
  • Main Problem: Help visually impaired consumers by enabling them to identify products and process labels using standard mobile devices, facilitating everyday tasks.
  • Business Added Value: Provides an easy-to-use solution for wine label analysis, enhancing consumer trust and compliance with labelling standards. Enhance the autonomy of visually impaired consumers and create job opportunities through further development and integration within existing applications.
  • Owner: UBITECH (UBI)
  • Description: A comprehensive service integrating data from various sources to provide real-time alerts and predictive insights for food fraud prevention.
  • Main Problem: Need for real-time alerts and predictive insights for food fraud prevention. 
  • Business Added Value: Enhances the ability of authorities to prevent and address food fraud incidents, ensuring the integrity and safety of the food supply chain.
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  • Owner: REG
  • Description: A software application for assessing food fraud risk in complex food systems, integrating real-time data and probabilistic models.
  • Main Problem: Need for comprehensive risk assessment of food fraud.
  • Business Added Value: Provides advanced monitoring and decision support, enhancing the situational awareness of food authorities and ensuring the integrity of the food supply chain.