Fruit Attraction LIVEConnect hosts the BIOTECH ATTRACTION conference series: “Agrobiology's Potential for the New Agriculture"

Fruit Attraction LIVEConnect, the world’s largest marketplace for the professional fruit and vegetable community, will host the BIOTECH ATTRACTION conference series: “Agrobiology's Potential for the New Agriculture", organised by Biovegen. 

In the words of Gonzaga Ruiz de Gauna, Biovegen manager, “The BIOTECH ATTRACTION series aims to show the technological trends that will mark the future of agriculture, as well as examples of the innovative companies and projects that are addressing these issues. BIOVEGEN, as a public-private association focused on supporting innovation in the sector and collaborating with FRUIT ATTRACTION, intends with this series will show the technological and financing opportunities that are open to the sector through technological innovation, which offers new products, varieties, new crop applications, new tools, greater production efficiency, less environmental impact, etc. In short, to show how technological innovation in the sector, enhanced by tools that emerge from a profound knowledge of plant biology, is providing business opportunities and competitiveness to the entire value chain in the agri-food sector".

This series will have a total of 4 sessions that will be held on Thursday 8, 15, 22 and 29 October 2020 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. All the conferences will be broadcast through the Fruit Attraction LIVEConnect Platform.

The first day, on Thursday 8 October, will be titled “New Tools for the Development of Plant Varieties and Material“, and will include participation, within the companies section, by well renowned speakers including Gabino Sánchez, Business Development Director at Hudson River Biotechnology; Francisco Javier Puyo, breeder with Unigen and José Cuenca, director of Avasa. For the presentation of science-business projects, Manuel Talón, from the Valencian Institute of Agrarian Research (IVIA) will be present, who will explain the Gocitrus project; Mónica Pradillo, from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), will talk about the MEICOM project, and Cristina Ferrándiz, from the Molecular and Cellular Plant Biology Institute - IBMCP (CSIC), will present the work on SUS-CROP RICE.

The second conference, on Thursday , 15 October, with the title “New Compounds from Plant Material”, will feature important speakers from sector companies such as David Alonso, Director of Operations at Grape; Ramón Alcaraz, founder and CEO of Naturbec; Javier Martínez, founder and CEO of Bioento; Eneko Ochoa, founder and CEO of Aleovitro, and Gonzalo Mijangos, founder and CEO of Green and Great. Also present will be Juliana Navarro from the Aragón Agri-Food Research and Technology Centre (CITA), who will present the MAPCROPS project. 

In the third conference, on Thursday 22 October, under the heading “Management and Public and Private Financing for the Agrobiotechnology Sector“, different representatives will speak from companies such as Ángeles Valbuena, CDTI Foreign Technology Action ; Alex Marín, R&D Investment Manager at Kaudal; Myriam Martínez, Director of Business Development at Incotec; Daniel Agudo, Madrid Business Development Manager at Zabala, in addition to speakers from the companies Clave Mayor and Comida.

Finally, the fourth conference will be held on Thursday 29 October, when  “New Tools for Plant Health" will be discussed. The companies section will include participation by Walter Sanseverino, cofounder and CEO of Sequentia Biotech; María Albiach, founder and CEO of Valgenetics; Berenice Güerri, CEO of Bioiberica, and representatives from Glen Biotech. Within the project-science field, Luis Vicente López-Llorca, from the University of Alicante (UA), will present Synthetic Biology and Phytopathology, and Aurelio Ciancio, from the Institute of Sustainable Plant Protection in Italy, will present the Musa Project.

All the sessions will be introduced by Raúl Calleja, director of Fruit Attraction, and Gonzaga Ruiz de Gauna, director of Biovegen and there will be a discussion at the end of each meeting.