The Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV and AGROPOLO Campinas-Brazil signed a memorandum of agreement at the end of last year. The MOU aims to promote, develop and facilitate cooperation between participants from Brazil and Germany in the areas of common interest for science, technology and innovation, especially R & D for sustainable development.

Agropolo is an inter institutional platform, based on the concept of collaborative innovation, which objective is to develop technical cooperation projects in the areas of agriculture, food, biodiversity, bioenergy, green chemistry and sustainable development. The following institutions are part of AGROPOLO: the Department of Agriculture and Supply of the State of São Paulo, through the Agronomic Institute (IAC), as well as the Institute of Food Technology (ITAL) and the Biological Institute (IB), State Secretariat for Economic Development, Science, Technology and Innovation, City of Campinas, Unicamp, Techno Park Campinas - Associtech and Agropolis International Association.

Among the Agropolo’s strategic actions is holding cycles of seminars for internalization and mobilization, including the definition and detailing of pilot projects and promotion of debate in their research areas.

In December of last year, AGROPOLO promoted the seminar "Strategic Actions in Bioeconomics in Germany: opportunities for Brazil". The seminar was given by Dr. Raffael Osen, the responsible researcher in food technology, but also had the participation of the Dr. Peter Eisner, head of food and biogenic raw materials department of the Fraunhofer IVV Institute and engineer Alexandre Martins Moreira, Business Development and Project Management of the Fraunhofer Project Center for Innovations in Food and Bioresources at ITAL. The objective of the event was to present the experience of Germany in the area of Bioeconomics and to foster discussions on the various strategic actions that can be carried out jointly with institutions of science technology and the productive sector of Brazil.

The Fraunhofer IVV already operates in Campinas, through the Fraunhofer Center for Innovation in Food and Renewable Resources at ITAL, a partnership between the Fraunhofer IVV Institute and the ITAL Food Technology Institute, which together carry out researches to serve the industry and promote Increasing competitiveness in all stages of food production and packaging, seeking for innovations in process technologies and the development of new products, in order to add value along the production chain.