The CFIA trade show was held on March 14-16, 2023 in Rennes. It is a must-attend event bringing together over 1,600 suppliers from the food industry and located at the heart of Europe’s first agrifood region.
For over 10 years, several regional agencies gave a strong impetus to include innovation (Bretagne Développement Innovation, the Pôle de compétitivité Valorial, the Brittany Region and since this year the Association Bretonne des Entreprises Agroalimentaires). Under their patronage, the AgriFood Factory of the Future (“Usine Agro du Futur”) stand and its circuit of innovative demonstrators have become the CFIA’s flagship event.
This collective action is part of the “Eating Well for All” dynamics promoted by the Brittany Region. It brings together many innovation partners and agrifood companies from Brittany and from the wider Western France.
Every year, the AgriFood Factory of the Future offers visitors a circuit of innovative solutions around a specific theme. We still remember the 2018 edition “Safety All Along the Line”, where photonics was omnipresent. In 2023, the topic was “Reconcile Sobriety and Performance”.
Once again, the partners of the AgriFood Factory of the Future took up the challenge of innovation in 3 areas spread over 450 m²:
- The Innovation Hub cluster, bringing together the partners of the AgriFood Factory of the Future: Bretagne Développement Innovation, Valorial, ABEA, ACT Food Bretagne, Photonics Bretagne, Pôle Cristal, CEA Tech Bretagne, CETA-The Land, EMC2, CTCPA, and Bretagne Commerce International.
- The FoodTech Village, featuring ten start-ups and innovative companies offering new solutions for food processing plants: equipment, processes, ingredients/IFPs, digitalization etc.
- The Showroom, a circuit of demonstrators developed in Brittany around the theme of ” Reconcile Sobriety and Performance “. These included production line control solutions from Photon Lines and Bizerba Luceo, as well as sustainable food technologies from CEA Tech Bretagne.
A strong European dimension was added for the photonics actors. CEA Tech Bretagne, along with Polytec France and Photonics Bretagne, had the opportunity to present their activities to a delegation hosted by the Aurora Agrifood project. In addition, Photonics Bretagne promoted the PhotonHub Europe project, which assists EU companies to integrate photonic technologies into their sector through technical and financial support.
