VIDA: strengthening innovation across food production value chains

The VIDA project, funded under Horizon 2020 INNOSUP, staged a two day final event on 18 and 19 May 2021 to showcase SMEs it supported and to outline a path beyond the formal end of the project. VIDA focused on deploying key enabling technologies to create and strengthen industrial value chains at the intersection of water, energy and food. The project combined small direct grants in the form of innovation vouchers with advisory services, coaching and matchmaking to move solutions from prototype towards market validation and demonstration.

Scale and mechanics of VIDA support

VIDA used a mix of direct financial support and nonfinancial services to build capacity among SMEs operating in food production and adjacent supply chains. The model is typical of INNOSUP projects where relatively small grants are intended to de-risk technical proof of concept and foster collaboration between technology providers and end users.

Sectors and example innovations supported

Portfolio themes included greenhouse management, alternative food production and sustainable agriculture, aquaculture, livestock systems, and innovations for wineries and breweries. At VIDA’s final event, firms that had received vouchers pitched their solutions and reported progress on acceleration projects. The event concluded with targeted B2B matchmaking sessions to link technology providers, growers, processors and potential investors.

Case study: Water Future and the EcoGreen sodium removal system

One of VIDA’s beneficiaries, Water Future BV and partners, ran a demonstration project aimed at near zero emission greenhouse production by removing sodium from recirculation water. Excess sodium accumulates in greenhouse recirculation systems because crops do not uptake sodium. At elevated concentrations sodium becomes toxic for many crop species, forcing growers to discharge recirculation water and with it nutrients, pesticides and significant volumes of water.

Field test outcomes reported by the consortium included up to 80 percent savings in water and 80 percent savings in nutrients, alongside improved crop growth conditions. The partners estimated a payback time of roughly one year for larger greenhouse operations of around 10 hectares, based on water and nutrient savings plus improved yields. VIDA supported longer duration trials aimed at demonstrating the technology at scale in a 7 hectare tomato greenhouse with the ambition to progress from Technology Readiness Level 7 to TRL 9 and to initiate commercialisation in 2021 if results remained favourable.

Project exit strategy and post-project activity

Although the May 2021 event was marked as VIDA’s final event, organisers signalled continued activity. VIDA announced the formation of an alumni network to keep innovation activity alive, to maintain connections between SMEs and advisors and to facilitate faster matchmaking and improved networking. The stated objective is to evolve from the VIDA nexus towards a Next VIDA programme that will emphasise alignment with the EU Green Deal, trusted environments, circular economy principles and safe and sustainable design.

Context and critical perspective

VIDA fits within a broader EU approach that uses relatively small, targeted financial instruments plus advisory services to move innovators along the commercialisation pathway. Innovation vouchers are effective at lowering the immediate financial barrier to user tests and pilots. They can also create networks and pull-through relationships between technology developers and buyers. That said, vouchers alone rarely solve the larger scaling problems faced by deep tech or infrastructure solutions. Diffusion to multiple regions and countries depends on regulatory alignment, capital availability, operational integration and long term performance data.

Specific considerations for technologies such as EcoGreen include long term membrane fouling and maintenance costs, energy use of treatment systems, disposal or valorisation routes for concentrated waste streams and farmer willingness to change operational practices. The consortium cited a tight payback period for larger operations. These claims should be validated by replicated independent trials under different climatic and crop conditions before wide scale adoption is assumed. The Dutch regulatory timeline that aims for zero emission of water and nutrients in greenhouse production by 2027 creates a policy driver that may accelerate market uptake in the Netherlands. Other markets will move at their own regulatory and commercial pace.

What VIDA achieved and outstanding questions

VIDA channelled €3.3 million in vouchers and provided advisory services to hundreds of SMEs. The project appears to have catalysed promising pilots across several food chain subsectors. The launch of an alumni network and the stated pivot to Next VIDA provide continuity. However there are open questions about how the alumni network will be funded over time, what governance it will use and how it will bridge the gap between pilot validation and commercial scale investment.

Further, the headline figures do not reveal voucher size distribution, the follow on investment raised by beneficiaries, or robust independent performance validation for reported resource savings. Such data would be important for assessing the return on public funds and for deciding which interventions to scale up under future EU programmes aligned to the Green Deal.

Practical next steps for stakeholders

Policymakers should treat VIDA results as preliminary evidence of what works and what does not. For funders and investors, the priority is to demand standardized reporting from pilots so that energy, chemical and operational footprints are comparable. For SMEs and growers, collaboration with research institutes and third party verifiers will strengthen commercial propositions. For regional and national agencies the Dutch legislative deadline for greenhouse zero emission by 2027 shows how regulation can act as a market catalyst. Where such policy drivers do not exist, public procurement and blended finance models may be needed to accelerate adoption.

The VIDA project documented its beneficiaries and project cases on the VIDA website and published a video of the final event. The project content carries the standard Horizon 2020 disclaimer that the views expressed are those of the authors and not of the European Commission or EISMEA.

Bottom line

VIDA illustrates how EU programmes can use targeted vouchers plus advisory services to push innovation projects into real world trials. The project produced a set of demonstrators across greenhouse and food chain sectors and created networks that may outlive the formal project through an alumni initiative. For decision makers the key questions are how to turn pilot successes into sustained commercial scale and how to provide follow on finance and regulatory clarity so that resource saving claims are verified and widely deployed.