Checkout talks to Claudia Domingues, president InovCluster - Association of the Agro-Industrial Cluster of the Center
Can you tell me about InovCluster, the AgriFood InovCluster Association of the Central Region of Portugal?
InovCluster - Association of the Agro-Industrial Cluster of the Center, has its headquarters in the facilities of the Technological Support Center for Agro-Food in Castelo Branco and aims to contribute to increasing the competitiveness of local and regional production systems and to the affirmation of the Central Region of Portugal at national level and international.
To this end, it establishes a platform for consultation between the main players in this sector, and supports companies in processes of innovation, RTD, knowledge transfer, training, development of new products, services and processes, marketing and internationalization.
To date, it has 178 associates, of which 85% companies, and entities such as Associations / Cooperatives, Higher Education Institutions, R&D Institutions linked to the agro-industrial and agro-food sector and several municipalities in the Center region.
We have different units working in different ways. One of them it’s Unit + Internationalization that works to grow the exportations of Portugal.
We organize the participation of Portugal in different trade fairs around the world, we organize promotional actions, we organize reverse missions, always to create new business opportunities to our companies.
In your opinion how has the impact of COVID-19 on the global market and the difficulties involved in face-to-face participation in international events, influenced InovCluster in organizing this online action to promote Portuguese agri-food exports?
In the midst of a pandemic, the impact of COVID-19 on the global market and the difficulty of face-to-face participation in international actions led Inovcluster to organize this virtual action in order to enhance national exports in the agri-food sector.
This event is part of the AgriExport 4.0 project, which aims to increase the collective international recognition of goods produced in the Portuguese agro-industrial sector, enhancing the internationalization of SMEs through their collective promotion.
Digital AgriExport 4.0 is held on an online platform specialized in virtual events and will have exhibitors from different sectors of the Portuguese agri-food sector, receiving buyers from various international markets, with the aim of boosting your business in a unique and integrated way.
There are two weeks of networking between Portuguese companies and importers from various markets.
How can importers sign up for the meetings to find producers from all the different sectors of the Portuguese agri-food industry, including fresh fruit and vegetables, preserves, meat products, cheeses, wines, oils, snacks, and other gourmet products?
This is very easy. They should access here and create an account. After this process, they should confirm the email.
After that we will approve the access and they can sign up in the platform, find producers, chat with them or book meetings.
The products presented on the platform represent the entire geography and the agri-food sector, and Inovcluster is certain that buyers will find the ideal partners for their business.
It is possible to find producers of olive oil, sausages, wine, fruits and vegetables, coffee, snacks, chocolate, fleur de sel, preserves, cheeses, jams, infusions and aromatic herbs.
Wines, olive oil, Natural and organic products are the more representative sectors.
Portugal produces with a lot of quality and increasingly with a high degree of innovation, worthy of trust from several international markets.
The agri-food industry in Portugal is one of the sectors that is most developed and growing exponentially, promoting the incorporation of innovation in traditional products, the production of gourmet products and high added value.
As this platform is now live and the digital mission is already live since 23 April, which market can buyers reach?
We are very happy with our numbers. We have more than 100 buyers in our action. It was really nice to our companies, to our country and to create new opportunities.
We have buyers from 20 different countries.
And all of them can expect to know products with quality and innovation. So, we have buyers from EUA, Canada, and other side of the world Australia.
All buyers can access our action, just need to have interest in know better our producers, to do networking.
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