Author: hilduryr@matis.is

Matís and Verkmenntaskóli Austurland recently organized the Innovation Competition of the primary schools in Fjarðabyggð, and this is the second time that such a competition has been held. Junior high school students took part in the Innovation Competition and had six weeks to come up with ideas for the possible use of seaweed and kelp from the area.

This year, the award ceremony took place on the family's Technology Day, which was held in Neskaupstaður on October 1st. The purpose of the Technology Day is to promote the technical and scientific work carried out in the East, as well as to promote the work of the Vocational School of the East, and it was therefore appropriate to announce the winner of the competition on the Technology Day.

The teachers in Fjarðabyggðar's primary schools did an excellent job in helping the students implement the ideas, and in addition to them, two "mentors" were recruited to help with the project, they were Dr. Hildur Inga Sveinsdóttir (Matís) and Dr. Guðrún Svana Hilmarsdóttir.

In order to decide the winner of the competition, judges from the local community who have a lot of experience from different fields were brought in. This year's judges were Arnfríður Eide Hafþórsdóttir, human resources and safety manager of Fur Processing, Hjördís Helga Seljan Þóroddsdóttir, president of the town council in Fjarðabyggð and Guðmundur Rafnkell Gíslason, manager of the Shipowners' Cooperative in Neskaupstað. The task of the judges was great as about 30 solutions were received from the elementary schools.

The President of Iceland, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson was hired to present the award and he did so at a ceremony on Technology Day. Suffice it to say that the project Seaweed plastic won and it was the students Júlíus Sigurðarson and Svanur Hafthórsson from Nesskóli who were responsible for the project. The jury had this to say about the project: "In the opinion of the jury, there is a lot of innovation in the project and the authors have a great vision of how the project can change the world."

Second place went to the project Beach salt but they were Þór Theódorsson and Stefanía Guðrún Birgisdóttir from Nesskóli. The jury had the following to say about the project: "the idea is ambitious for the use of mountain and sea, and it would be exciting to see it come to market."

The project won third place Seaweed paint and they were Anna Ragnarsdóttir, Ólafía Danuta Bergsdóttir and Kolka Dögg Ómarsdóttir from Eskifjarðar School, and the jury described the project in the following way: "extremely original idea and great innovation present."

Stefán Þór Eysteinsson was project manager on behalf of Matís. Matís would like to express special thanks to Birgis Jónsson, the project manager from the Vocational School of East Iceland, the jury, teachers, school administrators, "mentors", the President of Iceland and all those involved in the project.

Below you can see a video from the winning project:

Matís is participating in a new project funded by Horizon Europe. The project, called Giant Leaps, aims to accelerate the transition from animal proteins to new food proteins.

This change in diet is the key to transforming the food system in terms of environmental impact and improving the health and well-being of people, animals and the planet. The project will deliver strategic innovations, methodologies and open data to accelerate such changes accordingly Farm-to-Fork the strategy and the goal of the European Green Deal to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

Achieving the dietary shift in practice is inherently complex due to the diverse set of actors involved and further hindered by major knowledge gaps – scattered across the various alternative protein sources and the domains of health (safety, allergenicity and digestibility), environment (GHGs and other environmental and climate impacts, biodiversity, circularity), and/or barriers to adoption (technological, sensory, and consumer acceptance).

New technologies and improved methods, together with accessible and comprehensive information about novel proteins, will enable policymakers to prioritize changes in the food system. It will also be useful for stakeholders in the food value chain to make strategic decisions in research, trade and investment. In addition, the public gets a more sustainable and healthy alternative to diet.

The GIANT LEAPS group consists of 34 partners from all over Europe, from start-ups to universities and research institutes. At the beginning of September, the project manager, Dr. Paul Vos from Wageningen Research, the first meeting of the project in Wageningen, Holland. There, the partners had the opportunity to meet and plan the 4-year project.

Matís is involved in developing and characterisation of novel alternative proteins developed in the project; their value chain mapping; assessment of circularity potential, impacts on sustainability, biodiversity and ecosystem services, and climate change mitigation potential.

Follow the Giant Leap project on LinkedIn and Twitter, where you can monitor the progress of the project.

Conference in Denmark 25-26 April 2023

The key to developing a good product in the spirit of sustainability is to use the power of sensory science to bridge the gap between science, industry and consumers. The title of the conference is "From idea to consumption" and at the conference we will examine the process from idea to market, with an emphasis on sustainability, the challenges that such a process often entails and the important role that sensory evaluation plays in the development of quality and sustainable food and beverage product.

Professionals and scientists who work on sensory assessment, quality issues and consumer issues in the field of food and other consumer products will have the opportunity to meet and compare their books. The conference is also chosen to promote connections and opportunities in the Nordic areas. Sensory evaluation, for example evaluation of quality and consumer issues, is an important link in the work that takes place in companies that produce and sell consumer goods.

The Nordic Sensory Workshop is a Nordic conference that has been held approximately every other year. The conference is attended by experts in the field of sensory evaluation and consumer research in the Nordic countries who also take turns hosting the conference. This year, Denmark (Teknologisk Institut) is in charge of planning with help from Nordic partners in Iceland (Matís), Norway (NOFIMA), RISE (The Swedish Research Institute) and Finland (VTT-Technical Research Center of Finland).

The conference will be held on April 25-26, 2023, Gregersenvej 1, 2630 Taastrup, Denmark.

Registration will open in January 2023, but you can sign up for the reminder list by email to the following address: lesh@teknologisk.dk

More information about the conference can be accessed by clicking here or by sending an inquiry to Kolbrúna Sveinsdóttir at Matís at the email address kolbrun@matis.is.

Ever since the establishment of the Sea Cluster in 2011, Matís has had a good and successful collaboration with the cluster itself and the companies in it. It has been an adventure to participate in and observe how the cluster has flourished and produced new companies, products and valuables for the benefit of the country and the nation.

Among the projects that are being worked on at the moment is consulting with the authorities and companies around the Great Lakes in Canada in terms of the full utilization of the catch available there. The project is carried out in connection with the philosophy of 100%fish. Last week, a group associated with the project came to record promotional material at Matís' laboratories. For the group, dr. Alexandra Leeper, research & development director of Sjávarklasan, who is also a former employee of Matís. Here are some photos from the visit. Matís' staff is particularly proud to participate in the collaboration with Sjávarklasann.