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As the new year draws to a close, it is not out of the question to look at the year that is now coming to an end. Sveinn Margeirsson reviews the year 2012 in Matís' operations, but growth characterized the company's operations during the year.

The growth is reflected in many areas, both as the largest year in the company's history in terms of turnover and not least in Matís' wider project participation both abroad and no less domestically. The number of employees has also increased and the knowledge base has grown. All of this is happening in times of economic hardship and says a lot about the strength of the company and its employees.

Matís is in many ways in line with the progress of food processing in Iceland and the importance of the value chain has become increasingly clear. The value creation is in this way in many links of the chain; it will be in development, production and no less marketing. Matís' strength lies precisely in its involvement in knowledge of the various parts of the value chain, we support food production in its development while at the same time fulfilling our role in terms of food safety and control. Consumers need to have confidence and trust in the products.

Matís' foreign income now amounts to close to 25% of annual turnover and has never been higher. This reflects our success in foreign projects, Matís' position and strength in an international research environment. We have also increased our participation in national projects and Matís' dense network nationwide. In 2012, the company opened two new offices, in the south of the Westfjords and in Snæfellsnes. They are guided by value creation in these areas with special emphasis on Breiðafjörður, where there are great resources in food and biotechnology. In Breiðafjörður, there is a large amount of algae that our biotechnology research has shown can be processed into valuable products, but in parallel with the innovation, Matís can help to combine these new emphases with the existing food production in the area. The key is to work according to the guideline that ensures the greatest value creation.

Food production in Iceland takes place to a large extent outside the capital area and we have good experience of operating establishments around the country to follow the emphases and opportunities in each area, in collaboration with locals. Despite the fact that the development of the establishments entails significant costs, we nevertheless consider this network to be of great value. We have placed great emphasis on increased connections with educational institutions, and it can be said that Matís has made good progress in the bridge-building that needs to take place between educational institutions, research companies and the business community. Experience shows how much that bridge can contribute to increased value creation.

Consumers need to be able to rely on the safety of food production. They also need to be able to trust that the limited funds allocated to research and development activities will be used for development and growth for Icelandic society. I believe that Matís' employees have succeeded well - as the company's growth in 2012 confirms.

A very popular Christmas market with food and crafts has been held at Höfn in Hornafjörður in December in recent months.

The parties involved in the market are Matís, the Hornafjörður Cultural Center and the State of Vatnajökull. The market offers a lot of food produced in the district, such as dried mutton from the wilderness, hot-smoked mackerel, smoked pork products from Miðskersbúið, vegetable products from Hólabrekka, hot-smoked eel, seafood from Skinney Þinganes, ice from Árbær, birch salt. The market will be open on Saturdays 15 and 22 December from 13:00 -16: 00.

The Christmas market is an outdoor market and is held in stalls that were built this summer. Great care was taken in the construction of the stalls as it was planned that they would look like shark shells, which means that the market has a very Icelandic and old-fashioned look. Various events are offered on the market, such as choir singing, etc. to create a real Hornfirski Christmas mood. There has been a good turnout in the market and food producers who sell food on the market are doing well, as people have been coming to the market from the east to pick up delicious food produced in the region for the festive meal.

For further information Vigfús Þórarinn Ásbjörnsson at Matís.

"Icelandic seaweed is an underutilized resource at least here in Iceland, but there are various things going on that are related to algae and they are relevant in our research," says Jón Trausti Kárason, an expert who is one of those related to algae research at Matís.

Jón Trausti says that about eight researchers at Matís work primarily on algae research, although more are related to those projects in one way or another. Among the recent products based on algae research by Matís scientists are skin products that the start-up company Marinox has launched, but they contain bioactive antioxidants that are made from seaweed and are considered particularly good for the skin.

Among other products that are expected to be on the market soon, Jón Trausti mentions algae skyr and barley paste that is added with algae. "In fact, it was a group of students who were with us last summer that started the development of the algae cloud and the product competed on behalf of Iceland in Ecotrophelia, which is a student competition with ecological innovation in food production. This went so well that the development work was continued and now the algae cloud is coming. Here is food on the go that is skyr and kelp flour in the base but flavored with blueberries and honey, "says Jón Trausti.

Jón Trausti, along with others at Matís, is a representative of the young generation. He came to Matís before he finished his studies, then in projects related to his studies. As a result, opportunities were created where the gap between industry and the scientific community was bridged, and Jón Trausti, together with other Matís employees, is an important link in that value chain. For the young generation, it is an exciting task to be in the middle of a whirlwind of food production in Iceland, but with a large interface with the education system. The ideal of this young generation is lofty and exciting. It is, among other things, strengthening Iceland's position as a food-producing nation, but changes in the environment have created conditions that mean that we Icelanders see opportunities for great progress in the production of raw materials, which may not have been considered for decades.

For further information Jón Trausti Kárason at Matís.

This was stated in a speech by Haukur Már Gestsson, an economist who works within the Sjávarklasan, at the Fisheries Conference in Reykjavík recently, and also recently Sigjón Arason, Matís' chief engineer, made a good report on Stöðvar 2's news.

The utilization of cod in the North Atlantic countries is noticeably best in Iceland or 76%, while it is 50% in the Faroe Islands, 45% in Canada and 43% in Greenland. "I believe that the main reason for better utilization here is greater utilization of by-products, and this is undoubtedly thanks to both the regulations and the good collaboration between companies and Matís, but good fillet utilization certainly plays a part. The liver is a good example of a product that is well used in this country. Most of it goes into fish oil and is boiled down. Eggs are also new.

Utilization to increase
The same is true of heads and bones. Almost all cod heads that come to Iceland go for drying, as does a growing part of the cod heads that fall on freezer trawlers. These products are sold to Nigeria. From the accompanying graph, it can be assumed that utilization has deteriorated in Iceland since 2009. Haukur says that this does not have to be the case. "Care must be taken in comparing utilization between individual years. For example, a product manufactured in 2009 is sometimes not shown in export figures for the following year. It therefore makes more sense to look at the graph over a longer period of time and accordingly the utilization is increasing. On the other hand, it can be seen from the diagram that utilization in the other countries has been declining. I have no explanation for that. "

Norwegians strong
According to Haukur, he did not have good enough data to include Norway in this comparison. "Norwegians have looked at this themselves and according to that their utilization is about 41%, but since a different method was used than I used, care must be taken in comparing these figures. Norway is more powerful than most other nations in exploring opportunities in by-products, for example by exporting eggs and oysters to Asia. A special organization was established there, RUBIN, which received a lot of funding to research by-products, but this institution has actually just been closed down today. "

Guts and heads are of little use
"I believe that Icelanders should be able to go one step further to make better use of, for example, gutters, heads and bones and maximize their value. The head is between 20 and 30% of each fish and according to a Matís survey, only a small part of the heads is used if the cod is excluded, "says Haukur Már Gestsson in the end.

_{The above article first appeared in Viðskiptablaðið on November 29, 2012. The author of the column is Vilmundur Hansen, vilmundur (at) fiskifrettir.is.}

Here You can find Stöðvar 2's news from 19 October. For further information Sigurjón Arason, Matís' chief engineer.

The location of Matís' offices across the country has made it easier for entrepreneurs to seek cooperation and support.

Páll Gunnar Pálsson, a food scientist at Matís, says that one of the company's most common tasks is participation in product development and organization of work processes at food companies. "Matís' main guiding principle is to increase the quality, value, health and safety of production and thus strengthen the competitiveness of the Icelandic economy on an international level and promote better public health."

Ten establishments

"Matís' headquarters are in Reykjavík, and in addition there are nine offices throughout the country. The activities are diverse, but with a special emphasis on collaboration with companies and individuals. Matís has a staff of about one hundred and within that group are many of the country's leading experts in food and biotechnology as well as a number of master's and doctoral students in research-related studies. "

Páll Gunnar says that many of the projects are small and limited and therefore do not have the possibility of grants from the competition funds, in addition to which the application deadline and processing time for funds can be so long that the projects burn out while waiting ..

Necessary to act quickly

"The acquisition of seafood depends on the seasons and if it is not possible to start a project at a certain time, the waiting time can be long. It is therefore important to be able to react quickly and start working immediately on important project ideas that arise.

In recent years, Mátís has placed great emphasis on collaboration with individuals and companies who are looking for ways to increase value or are preparing to process new products.

For this reason, we launched the project Product Development Center for Marine Products with the support of the Fisheries Project Fund. Within this, work is being done on various product development projects in the field of fisheries throughout the country. The project is intended to meet the need of the Icelandic fishing industry for product development and further processing. In light of the experience gained from the operation, the importance of being able to respond to companies 'and individuals' requests for assistance with product development has increased, "says Páll Gunnar.

We welcome everyone

Páll Gunnar says that projects that find their way into Matís 'board have more often than not come from companies and individuals in the countryside, and the strengthening of Matís' operations in the countryside has had a great impact on this.

"We welcome everyone who has a good idea for product development or needs help to get their idea in the right shape, and we can get started much earlier than if we had to try to finance through the traditional fund system.

In the two years that the project has been in operation, Matís has been involved in more than 50 projects and some of them have already returned products and new activities. These include products based on kelp, such as kelp and ointments. We are currently working on the development of dietary supplements from kelp, barley pasta, smoking saithe, oil made from lobster, health snacks from seafood, improved utilization of grayling, guidelines for people who want to make their own salted fish, to name a few, "says Páll Gunnar.

For further information Páll Gunnar Pálsson.

Videos from several Matís offices have now been produced. The videos are about 4 minutes long each and there is a lot to see and hear.

Ólafur Rögnvaldsson at Axfilms ehf. had a problem with the production of these videos.

The videos, both in Icelandic and English, can be found here.