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.