ASOCIACION PARA LA INVESTIGACION DESARROLLO E INNOVACION DEL SECTOR AGROALIMENTARIO - AIDISA

Their core work

AIDISA is a Spanish research centre based in La Rioja focused on R&D and innovation for the agri-food sector. They specialize in sustainable packaging, bio-based materials, and food processing technology — helping the agri-food industry transition to circular economy solutions. Their practical work spans testing new bio-plastics for food packaging, valorizing agricultural waste streams into bio-based products, and piloting cleaner production technologies like advanced steam boilers and ultrasound-based olive oil extraction. They bridge the gap between lab-scale material innovation and industrial-scale food industry adoption.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

AIDISA's early H2020 work (2016–2018) centred on general sustainable design, energy efficiency, and initial explorations of bio-plastics and nanocomposite packaging materials. From 2019 onward, their focus sharpened significantly toward circular packaging — specifically the transition from multilayer to mono-material solutions, bio-based adhesives, and end-of-life properties like compostability and recyclability. Their most recent and largest project (MODEL2BIO, 2020) marks an expansion into decision-support modelling for valorizing agri-food waste streams in bio-based industries.

AIDISA is moving from material testing toward systems-level tools for circular bio-economy decision-making, making them increasingly relevant for projects that need both lab expertise and modelling capabilities.

How they like to work

AIDISA operates exclusively as a project participant — they have never coordinated an H2020 project, which is typical for a mid-sized sectoral research association. However, they have built a remarkably broad network: 59 unique partners across 20 countries from just 6 projects, indicating they join large, diverse consortia rather than small specialist teams. This means they are easy to integrate into new partnerships and experienced in multi-country collaboration, though they are unlikely to take a leadership or coordination role.

With 59 unique partners across 20 countries from 6 projects, AIDISA has an unusually wide European network for its size. Their partnerships span food industry players, packaging companies, and research institutes across Southern and Western Europe.

What sets them apart

AIDISA sits at the intersection of agri-food expertise and packaging materials science — a combination that is relatively rare among research centres. Based in La Rioja, one of Spain's key agricultural regions, they have direct proximity to wine, fruit, and vegetable industries that need practical sustainable packaging and waste valorization solutions. Their track record of hands-on involvement in pilot-line and demonstration projects (IA funding in 3 of 6 projects) makes them a strong partner for consortia that need to move beyond the lab and test solutions in real agri-food environments.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MODEL2BIO
  Their largest project (EUR 411K) and most recent, focused on modelling tools for agri-food waste valorization — signals their strategic direction toward decision-support systems.
• MANDALA
  Addresses the high-impact challenge of transitioning from multilayer to single-polymer packaging for recyclability, spanning food and pharma sectors.
• OLIVE-SOUND
  Uniquely applied ultrasound technology to continuous olive oil extraction — demonstrates their ability to work on process innovation beyond packaging.