CREACIONES AROMATICAS INDUSTRIALES S.A.

Their core work

CARINSA is a Spanish SME specializing in industrial fragrance and aroma manufacturing, with a strong focus on microencapsulation technologies for functional ingredients. Beyond their core fragrance business, they have expanded into food science and biorefinery applications — extracting bioactive compounds from agri-food waste streams for use in cosmetics, nutraceuticals, and functional foods. They bring industrial manufacturing capability and formulation expertise to EU research consortia, bridging the gap between laboratory extraction processes and commercial-scale production.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

CARINSA's early H2020 work (2017–2018) centered on consumer-facing food science — personalised nutrition, omics-based biomarkers, and behavioural change through tailored food ingredients (PREVENTOMICS). Their later projects (2018–2024) shifted decisively toward circular bioeconomy: extracting bioactives from agri-food waste, bio-pretreatment of side streams, and recovering phenols and proteins for pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications. This evolution reflects a company moving from ingredient formulation toward sustainable sourcing of those same ingredients from waste streams.

CARINSA is moving toward becoming a circular biorefinery partner — expect future work in waste-to-value extraction processes for cosmetic, nutraceutical, and functional food ingredients.

How they like to work

CARINSA operates primarily as a participant (3 of 4 projects), contributing industrial know-how to larger consortia rather than leading research agendas. Their one coordinator role (eco-soft, an SME Instrument Phase 2 project) shows they can drive their own innovation when the topic aligns with core competency. With 51 unique partners across 13 countries, they integrate well into diverse European consortia and bring manufacturing-stage credibility that complements academic partners.

CARINSA has collaborated with 51 unique partners across 13 European countries, indicating broad network reach for an SME. Their consortia span food science, environmental, and digital sectors, connecting them to both academic research groups and industrial partners in the bioeconomy space.

What sets them apart

CARINSA occupies a rare niche: they are an industrial manufacturer (fragrances, encapsulation) who also participates in upstream research on bioactive extraction and food science. This means they can take a laboratory-proven extraction or formulation process and bring it closer to market through their existing production infrastructure. For consortium builders, they offer something most academic partners cannot — a direct pathway from research result to manufactured product in the cosmetics, nutraceutical, or functional food sectors.

Highlights from their portfolio

• eco-soft
  Their only coordinator role with the largest single funding (EUR 1.6M) — an SME Instrument project for industrializing eco-friendly microencapsulated fragrances.
• PHENOLEXA
  Their most recent project, focused on cascade biorefinery for polyphenol extraction from agri-food side streams — represents their current strategic direction.
• PREVENTOMICS
  Large-scale RIA connecting omics sciences with personalised nutrition, showing CARINSA's ability to contribute to data-driven food innovation.