Què és INNOVACC

What is INNOVACC

INNOVACC is the Catalan cluster of the meat and alternative protein sector, a business association that aims to strengthen the competitiveness of companies through innovation and cooperation.

The association was established in 2008 and currently belongs to the registry of Innovative Business Groups (AEI) of the Ministry of Industry, in the Catalonia Clusters of ACTION Program of the Generalitat of Catalonia and has the European Cluster Excellence Gold Label certificate of the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis

The entity is made up of a group of companies and institutions that come together voluntarily and freely to achieve, without profit, a purpose of general or particular interest with the desire to pool their knowledge, activities and/or economic resources. The association is autonomous, has its own personality and its internal organization and operation must be democratic, with full respect for pluralism.

More than 140 partners

COMPANIES

From the meat sector (farms, slaughterhouses, disposal rooms and processed meat companies) and auxiliary services (feed, genetics, machinery, logistics, additives, waste and by-product management, health laboratories and hygiene solutions, engineering and consulting, etc), of which more than 70 are SMEs.

INSTITUTIONS

Universitats, trade chambers, R+D+I centers, professional associations.

VIEW ALL PARTNERS

Evolution and growth

The area of activity of the cluster has been evolving, due to the extension of the product range of the associated companies. Most of the products offered are pork, but all kinds of meat products have been incorporated (veal, lamb, chicken, turkey, etc.) and also meat analogues (vegetable base and others) .

For this reason, the cluster has begun a growth process in 2021, to welcome new companies and agents in the alternative protein sector (vegetable protein, laboratory protein "cultured meat", other sources of protein) while maintaining the same activity in the field of animal protein. In this way it is being converted towards an Alternative Meat and Protein Cluster.

Evolution in figures

	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Total members	61	57	57	58	64	72	78	84	91	96	96	103	101	108	123	140
Member companies	44	40	40	41	47	56	61	67	73	78	80	88	87	94	108	124
Member insitutions	17	17	17	17	17	16	17	17	18	18	16	15	14	14	15	16
Own staff	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2,5	3	3	3,5	4	5	5	7
Aggregate turnover of member companies (M€)	2120	2130	2213	2235	2275	2299	3094	3340	3568	4305*	5743	6720	6802	7073	-
Total employees of member companies	5515	5449	5613	6652	7019	9715	13336	14071	14643	17008	18828	20459	20841	21639	-

Mission and objectives

MISSION

Strengthen the competitiveness of the meat and alternative protein sector, through innovation and cooperation.

GOALS

To promote innovation

To foster cooperation

To plan future strategies

To promote technologic transfer

To promote training

Advice

To establish external strategic relationships

To promote the distinctive quality and the prestige of INNOVACC

To define policies and actions of common interest

Initiatives and advantages

INITIATIVES

Ensure the continuity and development of collective projects already started with the participation of associates.

Promote and enhance new collective projects and look for potential partners.

Seek grants to finance part of the projects and prepare applications, if applicable.

Inform associates mainly about the possibilities of innovation and financing alternatives.

Support for business internationalization.

Share information with and between associates through the web and other communication channels, in a fluid and direct manner, and restricted in specific cases.

Collaboration in the dissemination of conferences, training, fairs, missions, etc.

Participate in the development of strategic plans, sectoral tables, etc.

Increase the critical mass of the cluster (new accessions).

ADVANTAGES

Share problems and solutions, and foster mutual support among all partners

Support for R&D&i projects

Possibility of greater productivity thanks to projects driven and developed

Training and support for business internationalization

Possibility of receiving grants to finance part of the projects

Increase of the innovative capacity of the company

Opportunity to promote and contribute to the competitiveness of the Catalan meat sector and alternative protein in order to face globalization favorably by boosting its partners’ innovation. Participate in the improvement of the position of the cluster and the sector in the world

Receive information from the sector, especially related to the possibilities of innovation of companies and alternative financing

What is a cluster

Michael Porter (1998) defines clusters as a “geographical proximate group of interconnected companies and associated institutions in a particular field, linked by commonalities and externalities”.

Michael Porter is the most popular author in the field of clusters: he has proposed an attractive model and he has been able to highlight the consistent elements for success. In the early nineties, in his book “Competitive Advantages of Nations” 1990, Porter not only develops a new methodology for analyzing determinants factors of competitiveness of a country, but also he energizes it with a new design of public policies of reinforcement. Someone has called him the Harry Potter of economists. He proposes a “Strategic Management “, considerating a region as a company, from its competitive advantages. M. Porter was invited to Catalonia, and he directed a first study about “The Competitive Advantages of Catalonia” Department of Economics and Finance 1992, Monitor Company /Michael Porter. Since then, the Catalan Government have applied their analysis and an accurate model of help in the development proposals of the industrial sectors of Catalonia.

The definition of a cluster is a group of people or things gathered or growing together. A bunch of grapes or a bouquet of flowers are examples of a cluster.

CONDITION FOR DEFINING A CLUSTER

Proximity:the companies need to be sufficiently close in space to allow any positive spillovers and the sharing of common resources to occur.

Interactions: being close and working on related issues is not enough. For positive cluster effects to occur, some level of active interaction has to be present.

Linkages: they need to share a common goal (for example, final market demand) for them to be able to profit from proximity and interaction.

Critical mass: there needs to be sufficient number of participants present for the interactions to have a meaningful impact on companies’ performance.