April 2026 is shaping up to be a month dedicated to biotechnology for the Biotech4Food partner, Innov’Alliance. Indeed, the cluster has organised several events during which agrifood biotechnology – and its role in fostering innovation and sustainability – will be showcased.
On the 1st and 2nd of April, the cluster is hosting its biannual event dedicated to natural and bio-based products and processes, the “Journées de la Naturalité”. This 3rd edition is set to welcome more than 200 participants in Innov’Alliance’s key sectors: agriculture, agri-food, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, aromas and perfumes. The second day of this biannual event will open with a conference dedicated to biotechnology as a lever for sustainable innovation.
A few weeks later, Innov’Alliance is hosting the Biotech4Food delegation for two days of activities dedicated to biotechnology. On April 21st, participants will be able to discover the work of the culinary innovation lab, VeryFoody, in its transformation of a select number of products from four SMEs in the project.
The next day, participants will travel to Clermont-Ferrand to attend the symposium, “Shaping the Future of Food: Biotechnology for Sustainable Nutrition and Sovereign Food Systems”. Organised by Innov’Alliance in the context of the Clermont Innovation Week 2026, the event will be an occasion for participants to discover regional stakeholders and expertise, exchange ideas with members of the European delegation, discover financing opportunities, and find future collaboration partners to develop innovations that contribute to more sustainable, local, and resilient food and nutrition.
The Biotech4Food delegation will then have the opportunity to visit two sites: the National Research Institute for Agriculture Food and Environment’s (INRAE) research unit “UMR MEDIS”, with its artificial digestion platform, and the product site of COCONT, one of the SMEs in the project.
Finally, Innov’Alliance will round off April with a webinar dedicated to biotechnology and bioprocesses in France & Europe, with a specific focus on the agri-food, nutraceutical and cosmetics sectors. This webinar (registration to open soon) will offer an immersion into the European and French biotechnology ecosystems, through the presentation of two biotechnology databases (one of which was produced during the Biotech4Food project) of actors, infrastructures and industrial capacities – essential resources to support the scaling up of innovations in these three key sectors.
Participants will also be able to discover financial opportunities arising from the Circular Bio-based European Joint Undertaking (CBE-JU), with significant funding available to accelerate the transition towards biobased ingredients and processes. The webinar will also showcase the CEA Cadarache, a platform in the south of France dedicated to algae; the platform plays a key role in the optimisation of algal bioprocesses to produce active molecules for cosmetics and nutraceuticals.
