While seeking a leading global role in agricultural production, Brazil needs to organize itself for a new stage of development based on adding value to resources from the countryside. With this perspective, researchers at Unicamp have begun developing a proposal called “BioAgroValor.” Still in its early stages, the initiative aims to bring together different units of the University to transform products, waste, and byproducts of agribusiness into high-value-added materials, with applications in the areas of food, health, pharmaceuticals, packaging, and industry.
The coordinator of the movement, Professor Glaucia Maria Pastore from the Faculty of Food Engineering (FEA), explains that the proposal seeks to expand the role of Brazilian science in generating innovation and wealth from the country's biodiversity and agro-industrial production. “The BioAgroValor concept represents a new stage of development for the agricultural sector, combining already consolidated knowledge in areas such as agriculture, biotechnology, chemistry, engineering, and health to create more sophisticated products with greater economic impact,” she explains. “Brazil already possesses scientific knowledge accumulated over decades and now has the opportunity to convert this knowledge into industrial innovation,” she adds.
The initiative is also aligned with the principles of the circular economy. Materials that are frequently discarded, such as fruit peels, seeds, and plant waste, can be converted into food, nutraceuticals, medicines, packaging compounds, and various other products.
Units
The project foresees the participation of several units of Unicamp. Besides FEA, initial discussions on the subject also involve representatives from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering (FEQ), the Institute of Chemistry (IQ), the Institute of Biology (IB), the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM), the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences (FCF), and the Faculty of Applied Sciences (FCA). The group also intends to incorporate the Institute of Computing (IC) to expand the use of digital tools and data intelligence in technological development processes.
Another objective is to strengthen the interaction between the University and the productive sector, Pastore points out. The proposal seeks to take advantage of funding opportunities focused on industrial innovation, especially through economic subsidy programs that encourage partnerships between companies and research institutions, such as those made available by the Financing Agency for Studies and Projects (Finep), a public company linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
According to the group's coordinator, BioAgroValor could represent the beginning of a new phase for national science. "Academic knowledge is important because it promotes transformations. What we seek is precisely to expand the contribution of science to the country's development," she emphasizes. Pastore also states that the movement is open to the participation of researchers interested in the topic and that the expectation is to gradually expand the network of collaborators.
Paradigm
Dr. Raquel Franco Leal, a physician and professor in the Department of Surgery at FCM – who participated in the group's first meeting – believes that this is a crucial moment because it marks Brazil's transition to a new productive paradigm, in which biodiversity ceases to be merely a stock of natural resources and becomes the foundation of a sustainable and competitive economy. “Initiatives like these allow the country to process its natural products to generate high-value bioproducts, such as new pharmaceuticals and functional foods, which, from a health perspective, strengthens, for example, food security. For the population, the benefits can be direct, such as the development of health and wellness solutions based on our own biological wealth,” she states.
FCF professor Rodrigo Ramos Catharino points out that the new BioAgroValor concept will use cutting-edge analytical techniques to find bioactive compounds that ensure the safety of food products. “This will also help develop cheaper and more versatile techniques for testing the quality of new products in the field. Furthermore, the human and social development supported by this new concept will be invaluable. A new era of product and technology development is coming,” he believes.
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