AI, digitalization, and CRISPR: Spanish agrotech is flexing its muscles in biotech, and its future is being analyzed at the Biovegen Congress.

• At the end of 2024, ICEX presented the 'Mapping of the Agrotech Ecosystem', the most comprehensive report on the potential and key technological players in agriculture, prepared by CAJAMAR in collaboration with BIOEVGEN. At the Congress on October 1, its authors will discuss this key document and the possibilities it opens: more than 450 professionals have already registered.

• The 6th edition of Biotech Attraction, under the umbrella of Innova&Tech (in Hall 5), will break exhibitor records, with 22 companies and research centers. During the three-day fair, 18 agricultural projects and solutions will be presented, and 71 science-business meetings have already been confirmed. 

• During the BIOVEGEN Congress, the NGENIA project will be presented to advise the Government and interest groups in the development of New Genomic Techniques (NGTs), but there will also be talk of 'drugs' against drought, nanotechnology to enrich varieties and biotechnology to revalue the alperujo of olive oil. 

Madrid, 29-9-2025.- In 2023, the European Commission presented its proposal to regulate plants obtained through New Genomic Techniques (NGTs). After passing through Parliament, the Council issued a negotiating mandate in March 2025 to initiate the so-called "trilogues." However, techniques such as CRISPR do not depend on deadlines, and their development has only accelerated, thanks also to the boost provided by new applications in genomic selection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) or the digitalization process that, for example, allows for the prioritization and identification of genetic targets. This entire potential, on the other hand, is discussed in what has probably been one of the most commendable efforts to assess our country's technological development capacity: the report "Mapping the Agrotech Ecosystem in Spain." This audit, this analysis of the projection of the primary sector and its main technological players, was presented at the end of 2024 by ICEX Invest in Spain and the Cajamar Group, and also included the collaboration of BIOVEGEN. And it will be now, at the Biotech Congress held during Fruit Attraction and organized by the latter entity, when representatives of the three aforementioned institutions will debate the potential of Spanish agrotech, NGTs, and, of course, how AI and digitalization are driving its development.

This will be the round table that will take center stage at this eagerly awaited event, a meeting—classified as a Congress since 2024 and held at the Fruit Forum (connecting Halls 1 and 3)—which is one of the fair's most crowded events and which this year expects to break attendance records again: more than 450 professionals, researchers, representatives of technology centers, and agricultural entrepreneurs have registered. Following the opening ceremony by the event director, María J. Sánchez, the presentation by the Vice President of Innovation and Transfer of the CSIC, Ana Castro, and the host and president of BIOVEGEN, José Pellicer, will be the eagerly awaited debate on the "Potential and Prospects of the Spanish Agrotech Sector." Along with Inés Lucía, investor manager of ICEX; Juan Carlos Gázquez, deputy director of Cajamar Innova, and Gonzaga Ruiz de Gauna, manager of BIOVEGEN, will also participate. Gabino Sánchez, Business Director of Hudson River Biotechnology, will also participate. The contributions of the three promoters of the aforementioned key document will be joined by the perspective of the Spanish executive of a company founded in Wageningen (Netherlands) a decade ago. This company has already achieved certain sought-after attributes in plants, which would take 7-10 years through breeding, can now be achieved in 2 to 4 years with CRISPR.

“Agriculture is undergoing an unprecedented pace of technological change,” explains the president of BIOVEGEN. “Exponential technologies are emerging that impact business models. Innovation is risky. It's true. Not innovating now can be lethal,” explains José Pellicer, justifying the ambitious knowledge and business offering that BIOVEGEN has prepared for this edition of the fair.

Biotech Attraction and the Biotech Forum

The aforementioned congress is its largest showcase, but BIOVEGEN's commitment to bringing plant-based innovation to the primary sector extends with the organization of a trade fair - Biotech Attraction - now in its sixth edition and held under the umbrella of Innova&Tech (which also includes Smart Agro, dedicated to digitalization and automation). And this year Biotech Attraction will break exhibitor records, up to 22, with the presence of the largest public agent for project financing, the CDTI (Certified Spanish Working Group); the fertilizer giant Fertiberia; institutes such as Itene (Valencia, specialized in packaging) or Ainia (Valencia, agri-food sector); and X_Agritech, a network coordinated by IRTA (National Institute of Technology and Technology) that integrates more than 300 researchers from eight Catalan scientific institutions. Emerging biotechnology-based companies, already leading and rapidly developing, have also invested in this space, such as ValGenetics SL, Madeinplant (both from Valencia), Cultiply (Seville), and 3ABIOTECH (Murcia), as well as other agricultural R&D services companies such as Agricola 2000 (Italy), technology centers such as Cartif (Valladolid) or Funditec (Madrid), and a breeder, Breedx (Granada), among many others. BIOVEGEN wanted to repeat the experience of previous years and enable many of these companies, and some others, to present their specific agricultural projects and solutions more slowly - also in Hall 5, at the Biotech Forum. Up to 18 presentations to potential clients are planned there, taking place over the three days of the fair. NGTs, new digital tools, and the future of AI in crop genetic improvement will take center stage at some of the presentations. And to facilitate technology transfer and the materialization of agreements, Biotech Attraction will provide spaces (for exhibitors and professionals attending the congress) where, before the fair began, 71 bilateral meetings had already been scheduled.

Preparing for the emergence of NGTs
Returning to the Biotech Congress, after the roundtable discussion on the Spanish potential of agrotech, it will be the turn of the NGTs. First, María Lois, director and principal investigator of the Centre for Research in Agrigenomics (CRAG), will speak. She will present the nGENIA project: a group of experts that will advise the Ministry of Agriculture on the development of these techniques and also aims to organize meetings with interest groups to analyze their potential for the agri-food sector and coordinate research and dissemination efforts. Moving from theory to practice, José M. Mulet, the well-known research communicator from the IBMCP (UPV-CSIC, Valencia), will speak next, unraveling the improvements achieved through NGTs in broccoli cultivation.

Before the closing ceremony, led by Carlos de la Cruz, Director of Technology and Internationalization at CDTI Innovation, three successful cases of technology transfer in public-private consortia will be discussed: Jorge Lozano, also from IBMCP (UPV-CSIC), will present the use of pharmaceuticals to increase drought tolerance in agriculture; Francisco Bermúdez, CEO of Beyond Seeds, will present the results of an operational group in which BIOVEGEN also participated, GO Biodif, on nanofertilizers (nutrients and bioactive compounds) for table olives and olive oil; and finally, Pablo Gutiérrez, from Viveros Integrales El Ejidillo, will do the same with the GO Simbioliva project, for the revaluation of alperujo.