R+D and Innovation 

In the course of Grupo Tragsa's 30 years of history, its R&D&i activities have diversified, becoming more technological.

The R&D&i Unit aims to increase the capacity to meet the technological demands of the different Public Administrations, maintaining the interest of the Group to move forward in its commitment to sustainable development.

During the period in which the R&D&i 2005-2009 Plan was in force, Grupo Tragsa doubled its investment in this area and trebled the number of projects executed, turning R&D&i into a participative process for all the Group’s units.

Throughout this period, the number of people participating in these activities was increased and the Group collaborated with more than 90 international and national external institutions.

In the new R&D&i 2010-2013 Plan, the Group keeps pledging its firm commitment to research and development, by boosting culture and innovation, the guarantee of appropriate knowledge of the state of the art in the strategic spheres of the Group, the promotion of technological watching, dissemination, knowledge management and technological transfer.  All of this under an open innovation approach permitting to encourage internal and external collaboration and focusing the R&D&i efforts in the strategic areas considered most important for Grupo Tragsa’s activities.

More than 50 actions are currently being developed, with a similar amount of projects finished,

The current portfolio includes projects in the following strategic areas:

• Water management
• Natural environment
• Information and Communication Technologies
• Rural, food and agriculture environment
• Animal health and animal husbandry services
• Marine environment

 

WATER  MANAGEMENT

As the basic and priority matter of our country, water management represents the first area of interest for Grupo Tragsa. For this reason, and thanks to its capacity to generate a high number of productive actions, the new R&D&i Plan starts with a quintupled investment effort in this area.

The action lines and the most remarkable projects in this area are:

• Irrigation
Traditional line of action of the Group, which aims to stay in the vanguard facing new technological challenges.

• Development of a water comprehensive management standardized model
• Treated water effects on irrigation
• New conceptual basis for collective irrigation nets
   

• Water and groundwater management and planning
The most notable projects on hydrogeology deal with managed aquifer recharge  and modeling.

DINA-MAR: Project for the management of aquifer recharge within the framework of sustainable development.
 

• Water quality
We face the surface and ground water masses qualitative improvement Bioindicators. Development and implementation of new technologies based on the use of bioindicators…

The waste water treatment and water reuse are other traditional action lines.

There are pilot facilities for the trial of new techniques, such as streamflow-gaging stations, studies for the unsaturated zone, etc. 

 

NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

The conservation, protection and sustainable management of the natural environment constitute one of the most important strategic areas within the actions of Grupo Tragsa, and, as a consequence, are especially relevant for its R&D&I activities.

The lack of technology transfer and application is a barrier for the economic sectors linked to these tasks. Thus, we aim to create tools to provide the Administration with the necessary  support to improve its role in the conservation of the environment and rural development.

The interest and extent of this thematic area are reflected in the high number of projects (19 currently) that cover the conservation and improvement of natural resources (wood, fruit, cork, hunting), their protection and restoration and, as technological tools, remote sensing, forest fires, emergencies...

The main lines of action and the most outstanding projects within this area are:

Improvement and conservation of genetic resources

• Development of chestnut tree Forest Reproductive Materials (FRM) resistant to Phytophthora 
• Participation in the strategic singular project: Forest restoration and management

 Correction of environmental impacts: Control of Alien Invasive Species (AIS) 

• Observatory of Alien Invasive Species
   

Fight against forest fires and damage restoration

• Study of the determining factors in the physical performance of the staff specialized in forest fires fighting (CREIF)
• Development of advanced and innovative technologies for the improvement of prevention, efficiency and security regarding forest fires fighting (SATFOR)
• Forest fires in the context of climate and social changes in Europe, the Mediterranean and other fire-affected areas of the world (FUME)
• Development of a technological platform for the comprehensive management of fire fighting

Remote sensing 

•  LINHE – Development of new protocols for the integration of digital cameras and LiDAR, NIR and Hyperspectral sensors

Management of wild animals and hunting activities

 

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

Grupo Tragsa is aware that we are  advancing towards the knowledge society, where innovation and technological improvements play a privileged role revealing the vertiginous and inevitable changes that are being produced.

The development of a culture of innovation is linked to the exploitation of the ICTs, which, at the same time, perform an essential element for those organizations aiming to maintain and, above all, increase their competitive capacity.

Some notable projects are remarkable:  

•  C@R “Collaboration at Rural”: A collaborative platform for working and living in rural areas
• Electronic identification in aquaculture – ACUIE Project
•  DinaMap 2008. Flexible and configurable multi-task Geographic Information System
• HABITATS: “Social Validation of INSPIRE Annex III Data Structures in EU Habitats”
• MEDLAB: Mediterranean Living Lab for Territorial Innovation
  

 

RURAL, FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ENVIRONMENT

This strategic area embraces several areas of action focused on the development of new methodologies, tools and technologies in the rural environment, the diversification of economic and social activities in agricultural areas, the development and substantial improvement of infrastructures and equipment, the introduction of renewable energies in rural areas, etc.

Three R&D&i projects regarding the use of biomass for energy production and the development of new systems to improve Grupo Tragsa's actions in the rural environment are currently being developed.

The main lines of action and the most outstanding projects within this area are:

• Infrastructure and equipment

• Design and development of a new system for the management and control of self-propelled machinery and of protocols that guarantee operators’ safety at work

• Renewable energies and energy efficiency

By committing in the use of forest biomass for energy production, we contribute to the sustainable management of forests and to the mitigation of the climate change effects.

•  Development of techniques for the cropping and exploitation of biomass from Mediterranean shrubs for energy production

Other relevant lines of action are: sustainable buildings, sustainable rural development, pollution and wastes and agricultural and food safety. Currently, and for the most notable projects already finished, we have technological result books.

ANIMAL HEALTH AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY SERVICES

Grupo Tragsa actively innovates in the fields of animal husbandry, food safety and wild animals. It researches into the most effective lines to fight against the diseases that put populations at risk (bluetongue disease in ruminants, viral hemorrhagic disease of wild rabbit, etc.), and develops mechanisms and work methods to guarantee the safety of the veterinary staff.

Grupo Tragsa is committed to take care of the environment through the knowledge of technology and animal species and it makes great efforts towards the technological development of animal tracking systems (brown bear, Iberian lynx, lammergeyer, etc.). The objective is to exploit new formulas to guarantee the ecosystem's food chain, through the improvement of breeding systems permitting a higher guarantee of success (wild rabbit in the Mediterranean ecosystem).

Animal Health and Animal Husbandry Services include three lines of action: sustainable animal husbandry development, traceability and animal health. Highlighting project:

•  Study of the reproduction ethology of Culicoides spp., transport and breeding methods and application of chemical and biological pest controls.
   

MARINE ENVIRONMENT

Grupo Tragsa boosts the improvement of environmental conditions in the marine environment and the coast, as well as the development of fishing activities and aquaculture.

The Marine Environment includes several lines of action, highlighting the management of protected marine areas and the environmental study about aggregates in coastal ecosystems. Remarkable project: 

• Development of an automatic system for the collection of environmental data  in protected marine areas and its implementation in the marine environmental management plan.