Once COVID-19 pandemic is confined to our history books, we must move forward strategically, and we must do that together.
I strongly believe that the future is open and can be shaped, today more than ever before. Through strategic foresight we can look forward towards the so-called "beyond the planning" timescale, building a collective intelligence in a structured, systematic, participatory and inclusive manner with the aim of informing present-day decisions and facilitating joint actions. To do this, one must work together and bring diverse perspective to the table, including from the various stakeholders.
In the historical moment we are living, with the pandemic exposing vulnerabilities and highlighting capacities, a robust post-COVID strategy will lead to the building of a more resilient Malta. Under the chairmanship of Professor Simone Borg, the core group which we have appointed to co-ordinate the necessary work is charting the course towards a post-covid strategy for Malta by Q2 2021.
This strategy will play a key role in helping future-proof policymaking by making sure that short-term initiatives are grounded in a longer term perspective. The twin green and digital transitions are two fine examples but there are more such as the future of well-being, upskilling, re-skilling and work, building alliances to build a robust ecosystem of innovation and supporting democratic values in today's world. Resilience is key: it is defined as the ability not only to withstand and cope with challenges, but also to undergo transitions in a sustainable, fair and democratic manner. The more resilient we are, the faster we emerge and hit the ground running from the current challenge and eqiup ourselves with the necessary skills to counter any future ones.
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This week, I had the immense pleasure of getting to know more about a successful research project which has been financed by MCST through its FUSION Programme. This project brought together the world of academia and the world of Industry. In fact the University of Malta themed up with Farm Fresh Ltd and with a grant value of €195,000 researched about food inspection using hyperspectral imaging.
The bottom line is that this research will make it easier to detect at an early-stage microbial contaminant that are responsible for food spoilage, particularly the slow-growing fungi in dairy products. And this is not something irrelevant. At all.
Every year the European dairy industry processes approximately 152 million tonnes of raw milk, for consumption or for the production of food, feed and pharmaceutical products. The raw milk delivered by the EU’s 1.6 million dairy farmers, processed by the dairy industry, plays a vital role in rural areas, and the dairy industry represents approximately 15% of the turnover of the food and drinks industry in Europe employing about 13% of the total works force.
Typical tests currently in use for the analysis of milk products rely on lengthy procedures that can last from 24 to 36 hours for bacterial analysis, and 7 to 8 days for fungal analysis. Alternative methods such as rapid genomic subtyping may be faster but are very costly for SMEs not running their own Research and Development department, while the efficacy of methods such as infrared spectroscopy can be limited if the presence of water is above specific tresholds.
In this project, the development and application of an imaging system that provides a non-contact and non-destructive approach for the early detection of microbial contaminants that are responsible for food spoilage, with a focus on slow-growing fungi in dairy products, has been proposed .
The main hardware component of the system consists of a hyperspectral camera which can be used to acquire image sequences at different spectral bands. These images can be considered as a fingerprint that characterises the composition of the object being analysed. Through the automated processing and analysis of the hyperspectral data, this system would help identify the contaminated products and also assist in finding the environments in the processing facilities leading to post process contamination.
The system being developed can significantly reduce time and effort for food sample inspection, and this would have a strong economic impact on the production processes of manufacturers of dairy products.
In light of recent foodborne illness outbreaks, the early detection of contaminated products in the processing chain would allow for immediate action to prevent contaminated batches from moving further down the production and distribution line and reaching the end customer, leading to a significant social as well as economic impact especially in regions at greater risk.
All this shows how MCST’s role is of great importance in the strengthening the R&I pillar in Malta and that it makes absolute sense to invest in research and innovation. That is undoubtedly the way forward for our country. And the best way to do that is by bringing together academicians and people who work on the ground in the same sector. The experiencing of knowledge achieved in both directions within a consurtium is crucial to concretising research to deliver solution to challenges faced, not only within science but within economic growth and competitive impact.
It is therefore good to note the success of MCST’s programmes mentioning in the last 5 years under FUSION, some 116 Commercialisation Voucher Programme (CVP) projects which were awarded and 48 Technology Development Programme (TDP) projects.
Over the last 5 years, MCST also administered some €11 million in funds for such projects under CVP and TDP with one of the beneficiaries in fact, being this food inspectionproject, which was awarded €195,000. Of course, the funding provided does not meet the total requests for funding by researchers but in itself an investment of €11 million in 5 years is certainly not something which can be brushed aside. We want to keep pushing hard so that more funding is available to more researchers for a more robust and innovative economy.
All this is another step forward in the right direction.