Every October 16th, we celebrate something that unites us all: food. This year, we also commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), an institution that, since 1945, has worked tirelessly to ensure the right to a dignified life through something as essential as food. Eight decades later, the message of World Food Day continues to call for the collaboration of all of us who are part of the system’s challenges: “Hand in hand for better food and a better future.”
A simple sentence, yet filled with shared responsibility. Because feeding the world in a fair, sustainable, and healthy way is not only the task of major international organizations. It also involves each of us — in every decision we make, in every food we choose, in every process of innovation. Every small contribution matters. That’s why I ask to myself, and we should all ask ourselves: How can I help?
A look toward the great transformation of food
The way we produce, distribute, and consume food defines not only our health but also the planet’s. The recent publication of the EAT–Lancet Commission 2.0 report (2025), presented a few days ago at the Stockholm Food Forum, once again highlights the urgent need for a Great Food Transformation, based on three pillars: health, sustainability, and justice.
The inclusion of the justice pillar is no coincidence. The global context we live in, marked by strong geopolitical instability, rising food prices, the emerging impacts of climate change, and other cascading effects, continues to undermine food security and, consequently, human health. Social injustice is growing, and the resilience of nations is increasingly fragile. Although current food systems have, to a large extent, managed to keep pace with population growth and ensure sufficient caloric intake for many, they remain the main driver of planetary boundary transgression and require joint and urgent action grounded in these three pillars.
The EAT–Lancet report reminds us that the global adoption of healthy diets derived from sustainable food systems would safeguard our planet and improve the health of billions of people. It also warns that, if we fail to act, the world risks falling short of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and other key actions linked to the future of food..
Professor Johan Rockström, one of the study’s authors, summed it up clearly: “The world’s food production threatens climate stability and ecosystem resilience. It is the single greatest driver of environmental degradation” His words resonate strongly on this FAO anniversary, reminding us, as the organization has done for eight decades, that food should not only nourish us but also protect the very land that makes it possible
Source: Twitter Johan Rockström
“The world´s food production threatens climate stability and ecosystem resilience. It is the single greatest driver of environmental degradation”
This call to action is not directed solely at governments or institutions. It speaks to all of us: researchers, producers, companies, and consumers. Because food is not an isolated process; it is a living, interconnected system in which what we decide at one end has consequences at the other.
How can I help?
Remember that every action counts. Ending hunger, preserving our ecosystems, ensuring the food of the future, and understanding the impact this has on the world — it’s a lot, isn’t it?.
It all begins with the choices we make every day. We can choose local and seasonal foods, eat more plant-based meals, drink tap or filtered water, buy only what we need and reduce food waste, use reusable packaging, choose minimally processed foods, value the effort behind every product that reaches our table, and support sustainable farming practices.
Becoming aware means understanding that the food we choose is also a tool for change. It’s in our hands to help build a model where the health of people and the planet are not opposing goals, but two sides of the same coin. When that awareness multiplies, it turns individual action into collective strength.
Seasonal fruits. Source: Freepik
CARTIF: innovation at the service of a fair and sustainable food system
At CARTIF, we firmly believe that science and technology are key allies in achieving this transformation. That’s why we work hand in hand with companies, public administrations, and society to develop technological solutions that address the major food and environmental challenges of our time.
From our Food Area, we focus on the valorization of food and food by-products, promoting the efficient and sustainable use of natural resources.
We are advancing in food industrial processes decarbonization, driving technologies that reduce the environmental impact of new food production. In addition, we are currently an active partner in the Vision4Food EU project, which aims to tackle the challenges associated with food systems through the development of tools and models that help us move from strategy to action within territories.
I can only say thank you for your help! And may every day be a happy World Food Day for everyone.
In the new era of Industry 5.0, robots are no longer just tools for automation, they are becoming active collaborators for people. The key is no longer only about producing faster, but about building flexible, personalized, and human-centric environments. And here comes a fundamental challenge: how can we enable robots to understand and communicate with us naturally?
The answer lies in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), a field that seeks to make machines perceive, interpret, and respond to people in an appropriate way. Yet, one of the biggest obstacles is the lack of a universal language that allows different systems and sensors to work together seamlessly
This is where ROS4HRI comes in: an open standard driven by our partner in the ARISE project, PAL Robotics. Within this ecosystem, PAL contributes its expertise in humanoid and social robotics, ensuring that ROS4HRI is validated in real environments from testing labs to productive scenarios such as hospitals and healthcare centers.
Standard ROS4HRI
What is ROS4HRI?
ROS4HRI is an extension of ROS2 (Robot Operating System) that defines a set of standardized interfaces, messages, and APIs designed for human-robot interaction.
Its goal is simple: to create a common language that unifies how robots perceive and interpret human signals, regardless of the sensors or algorithms used. With ROS4HRI, robots can manage key information such as:
Person identity: recognition and individual tracking.
Social attributes: emotions, facial expressions, even estimated age.
Non-verbal interactions: gestures, gaze, body posture.
Multimodal signals:voice, intentions, and natural language commands
ROS4HRI Architecture
The design of ROS4HRI follows a modular approach, breaking down barriers between different perception systems. This ensures robots can process human information in a coherent and consistent way, fully aligned with the open philosophy of ROS2. Its main components include:
Standard messages: to represent human identities, faces, skeletons, and expressions.
Interaction APIs: giving applications uniform access to this data.
Multimodal integration: combining voice, vision, and gestures for richer interpretation.
Compatibility with ROS2 and Vulcanexus: enabling deployment in distributed, mission-critical environments.
You can see part of its core modules in the figure below. For more details, the code and documentation are available in the official repository: github.com/ros4hri
In the European project ARISE, ROS4HRI plays a key role within the ARISE middleware, integrating with ROS2, Vulcanexus, and FIWARE.
This powerful combination enables Industry 5.0 scenarios where robots equipped with ROS4HRI can:
Recognize an operator and adapt their behavior based on role or gestures.
Interpret social signals such as signs of fatigue or stress, to provide more human-aware support.
Share information in real time with industrial management platforms, e.g. through FIWARE enriching decision-making.
What makes it even more interesting is that ROS4HRI does not operate in isolation: it leverages resources already available within the community. A great example is MediaPipe, Google’s widely used library for gesture, pose, and face recognition. With ROS4HRI, MediaPipe outputs (like 2D/3D skeletons or hand detection) can be seamlessly integrated into ROS2 in a standardized way.
A practical example
A practical example within ARISE using ROS4HRI is a module for detecting finger movements. A package was developed in ROS2 that follows the ROS4HRI standard and uses Google’s MediaPipe library to process video from a camera. The main node extracts the 3D coordinates of hand joints and publishes them in a ROS topic following ROS4HRI conventions, such as: /humans/hands/<id>/joint_states.
Thanks to this standardized format, other system components (for instance, an RViz visualizer or a robot controller) can consume this data interoperably, enabling applications like gesture-based robot control.
The evolution towards Industry 5.0 demands robots that can interact in ways that are more human, reliable, and efficient.On this path, ROS4HRI is emerging as a key standard to enable seamless human-robot collaboration ensuring interoperability, scalability, and trust. Its applications extend beyond industry, reaching into healthcare, education, and services, where the ability to understand and respond to people is essential.
References
Lemaignan, S.; Ferrini, L.; Gebelli, F.; Ros, R.; Juricic, L.; Cooper, S. Hands-on: From Zero to an Interactive Social Robot using ROS4HRI and LLMs. HRI 2025. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10974214
Ros, R.; Lemaignan, S.; Ferrini, L.; Andriella, A.; Irisarri, A. ROS4HRI: Standardising an Interface for Human-Robot Interaction.2023PDF link
On September 23, Zamora breathed innovation: researchers, doctors, technologists, companies, and institutions came together with a single goal in mind—the future of health and well-being.
The National Health and Wellbeing Forum, promoted byCARTIFtogether with ITCL as part of the CENTRATEC program, which was held in the city, became a space where innovation was not just a technological opportunity, but a key tool for improving people’s lives.
Technology at the service of care
The institutional opening was marked by the speech given by Isabel Blanco, Vice President of the Regional Government of Castile and León and Minister for Family and Equal Opportunities, who highlighted the importance of putting technology at the service of care. This message resonated throughout the day and set the tone for the work: innovation, yes, but always with the patient at the center.
The conversations began to flow with the first of the topics, moving from health research to the development of concrete solutions. The RIS3 strategy for Castile and León (2021-2027) recognizes health as one of its priority areas, focusing on fields with enormous potential such as personalized medicine, advanced therapies, and technological health products.
“ The objective of RIS3 is to position Castilla and Leon as a key actor facing new challenges and opportunities to improve people’s lives.“
-Beatriz Asensio, Head of the Technology Transfer Unit at the Institute for Business Competitiveness of the Regional Government of Castile and León.-
The underlying reflection was shared by all: how to translate enormous scientific potential into concrete results for patients, ensuring speed, safety, and sustainability?
Digital health: from data to decision
The digital future was also a key topic. Concepts such as artificial intelligence, big data, and telemedicine made it clear that the future is already here, and that the challenge is to learn how to use digital tools responsibly, both in prevention and in personalized care.
Ethics, training, and adaptation of healthcare systems were recurring themes in a passionate debate.
But if there was one moment when everyone seemed to be pulling in the same direction, it was when discussing public-private partnerships. Companies, startups, research centers, and government agencies agreed that the key lies in joining forces to ensure that innovations actually reach the healthcare system and the market.
“ We must commit to projects that can be implemented in real life.“
-Manuel Ángel Franco, Head of Psychiatry and Mental Health Services at the Zamora Healthcare Complex.-
“ The key is to optimize processes to make things easier for everyone, both professionals and users.“
-Alberto Saez, IT responsible of Affidea-
“ Users must always be at the center“
-Juan Ignacio Coll, Vice President of the Health Informatics Society-
In the demonstration area, that vision became tangible: a place full of technological solutions and ongoing projects that could be experienced firsthand and that seemed to open the door to new ways of caring.
Do you believe in second opportunities? At CARTIF, we believe in RElife!
Bagasse is the residue left after crushing, pressing, or macerating fruits, seeds, or stems to extract their juice. It’s a very common byproduct in the production of foods and beverages such as wine, beer, and plant-based drinks. We naturally refer to “oat bagasse,” “beer bagasse,” or “grape bagasse,” yet in other similar cases, we use specific names like okara or magaya. Why is this?
The difference lies in the cultural context and historical use. Magaya is a traditional word from northern Spain—especially in Asturias and Galicia—where cider production is part of everyday rural life. Due to its continuous presence and local value, this waste product has earned its own name. The same is true of okara, a term of Japanese origin that refers to the residue left over after making soy milk or tofu, widely used in the traditional cuisine of Japan, Korea, and China. When a waste product has been historically used in food or daily life and has acquired social or economic value, it is common for it to receive a specific name. Naming it is a recognition of its value and usefulness.
Magaya
Residue from pressed apples used to make cider
Okara
Insoluble parts of soybeans that remain after filtering soybean mash during the production of soy drinks or tofu
There are other examples of food by-products with their own names that reflect this tradition of use: pomace, the solid residue left over from grape pressing and used to distill spirits; middlings, the product of sifting flour and used in animal feed; brine, the liquid left over from cheesemaking or pickling, rich in salts and nutrients; molasses, a thick by-product of sugarcane or beet refining that can be used for fermentation or animal feed; or whey, a protein-rich liquid left over from cheesemaking and transformed into beverages or supplements. These names may sound strange, but they all have one thing in common: they are by-products, the “leftovers” after making something… and they still have a lot to offer.
CARTIF researcher at the food laboratory making tests with meat products.
Giving leftovers or waste a second life or a second chance is called valorization. It’s about turning what seemed like an end into a new beginning. It’s about reincorporating them into the value chain so they can have life again, a Revival. At CARTIF, we like RE: the Challenges of innovation, the Rewards of the food industry, the Recirculation of resources, and the Revalorization of waste. Because, for us, throwing away is not an option. And not only because the new Law on the Prevention of Food Loss and Waste has been in force since this year, but because innovating solutions to return this value to the food chain itself has been in our DNA for 30 years.
From meat processing waste, we obtain high-value ingredients such as heparin, functional fats, and proteins. From magaya, we extract natural pectins for food and cosmetic applications. With okara, we develop protein-rich, healthy, and sustainable snacks. And what’s left of all that? We also reclaim it: we transform it into biostimulants for agricultural soils. And then, when we’ve exhausted all other options? We continue to use it to produce biogas, hydrogen, and syngas, generating energy and thus closing the loop.
At CARTIF, we believe that waste isn’t trash, but rather resources waiting for a second chance. Through innovation, science, and collaboration with industry, we’re demonstrating that a more circular model is possible. Will you join the Revalorizar challenge and help us give this “waste” a proper name?
If innovation is return, impacto, income… why don´t we innovate more?
During the time I´ve been working on innovation and, in my case, boosting the use of technologies by entities through the transfer process, I´ve been able to speak and see examples of why do we find difficult to innovate.
We find it difficult because we struggle to dedicate time, resources and energy to planning what to innovate in, because we find it hard to accept that competition is growing because it has made innovation its main strategy.
Because we find it hard to propose new ways of doing things, new projects, new ideas to our superiors, because it’s easier to stick with what we’ve always done and not get involved in “other issues.”
Because it´s hard for us to leave that comfort zone, of that acquired routine that, although it no longer challenges us, offers us security in achieving results.
We struggle because innovation means venturing into uncertainty, and that scares us. We fear error, the possibility of failure, the idea that the resources we put in may not yield the expected results.
We struggle because the unknown is frightening, and even more so when achieving it requires overcoming certain barriers and facing risks that, although sometimes known, we don’t always understand how to manage.
It´s also difficult for us because innovation requires a change in mindset. It’s not just about investing in new technologies or products; it’s about transforming our way of thinking, questioning what we take for granted.
We struggle because we often prefer what we know, even if it means remaining stagnant.
And yet, the truth is that the real risk isn’t in innovating, but in not doing so. The real danger lies in looking to the future and realizing that we’ve been surpassed by those who dared to change.
For all these reasons, the key to innovation is understanding and, above all, accepting that risk is part of the process. This way, you can identify how risk affects you and establish the conditions to mitigate it.
“The key to innovation is understanding and, above all, accepting that risk is part of the process.”
How to manage risk in innovation
A risk management system inherent to the innovation process is the first step toward unlocking this fear of innovation. This isn’t just a theoretical process, but rather a matter of implementing certain concrete actions that create an ideal environment to stimulate innovation.
In my experience, the factors that are crucial for creating a good risk mitigation system are:
Create your own innovation ecosystem and surround yourself with strategic partners: technology centers, universities, startups, client or supplier companies to promote the transfer of know-how from these entities and accelerate collective learning, thus reducing the time to impact.
Planning innovation budgets: allocating specific resources to innovative projects within a specific timeframe, avoiding innovation depending on improvisation or success associated with competitive competition. Resources should not be allocated that jeopardize the organization’s core business, but sufficient resources should act as a driving force. One percent of a year’s budget is already a lot. It’s important because just as what isn’t on the agenda isn’t a priority, what isn’t budgeted doesn’t exist.
Leadership drive: Firm commitment from the top is the engine that gives legitimacy and continuity to innovation and allows the ecosystem you’ve chosen to endure over time and achieve results. This commitment is reflected in actions, not only budgetary but also through participation in meetings on new initiatives or in ecosystem analysis and selection.
Implement innovative routines: Incorporate practices that make innovation a constant. Innovation isn’t a one-time or improvised effort. It’s about encouraging trial and error and fostering ideation, the generation of new proposals for change, and an entrepreneurial spirit among teams. It’s about creating an innovative culture that permeates the organization horizontally.
Adapted profitability indicators: Designing specific metrics that realistically measure innovation, considering technological and market maturity and its potential impact and scalability. This means moving away from traditional economic indicators, which are adequately designed for investment projects or continuous improvement projects in general, but are ill-equipped to measure the results or profitability of risky projects that require much broader and more flexible ranges and that require accepting the need to abandon a project at a certain point.
All of this pursues a very clear objective: to build CONFIDENCE in the process, because if risk is a constant in innovation, trust is the constant that balances it.
Trust is like the lifeblood of innovation processes because it’s what we don’t see, but it connects all the elements that make innovation possible and, above all, helps mitigate risk. Trust connects people’s courage to propose ideas, management’s vision to drive them forward, and relationships with your ecosystem. It helps you acknowledge and accept that mistakes are part of learning and the innovation process.
Ultimately, the key is that innovation doesn’t progress solely through technology or resources; it progresses through the people who drive it and, above all, through the shared trust between them. This trust is what turns risk into opportunity and allows us to bring the future into the present.
Innovate for you, innovate for me, innovate for us.
In today’s context, agriculture is increasingly affected by the consequences of climate change. Sudden weather variations—such as torrential rains or unusually high temperatures at atypical times of the year—are contributing to the development of resistance among pests and diseases to conventional chemical treatments. For this reason, the search for natural and sustainable solutions has become a priority. In this scenario, beneficial microorganisms and spontaneous vegetation are emerging as key allies in defending both strategic crops and our urban spaces.
Agricultural soils host millions of microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi (Trichoderma spp., Bacillus, and Pseudomonas), which, either acting on their own or in symbiosis with plants, play a fundamental role in protection against pests and diseases. These microorganisms act in various ways: they compete with pathogens for nutrients and space, produce antimicrobial compounds that inhibit pathogen action, induce plant defense systems, and improve soil nutrition and structure—thus enhancing the resilience of the plants growing there, including ornamental trees in cities.
Likewise, spontaneous vegetation, traditionally considered ‘weeds’, can be a great ally against pathogens if properly managed. These naturally growing plants, fully adapted to their environment, offer a wide range of benefits that should be exploited. They host natural enemies of pests—such as predatory insects and parasitoids—promote the presence of beneficial microorganisms in the rhizosphere (as they already possess their own microbial ecosystem), act as physical or biological barriers against pathogens, and significantly contribute to the functional biodiversity of ecosystems.
Therefore, incorporating these plants becomes essential to understanding the surrounding ecosystem and using it to generate a natural and effective system of defense against the pests and diseases affecting crops.
Spontaneous vegetation
Interaction between microbiota and spontaneous vegetation
The synergy between both elements is fundamental. Spontaneous vegetation influences the composition of soil microbiota through root exudates and can act as a reservoir for protective microorganisms. Recent studies show that plots with diverse vegetative cover present greater resistance to diseases.
These synergies are being successfully applied in strategic crops such as grapevine, almond, olive, and pistachio, providing resilience and sustainability in the face of adverse climate conditions.
The strategy to ensure this interaction is fully functional and effective involves the identification and inoculation of native microbial consortia—microorganisms fully adapted to the environment and unlikely to be rejected—alongside appropriate management of spontaneous vegetation by creating seed mixes tailored to each crop or context. Moreover, minimizing tillage and maintenance tasks helps reduce energy consumption and our carbon footprint.
Practical applications of spontaneous vegetation in Castilla y León
In Castilla y León, numerous species of spontaneous vegetation have been identified that can be strategically integrated into cultivation systems. Species such as Papaver rhoeas (common poppy), Sinapis arvensis (wild mustard), Plantago lanceolata (ribwort plantain), and Stellaria media (chickweed) are common in dryland areas and field margins. These plants not only compete with invasive species but also provide habitats for beneficial insects and enhance soil biodiversity.
One of the simplest and most practical applications of these natural resources is their implementation in urban areas (Fig. 1), transforming degraded and low-value spaces into high-biodiversity zones that significantly contribute to the human-plant-soil interaction axis.
Fig 1. Degradeed tree pit (left) and blooming tree pit with spontaneous vegetation (right). 2022. Source: Aragon newspaper
The selective management of these species, using techniques such as differential mowing or designing vegetative cover strips, is proving agronomically and ecologically beneficial in recent field trials in cereal, grapevine, and olive crops.
Conclusion: nature as an ally for agricultural sustainability
The integration of beneficial microorganisms and spontaneous vegetation represents an effective strategy for a more natural and sustainable agriculture. Promoting these practices not only helps protect strategic crops and urban gardens but also improves soil health, reduces dependency on chemical inputs, and helps control energy consumption. It is time to view the soil and surrounding environment as our true allies in agricultural protection.
– FAO (2022). *Harnessing the potential of soil biodiversity in agroecosystems*. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. – Poveda, J., & González-Andrés, F. (2021). *Biological control of plant diseases through the rhizosphere microorganisms: Emerging strategies and challenges*. Frontiers in Microbiology, 12, 671495. – European Commission (2020). *Biodiversity Strategy for 2030: Bringing nature back into our lives*. – Martínez-Hernández, C. et al. (2023). *Vegetation management and soil microbiota interactions in Mediterranean agroecosystems*. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 43(2).
