Barilla's Good Food Makers, the three winners of Barilla's innovation contest

Contributing to the transformation of the agrifood sector with innovative solutions. This is the objective of Good Food Makers, the programme of Barilla, which in 2024 invested 50 million euros in Research and Development and which this morning announced the three winning companies of the seventh edition, selected among 33 finalists from all over the world.

In the AgTech for Climate Resilience category, Germany's Feldklasse, in collaboration with Open Fields, developed a mechanical solution for theautomated removal of weeds in basil fields.

Italian company Xnext, on the other hand, has invented a technology that can detect anomalies in food that are invisible to traditional systems.

Vusion Group (Italy and France), for the Best on Shelf category, proposes in cooperation with Conad Nord Ovest Captana, a monitoring system based on cameras and artificial intelligence to optimise product availability and improve the in-store shopping experience.

"Good Food Makers is a catalyst for discovery and collaboration. Every year, we select concrete challenges that allow us to explore emerging technologies and models, accelerating the adoption of the most promising solutions," explains Claudia Berti, head of open innovation at Barilla. "At the same time, we promote a more open and collaborative culture, capable of transforming the way we approach innovation and positively influencing the daily activities of our teams, and today also bringing direct benefit to our partners and an example for the supply chain. In this edition, we have identified solutions capable of generating a real impact on three crucial topics: sustainable farming practices, food safety and the shopping experience".