Bioflytech is leading a European R&D project, with the ITG technology center and the University of A Coruña (UDC) as partners, to integrate artificial intelligence and advanced automation into black soldier fly breeding. The initiative aims to improve efficiency, sustainability, and traceability in industrial insect protein production.
The biotechnology company Bioflytech, through its subsidiary Alfaprogal (Alternative Fats and Proteins of Galicia), is spearheading a European R&D&I project to develop an intelligent precision system that optimizes the industrial breeding of black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens). This will enable Galicia to develop a new model of strategic livestock farming, an alternative to the traditional model that is more sustainable and technological, and which also promotes the circular economy.
“It will place the community in a privileged position to lead European production of a new generation of high-quality proteins and fats, as well as biofertilizers derived from black soldier flies, with applications in animal nutrition —aquaculture, pet food, poultry, and pork— as well as cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals, with great potential for business, growth, and the creation of jobs and wealth,” explains Jesús Rodríguez, CEO of Bioflytech.
The project, a public-private partnership called IAPSI (Artificial Intelligence and Automation Applied to Sustainable High Added-Value Products from Insects), seeks to improve the efficiency, sustainability, and traceability of the breeding process for this species through the implementation of an artificial intelligence algorithm that centrally controls and modulates the feeding and environmental management of the larvae.
The goal is to create an automated, intelligent, and scalable system that improves production performance and environmental footprint. To this end, advanced technologies such as quantum computing, IoT, automation, and artificial intelligence will be introduced. Sensor and traceability systems will be used to monitor all process variables in real time. Computer vision and image processing technologies will be applied to detect and analyze farming status, as well as AI algorithms and automated systems to optimize feeding, irrigation, and environmental control on farms. In addition, predictive models, digital tools, and energy and resource efficiency strategies will be introduced to reduce the water and carbon footprint.
INNOVATION AND RESEARCH “MADE IN GALICIA”
To carry out this project, Bioflytech will have two key partners, the ITG technology center and the University of A Coruña (UDC), through the Water and Environmental Engineering (GEAMA) and the Center for Technological Innovation in Building and Civil Engineering (CITEEC) research groups, which make up the project consortium.
Bioflytech will provide the industrial environment where the system will be tested, namely the production facilities that the company has in Palas de Rei (Lugo), with an annual production capacity of 12,000 tons of black soldier fly larvae, while the ITG will be the technology provider for this initiative, contributing its extensive experience in industrial machine vision solutions and quantum technologies.
For its part, the UDC, thanks to its academic expertise in sustainability, will be responsible for environmental testing and analysis, as well as the scientific validation of the project, which has a two-year implementation period and a budget of more than €3.6 million. “When we think of Galicia, we imagine traditional livestock farming or aquaculture. This project leads us to imagine a totally new, technological ‘farm’ with a minimal environmental footprint,” explains Luís Pena, a member of the UDC research team, together with Alberto Alvarellos, Juan José Galán, and Jerónimo Puertas.
IAPSI is supported by the Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities and the State Research Agency, and is co-financed by the European Union through ERDF funds. “The success of this funding is crucial. It secures the resources to transform research into a real and sustainable industrial solution,” emphasize UDC representatives.
