The new complex will house food technology laboratories
Virovitica, a city in Slavonia situated near the river Drava, will soon get a new Centre for Technology and Innovation (TIC), reports Lokalni on April 3, 2018. The investment of 17,6 million kuna is supposed to drive further development of the agricultural sector in Virovitica-Podravina County and its wider area. The Ministry of Science and Education has recently green-lit the project.
The TIC will be located near the College for Higher Education in Virovitica. The new complex will house laboratories specialising in food technology and certain areas of agriculture.
According to County Prefect Igor Andrović, TIC’s laboratories will host various research projects, some of them focused on active substances in medicinal herbs, others aiming to research and develop edible oils, vegetables, royal jelly and honey, tobacco, and so on. “The Virovitica Centre for Technology and Innovation will raise agricultural development to a new level, for the benefit of Virovitica-Podravina County and its wider area, but first and foremost, for the benefit of local farmers”, said Andrović. He added the future research will be focused on areas of agriculture and food production present in continental Croatia, thus making an integral part of the real economy.
The TIC is a project devised by Virovitica-Podravina County and developed by the Regional Development Agency VIDRA. The centre will be the second scientific institute built in the county with the help of EU funding; the first was the Panonian Wood Competence Centre, worth 45 million kuna.
The TIC will carry out research in collaboration with the Faculty of Agriculture in Osijek and the Faculty of Food Technology in Osijek. Scientists will be looking into various characteristics of certain sorts of vegetables and other alimentary products to improve their quality and production profitability.
