Encap4health

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 872019.

Improvement and maintenance of health, particularly in ageing societies, is a major challenge defined in H2020. In this context, the objective of ENCAP4HEALTH is to develop innovative concepts for biopolymer-based microcapsules resulting in a new generation of highly functional delivery systems for functional food ingredients. Experts have emphasized for a long time that new methods and materials are required to improve the functionality, digestibility and absorption of these so-called bioactive. With an increasing awareness of zero-waste production and reduction of the environmental impact of food processing, opportunities to create a new generation of encapsulation systems open up.

ENCAP4HEALTH brings together more than 50 international experts with ample expertise from 12 different institutions (technical, medical and traditional universities, SMEs and multinational companies). The network aims to identify new biopolymers and to develop more efficient and sustainable processing technologies for encapsulation.

Multiple training activities related to the research have been specifically designed to improve the skills of the consortium members and promote their career development. the exploitation of results will boost innovation and present societal and economic benefits by producing more effective functional food by applying new and optimized encapsulation techniques. ENCAP4HEALTH will lead to greater affordability of multiple health and food applications opening market opportunities in the food sector, that will spread out to agriculture, feed, pharma and even the biomedical sector.