With an initial investment of $150,000, the clusters of oilseeds and oils and industrial and medical hemp are presented, initiatives that are among the 20 that the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries (MPCEIP) has marked in its roadmap as part of the National Competitiveness Program Ecuador Compite.

Some of them are already launched with technological, superfoodsforestry industry, plastics, digital transformation, among others.

Épico presented a technology cluster in Guayaquil

In the meantime, like the previous ones, the clusters launched on June 27 in Quito will be implemented with funds allocated after the signing of the Grant Cooperation Agreement concluded in 2022. Both initiatives presented proposals for access to grant resources from the investment project Competitiveness Agenda for Productive Transformation, Promotion of Quality and Entrepreneurship in Ecuador.

For the Palmero Traceability System, the contract was signed for USD 80,000; and the Industrial and Medical Hemp Cluster will receive $70,000 for the implementation of its twelve-month project. Resources are focused on strengthening production chains that rely on innovation, capacity building, foreign trade and continuous improvement, the ministry said.

In addition, as part of the pre-incubation process of the Industrial and Medical Hemp Cluster, a workshop was held in which 25 players from the industry participated. In this space, the challenges and opportunities of the sector are analyzed.

One of his first actions will be focused on a communication plan to reduce barriers in the development of the industry, through increasing acceptance and reducing prejudice, as well as strengthening the management process, which will allow a better structuring of the path to the entire value chain.

Ecuador’s superfood industry has formed its own cluster

While in the case of the Oilseeds and oilseeds cluster, the implementation of the project Development of a traceability system for the identification of oilseed producers at the farm level in the southern palm zone is expected, this initiative includes the use of technological satellites for the purpose of demarcating properties, monitoring production zones without deforestation and identifying plantations that represent some inconvenience .

The Ministry reminded that 20 cluster initiatives will complete four stages of development: pre-incubation, start-up, construction and consolidation. The first two phases are initiated by the public sector, as it should lead the cluster mapping process and conduct public-private dialogue on institutional policy bottlenecks. And phases 3 and 4 are led by the private sector with public and multilateral support.