PeRCEPTION

THE PROJECT

PeRCEPTION, a research and development partnership project between Dawn Farms, Creme Global, and University College Dublin’s digital development hub, CeADAR, has secured €1.87 million from the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund in the third round of funding announced by the Irish Government.

PeRCEPTION is an exciting new project that proposes to use recent advances in digital technology, in industrial sensors, and in rapid sensory analysis to predict the quality of functional food products. The disruptive nature of this project is to develop a solution to digitalise human senses relating to the organoleptic quality of the eating experience. This development proposes the use of sensor technology and AI to create a digital connection between the consumer, the food scientist and the factory floor to enable real time product development in a cost efficient and sustainable manner.

Commenting on the announcement of the award of the funding for this project Conor Cahill from Dawn Farms said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Creme Global and CeADAR on this pioneering work. The food sector, as always, is operating in a dynamic market and we are of the firm view that the smart combination of culinary science and technology is the optimum way of bringing safe, great tasting and sustainable food to our customers”

THE FUNDING PROGRAMME

The Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund was established by the Government in association with Enterprise Ireland under the National Development Plan in 2018 to invest in research and innovation in life sciences, medical devices, ICT, AI, manufacturing and environmental sustainability. Its purpose is to drive collaboration between Ireland’s world class research base and industry for the development and adoption of new technologies.

THE PARTNERS

Dawn Farms is the largest dedicated supplier of cooked meat and plant-based ingredients and fermented and dried sausage products outside of the United States. The company supplies world leading food brands in 50+ markets across the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Creme Global are a scientific modelling, data analytics & computing company committed to helping organisations make better decisions. We’re the data and technology partner to many of the biggest companies in the world. We help organisations to understand the context of their data and our solutions bring our clients along the journey from data management to data visualisation, advanced analytics and predictive modelling.

CeADAR is headquartered in University College Dublin and is the National Centre for Applied AI and Data Analytics and Ireland’s Digital Innovation Hub in AI. CeADAR is a market-focused technology centre that drives the accelerated research, development, and deployment of AI technology and innovation into businesses.

WORK PACKAGES

Work Package 1: Connecting existing operation sensors. Exploring the suitability of and where suitable connecting new sensors to our production lines. Developing a sensory evaluation methodology (Both person and machine based)

Work Package 2: Data Structure and Data Analytics

Work Package 3: Factory Level Predictive Modelling and Reinforcement learning

Work Package 4: Integration and Experimentation to be conducted in conjunction with work packages 2 and 3 for a continuous testing and feedback loop

Work Package 5: Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation. Also incorporating the assessment of the economic aspects of any delivered technology from the project

Work Package 6: Overall Project Management and project Coordination