Study Visit in A Coruña, Spain: Digital twins

This event will bring together participants to explore how digital twin technologies can address long-standing barriers in the agrifood sector through real-world applications in Galicia, Spain.

The fourth study visit will take place on 25–26 February 2026 in Galicia, a region where agrifood plays a central role in the economic, social, and environmental landscape. With a rich tradition in food production and processing, Galicia’s agrifood sector supports thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and family-run farms. This strong regional identity fosters social cohesion and preserves cultural practices tied to rural life. Although the sector has traditionally been hesitant to adopt digital technologies, recent years have seen growing interest in innovation, particularly in food processing to improve productivity, resource efficiency, and product quality.

This study visit will focus on the potential of digital twin technologies to transform the Galician agrifood sector. Despite their promise, digital twins face several common implementation barriers across Europe, including high upfront costs, a lack of skilled personnel, and limited interoperability due to proprietary systems. In Galicia, where agrifood practices are deeply rooted in tradition and natural resource management, these challenges are particularly pronounced.

The study visit will explore how digital twins can bridge this gap—combining traditional strengths with advanced digital tools to enable a more precise, efficient, and resilient agrifood system. The technology addresses multiple pre-identified barriers from the SIXFOLD project framework:

• Economic barriers by improving efficiency and resource use
• Social barriers by enhancing productivity while respecting local traditions
• Knowledge barriers by demonstrating tangible use cases and impacts
• Technological readiness barriers by showing digital tools as a long-term investment

Which Living Labs are involved and what makes them special:

• Queizuar–Inverbis is a Living Lab focused on operational tracking and process optimization, particularly in the dairy sector. By applying process mining to real-time company operations, this lab serves as a sandbox for testing, refining, and implementing advanced analytics algorithms. It combines robust data capture with digital insights to continuously improve workflows, driving innovation and efficiency across agrifood processes.
• Galaxy Lab offers high-value validation spaces for multiple sectors, including industry, public services, and agriculture. The lab operates across three core areas: drone-based mobility for surveillance and logistics; renewable energy systems for clean power generation and storage; and advanced digital solutions such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and natural language processing. Its interdisciplinary focus makes it a valuable resource for testing cutting-edge technologies in real-world contexts.

The study visit will showcase how these Living Labs are contributing to barrier resolution through practical demonstrations, stakeholder dialogue, and immersive engagement. Discussions will focus on how digital twin solutions can be scaled, integrated, and supported through regional strategies and cross-sector collaboration. This visit will offer valuable insights for the wider SIXFOLD project by testing key concepts in a traditionally grounded yet increasingly innovation-driven agrifood setting.