"The HYCON proposal aims at developing a hygienic and energy optimized conveying system with a validated automated cleaning procedure. This wil significantly increase conveyor hygiene in the foodstuff sector and especially so in the meat- and poultry-industry. The hygienic goals will be achived by designing the system based in hygienic design guidelines and by developing a new, superior belt material which combines with an automated cleaning system for significant increases in hygiene and foodsafety. The belt will see improvements to state-of-the-art in impact and cut resistance and at least 50% improved durability and antifouling properties as compared to conventional belts. Furthermore the developed system will focus on decreasing use of energy, water and detergents by innovations in selected conveyor components: optimized drum motor design and an automated transportable cleaning system (CIP system). The market opportunity for the SME consortium - group of European suppliers of conveying solutions and components to the conveying industry - lies in the provision of a new and hygenicaly optimized conveying system and its components making for a product that is significantly better than the state-of-art solutions currently avaliable. The major innovation and point of market differentiation of the HYCON product will be considerably better hygiene and downtime in combination with reductions in use of energy, water and detergents, a combination not seen in current SOA conveying technology or products. For the meat and poultry industry the developed system presents major benefits in terms of lowering the time needed for cleaning by up to 33% and the cost needed for this by 50%. This makes for a more efficient conveying system since the downtime for cleaning is minimized and production time is increased accordingly."