The aid to the company, which is based in Vila Nova de Gaia, south of Porto, is under the Accelerated Process for Innovation mechanism. In the fifth competition for this, 15 innovative ideas are to be funded, with a total €32 million, with 70 partners involved in 19 countries.

In the case of Symington, which is working with four other wine-making companies, it is to develop the robotic system "on a small scale and efficient in terms of costs".

The Accelerated Process for Innovation, which was launched in January as a pilot scheme, is financed by the Horizon 2020 programme, which funds research and innovation.

Other winning projects in this fifth competition are in areas such as the development of composites for aircraft, of electrode terminals for heart patients, of sustainable prefabricated glass façades, and of a new treatment for peripheral arterial disease.

The aim is to support innovative market-focussed projects that have already been tested.

So far 77 projects have been selected from 1,446 applicants, for a total of €116.5 million.