The aim of the thesis is the design, development and optimization of a holistic compact spectrometer that will surpass the state of the art in this domain. In particular the spectrometer will employ state-of-the-art CMOS arrays, radical optical designs for the suppress of stray light and with the readout electronic circuits based on FPGA will offer high optical resolution and sensitivity. The spectrometer will also offer all fast data transfer communication protocols, namely USB, Ethernet, etc. The spectrometer will be employed in the quantitative determination of minute concentrations of critical for human health biomarkers and harmful substances in food. The spectrometer due to its size, its flexibility and performance is expected to be employed in holistic bioanalytical solutions for use at the Point-of-Need.