D5.2- Food Innovation Workshops

Transcription

1 Version: FINAL Date: 06/03/14 Pages: 31 Setting up the innovation support mechanisms and increasing awareness on the potential of Food Innovation and RTD in the South- East Europe area Project Code: SEE/B/0028/1.3/X WORK PACKAGE 5: NETWORKING, TRAINING AND EXCHANGE OF EXPERIENCE IN FOOD INNOVATION Author: Partner: FING For further information please contact: Dissemination Level: D5.2- Food Innovation Workshops Partner Official name (in English) Abbreviation Country LP Centre for Research and Technology Hellas- Institute of EKETA- IAB Greece Applied Biosciences ERDF PP1 Federation of Industries of Northern Greece SVVE Greece ERDF PP2 National Research Council- Institute of Sciences of Food CNR/ISPA Italy Production ERDF PP3 Agricultural University of Plovdiv AUP Bulgaria ERDF PP4 Pazardzhik Regional Administration OAP Bulgaria ERDF PP5 National Institute of Research & Development for Food IBA Romania Bioresources ERDF PP6 Constanta Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Shipping And CCINA Romania Agriculture ERDF PP7 Development Agency of Idrija and Cerkno ICRA Slovenia ERDF PP8 European Food Chain Parliament-Foodlawment EEPF Hungary 10% PP1 Odessa National Academy of Food Technologies ONAFT Ukraine 10% PP2 Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Moldova CCIRM Republic of Moldova 10% PP3 Institute for Food Technology FINS Serbia Contents: D5.2- Report on the Food Innovation Workshop in Greece Abstract: The report focuses on the implementation of food innovation workshop in Thessaloniki, Greece. It was organised by the Federation of Industries of Northern Greece and was attended by 23 participants.

2 Project Document Information Project acronym: Project full title: Project Code: Inno- Food SEE Setting up the innovation support mechanisms and increasing awareness on the potential of Food Innovation and RTD in the South- East Europe area SEE/B/0028/1.3/X Project start date: 1 st April 2011 Project duration: Deliverable number: 5.2 Deliverable title: Due period of deliverable: Actual submission period: Authors: Editors: 30 months Food Innovation Workshops 5 th 6 th Constantinos Styliaras Christos Georgiou Reviewers: Notis Argiriou Work Package no.: 5 Work Package title: Networking, training and exchange of experience in food innovation Work Package leader: CERTH- INEB Work Package participants: All partners Nature: Report Version: 1.0 Draft/Final: Draft No of pages (including cover): 31 Keywords: Food innovation workshop Thessaloniki 2

3 Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION- OBJECTIVES OF THE WORKSHOP OUTLINE OF THE WORKSHOP Agenda List of Participants Presentations Pictures

4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The current report presents the key aspects of the Food Innovation Workshop organized in February the 26 th 2014 in Thessaloniki Greece by the Federation of Industries of Northern Greece. The event served as an important landmark for the sustainability of the Inno- Food stakeholders network in the region of Central Macedonia. 4

5 1. INTRODUCTION- OBJECTIVES OF THE WORKSHOP The objectives of the Food Innovation Forum in Thessaloniki were decided among the key regional stakeholders i.e. the Federation of Industries of Northern Greece and the Institute of Applied Biosciences of the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas and they were in line of the prescription of the Application Form. More specifically, the organisers took the opportunity to launch the platform for future cooperation between the key stakeholders for food innovation in the regional of Central Macedonia. The Panel of Experts of Bioagrofood was set-up taking into account previous results and mapping exercise of the project and it comprises of: Executives of food companies, Representatives of food- related research entities and academia, Representatives of entrepreneurial support entities, Representatives of agricultural producers associations, Innovation consultants, etc. The theme of the workshop was Leveraging the growth of the bioagrofood sector through Innovation and its objective was to initiate a discussion on the following issues: What specific directions should the regional agrofood sector follow and which specific policies and actions would increase the recognition of regional food products with an international brand name and the increase in exports? How can innovation support these directions? Which activities relevant to the agrofood sector could be proposed to be included in the upcoming structural funds programming period ? Which investments can improve the sector growth? How could the local agrofood system contribute to regional economic development in the frame of implementing a smart specialization strategy for the future? How could it support the development of jobs and prosperity? The workshop was organised by the Federation of Industries of Northern Greece at its premises; 23 persons actively participated. 5

6 2. OUTLINE OF THE WORKSHOP Dr. Georgiou, Director of the Documentation & Research of FING welcomed the participants and presented the Inno- Food project objectives, its key activities and gave special emphasis to the action plan and investment proposals for boosting food innovation in the region. He then gave the floor to Prof. Tsakanikas, Research Director, Foundation of Economic and Industrial Research Institute who discussed the importance of the agrofood sector in Greek Economy and the region of Central Macedonia in particular. The interest of the Economic and Industrial Research Institute is on mapping the basic characteristics of the agrofood sector, its linkages to primary production, its present and future challenges and the role of innovation in tackling the problems. Mr. Kiriakou, Director General of the Federation of Greek Industries focused his speech on the activities of the institution. He highlighted the necessity that business support mechanisms take the initiative to formulate suggestions for innovation policies and measures for the agrofood sector and noted the necessity for developing sector policies at least on a national level. He highlighted the role of innovation and technology for existing companies that are already active, have significant operations at a national and international level, provide many job positions and can certainly be the vehicle for regional economic development. Following up, Mrs. Petrohilou, Expert on Agrofood introduced her speech on the Orientation of the Roadmap to 2020 for the Bio-Agrofood Sector. She noted the role of the regional panel of agrofood experts in the formulation of the basic policy directions for the agrofood sector in the upcoming programming period. The agrofood sector is a large and interdepended value chain facing significant challenges; coordination of the primary sector with the secondary food manufacturing sector as well as other key players, the adoption of innovation in all processes (technical or not) are necessary for raising the competitiveness and extroversion of the sector. Mrs. Petrohilou then proposed the key questions mentioned in the introduction in order to animate the discussion, i.e. What specific directions should the regional agrofood sector follow and which specific policies and actions would increase the recognition of regional food products and their exports? How can innovation support these goals? Which activities relevant to the agrofood sector could be proposed for the upcoming structural funds programming period ? Which investments can improve the growth of the sector? How could the local agrofood system contribute to regional economic development in the frame of implementing a smart specialization strategy for the future? How could the agrofood system support the development of jobs and local prosperity? Mr. Konstantinidis of Pelopac SA briefly presented the strategy of his company by highlighting its focus to exporting traditional Greek food of high quality to large retailers in the USA and Europe; he made reference to the fact that local and national primary production is not strong enough to adequately feed the manufacturing companies and therefore there is a significant loss of opportunity for synergies in the local economy. In his view it is important that consumers are educated as to what constitutes Mediterranean diet and Greek diet and its benefits so that they start appreciating the value of original and traditional food products. 6

7 He also referred to the necessity of exploiting the synergies of agrofood with tourism and culture. Mr. Vergos of the American Farm School (AFS) noted that climate change and its effects will drastically change the food production environment as we know it. New technologies should be introduced to agriculture to cope with this game- changing factor. He promoted the role of the AFS in which currently 700 students are attending; the majority of them are interested in starting their own business after graduation. He also noted that the role of AFS is to develop realistic business plans for their students and direct them to cultivations that are relevant to the climate, soil, tradition and needs of Greek conditions and not to ambiguous new cultivations which have uncertain results and may introduce significant biodiversity issues. Mr. Koukakis of the Koukakis Dairy Farm also highlighted the importance of education for the development of a new generation of farmers. It is important that this know-how has an integrated character and is provided by an objective entity and not by other means, e.g. providers of farming equipment as it usually happens. Mrs. Stefanidou of Efthimiadis Group shared similar thoughts about the importance of educating the new farmers to cultivations that are adjusted to the local environment and are relevant to the market in order to secure their sustainability. Mr. Stamatopoulos of the Institute of Applied Biosciences, CERTH referred to the work of the institute and its focus to applying methods that would secure reputation, brand- name recognition and originality for local food products. Researchers should coordinate their work; each should focus to its specialty and avoid fragmentation of efforts. He also referred to the work of the Greek Agrofood Platform which has identified fruit tree cultivates, goat and sheep meat and dairy products and particular grain production as the smart specialiation for the region of Central Macedonia. Mr. Apostolou of the Association of Canned Foods referred to the obstacles in their work posed by the state and the necessity that policies support sectors that have a clear advantage and potential to export. Prof. Lazarides of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki mentioned the significant turn in the interest of university students in animal and vegetable production. He mentioned that currently the agrofood production chain does not award the farmer with the value he producers, i.e. there are too many middle men that absorb the value. Greece has limited resources and cannot compete internationally in other that quality and character of food. Food security, standardisation, adoption of technology and quality control are of key importance for the sector. Dr. Argiriou of INEB- CERTH referred to the work of the institute in the promotion of traditional native species that can provide uniqueness in regional food production, with a special reference to peaches, apples, cherries and goat and sheep products. Mr. Manavis of Agrino (rice and bean products) analysed the strategy of the company of standardizing food products, promoting the role of the farmers, utilizing an attractive and practical packaging that brings out the value of the product and in developing new products that combine ingredients of Greek agriculture. 7

8 2.1.2 AGENDA Below we present the workshop agenda: Leveraging the growth of the b ioagrofood sector through I nnovation 26 th o f F e b r u a r y, F I N G p r e m i s e s, M o r i h o v o u 1, T h e s s a l o n i k i Welcome, Presentation of the Innofood SEE Project - Dr. Christos Georgiou, Head of Documentation and Research, Federation of Industries of Norther Greece The importance of the agrofood sector in Greek Economy - Prof. Aggelos Tsakanikas, Research Director, Foundation of Economic and Industrial Research Orientation of the Roadmap to 2020 for the Bio-Agrofood Sector; Expert's Opinion - Mrs. Ioanna Petroheilou, Expert on Agrofood. Discussion 8

9 2.1.3 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 9

10 2.1.4 PRESENTATIONS Presentation of Dr. Georgiou, Federation of Industries of Northern Greece 10

11 11

12 12

13 13

14 14

15 15

16 16

17 17

18 18

19 19

20 20

21 21

22 Presentation of Mrs. Petrohilou, Food Expert 22

23 23

24 24

25 25

26 26

27 27

28 28

29 29

30 2.1.5 PICTURES 30

31 31