Introduction on the FoodChains 4 Europe program
The aim of the FoodChains 4 Europe project is to improve the implementation of regional policies that stimulate the delivery of innovation to create sustainable food chains in five participating regions: Flevoland (NL), Plovdiv/Sofia (BG), Emilia-Romagna (IT), Maramures (RO) and Greater Manchester (UK).
These regions all have large food sectors that provide social and economic benefits for their citizens. However, each region recognises that the only way to remain competitive is to improve the sustainability of this sector. This requires innovation in all stages and aspects of the food chain.
FoodChains 4 Europe will focus on innovation that contributes to the environmental sustainability of the food chain whilst contributing to social sustainability through increased access to high quality food.
The consortium will support food sector businesses to deliver these innovations, both on financial and technological aspects.
In order to achieve this, regional authorities and universities will partner in each region and work with other regional stakeholders to share and exchange their expertise in food innovation during a series of peer reviews and interregional learning activities.
In the first 3 years of the FoodChains 4 Europe project the partnership exchanged through peer reviews and interregional learning events to share their knowledge and experience. Peer reviews and interregional learning events were hosted by each region. The hosting region seeked for advise or presented a challenge to the partnership. The partners gained insights in the specific context of each question and learned from the good practices in workshops, excursions and meetings. At the end of a peer review the visiting partners developed recommendations and gave advise to the hosting region on how to tackle the presented question.
After the 3 years of the exchange of knowledge and experiences, each region developed a regional action plan based on the recommendations given by the partnership and the learnings of the exchange. In the next 2 years, the action plan were implemented in each region and the results have been monitored.
In this short summary, chairman Floor Margarita will guide you through the plenary part of the conference. Jan Nico Appelman of the province of Flevoland is your host of the day and he will tell you all about the importance of the FoodChains 4 Europe project. Furthermore, a few of the participating regions will tell about the results they have achieved and about the steps to take in the future. Does a better environment really start with oneself?
