Inco-ct-2004-003321 foodlink linking Associated Candidate Countries and eu member States food sectors with a view to higher level of participation in the fp 6 projects

Program:

9.00 Rozsa Ring: The implementation of ISO 72015 in the Hungarian Accrediation

All information days were preceded by the information action composed of:

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  leaflets (in attachment) – the graphic format and the text were created by the coordinator. At the kick-off meeting each partner received an English version in order to translate it into national language and print in at least 800 copies. It caused that each leaflet had the same layout but was in different language. The text concentrated on project partners, objectives and the main event – brokerage event. Unquestionable benefit of this methodology was its transparency. It was understandable by the old professors which are very often decision-maker at the universities. Leaflets were spread out during the information days and sent in envelope by regular mail.
  
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  mailshots – each partner used its own database with contacts in food sector to invite potential participants and inform them about the project.
  
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  website – the project website (www.foodlink.pl) was created at the beginning of project realization. Information about each event was advertised here, as well as all other informations.
  

Wide promotion action as well as information days contributed to large interest in FOODLINK realization. The effects of WP1 were numerous participation in brokerage event and large number of cooperation profiles introduced to the database.

WP1 contributed to the great promotion of the project. Wild range of promotion tools (leaflets, website, information days, mail shouts) made this project known among researchers and SMEs interested in FP6 participation. They were informed about Brokerage event organization and the possibility of financial support. The expected impact of WP1 was large interest in both Cooperation database and Brokerage event in Poland.

The main objective of this work package is to identify potential participants in ACC and NMS as well as their needs and expectations in the field of food sector; to strengthen ACC food sector cooperation, to increase a level of ACC participation in the FP6 projects and to facilitate ACC partners search. This phase of the project allowed to obtain the information needed to organize the brokerage event – main project deliverable. The main deliverable of WP2 was creating the website database, which collected cooperation offers of potential partners (in attachment). Each cooperation offer has contact details, describes the profile of the institution and indicates the actions in which a given institution wants to cooperate. Presently in the database there are 234 records, of which 82 represent the universities, 60 industry and 72 research unites.

This methodology exceeded all expectations. Some participants chose up to 12 people, so it was impossible to arrange all meetings for them during 1 day event. Summing up an interactive and well-documented website was the clinching factor for successful event.

Beside the database project partners had a direct contact with the researchers and entrepreneurs from the food sector.


Summary of WP 2

Verifying the needs of potential participants through the Cooperation Offer database occurred very successful. Each Brokerage event participant described his profile in the internet that was available for others. These profiles haven’t only been used for one event but for whole duration of the projects. Even after its completion the database is promoted in the internet.

The objective of brokerage event was to organize bilateral meetings of potential project participants, to make brokerage event participants more visible in the European research community, to include ACC researchers in common initiatives and to present the benefits of cooperation of research institutions and companies in FP6.

The whole project was focused on this event, which was called “European Partners’ Forum in FOOD Industry”, held during the International Trade Fair for Food Industry POLAGRA-FOOD in Poznan, Poland on the 23rd September 2004. The concept of the project was to invite both NMS, ACC and Old Member States researchers. The NMS and ACC researchers represented the group which had no experience in FP6 as well as international links needed to create a consortium. In order to change this situation there were also invited researchers from the Old Member States, which are very often the project coordinators and decide about the consortium shape. In the project there was foreseen budget for travel grants to those people. 12 researchers belonged to the first group and 5 others to the experienced one. The first group represented almost all the NMS and ACC countries (except Malta, Cyprus and Czech Republic), and the second group came from The Netherlands, Denmark, United Kingdom and Norway. Below there is presented the graph with the percentage participation of industry, research institutes and universities representatives. Important factor is the presence of industry, which tried to cooperate with new markets.

European Partners’ Forum in FOOD Industry took place during The International Trade Fair for Food Industry POLAGRA-FOOD in Poznan on the 23^rd September 2004. In the fairs attended 1300 exhibitors from 37 countries. It was the biggest food fair in The Eastern Europe. The objective of the organization FOODLINK’s event during the fairs was to increase the critical mass. The exhibitors could attend the event and meet invited researchers. At the same time FOODLNIK guests visited the fair’s exhibitors and settled new cooperation links. In the European Partners’ Forum in FOOD Industry took place 155 people among whom 37 foreigners. Below there is presented the detailed number of foreigners.

Below there is attached the agenda of European Partners’ Forum. At the beginning there were presented 2 European projects founded by The 6^th Framework programme (FOODLNIK and SMEs for Food). Next the representative of The European Commission described the 3^rd call in 5 priority. Discussing each thematic area, Ms Elzbieta Ceglarska familiarized the audience with the financial possibilities and research profiles. After all the invited OMS speakers presented their ideas for the projects in order to interest NMS and ACC researchers. Additionally they described the innovation researches made in their institutions. This part was also alternated by the presentations of NMS and ACC researchers promoting their excellence. The event’s effect was the cooperation links setting up among new and old member states.
Agenda

09.30 Registration

10.00 Welcome – Jacek Guliński, AMU Foundation, Poznań Science and Technology Park, Poland

10.05 Presentation of FOODLINK initiative, Elżbieta Książek, AMU Foundation, Poznań Science and Technology Park, Poland

10.15 Presentation of SMEs for Food, Michał Klepka, National Contact Point of the European Research Programmes, Poland

10.30 European research for food quality and safety, topics of on-going call for proposals, Elżbieta Ceglarska, European Commission

11.15 Is it easy to integrate in the European research?, Peter Fodor, Corvinus University of Budapest, NCP, Hungary

11.45 Coffee break

12.15 Functional food – milk and meat through innovative feed, Małgorzata Szumacher-Strabel, Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Management, Agriculture University in Poznań, Poland

12.40 Network of food research infrastructure in Europe for the development of food with a health benefit, Jacobus Oosterhaven, Agrotechnology and Food Innovations bv, The Netherlands

13.05 Chemical Residues in Food: Expertise & Experience, Glenn Kennedy, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK

13.30 Traceability of meat - use of PDA´s for data capture, Olafur Oddgeirsson, Food Control Consultants Ltd., UK

13.55 Lunch

14.50 Baltic Food Safety & Quality network (BaFoSnet), Ilze Stokmane, Latvia University of Agriculture, Latvia

15.15 Stability of fruit and vegetable antioxidant compounds and their biological activity during food processing, Anna Podsedek, Institute of Technical Biochemistry, Łódź, Poland

15.40 Innovative food additives, Arnaud Kosinski, FMC BioPolymer, Belgium

16.05 Discussion and closure of the meeting
Simultaneously with the presentations took place bilateral meetings arranged on the basis of cooperation offers. Each participant submitting the application was invited to fill in cooperation offer on the project website. The offer was introduced into the database of event’s participants which was continuously updated. From the other side the participants had also the opportunity to choose with whom they wanted to meet. It occurred that the demand for the meetings was bigger then the designed time. It took place almost 100 bilateral meetings (the list of meeting in attachment). The key success was the methodology. The meetings weren’t appointed by the organizer but by participants themselves. It made them more effective.
Summary of WP 3

Organization of Brokerage event during The International Trade Fair for Food Industry POLAGRA-FOOD increased the critical mass of the meeting. Beside invitation guests in the event took place many visitors and exhibitors representing food sector all over the world. Additionally representatives of the project had also the opportunity to visit the fairs and talked with other exhibitors. The tangible results of WP3 was the list of bilateral meetings and common projects submitted to The Commission. Many participants expressed their satisfaction in the e-mails sent after the event.

The objectives of WP4 were to use project database as partner search platform to promote ACC participation in Priority 5 projects and to help future project participants in FP6 proposals preparation and contacts with Member States. New cooperation links settled up during the the European Partners’ Forum caused that NMS and ACC researchers were invited to the FP6 projects. As well the database occurred very effective way to find new partners among UE15. WP4 works aimed at monitoring of the progress of partnership initiated during the project course and helped the researchers in joining new projects.