Consortium

Newcastle University is a research intensive university and a member of the prestigious Russell Group, comprising 24 leading research institutions in the UK. Newcastle University is ranked in the top 1% of universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2014) and in the top 50 in the world in the latest International Student Barometer (2013). The UNEW team comprises staff from Newcastle University Business School and the Centre for Rural Economy (CRE).

The Newcastle team will co-ordinate the project and have extensive experience of participation in, and management of, large‐scale research projects funded by the European Union as well as UK research councils, governments and regional development agencies. This has included work on local/regional foods and the sustainability of agri-food supply chains. The team holds expert advisory positions within various governmental departments (e.g. Defra and the Scottish Executive) and editorial positions in relevant journals (e.g. Journal of Agricultural Economics, EuroChoices) as well as having published in leading journals relevant to the topic (such as Journal of Rural Studies, Environment and Planning A, Food Policy, Marine Policy).

Read more at: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/

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The Università degli Studi di Parma (UniPR), enrols about 30,000 students and graduates more than 5,000 alumni per year, while staffing about 1,800 lecturers and administrative employees. It is organised in 18 Departments based at two main locations: the many “Campuses” in the City Centre and the 77 hectares “Parco Area delle Scienze” (Science Park) on the outskirts of the city

Building on the longstanding tradition and expertise in participating in FP7 projects (52 in total), the Università degli Studi di Parma is substantially engaged in Strenght2Food, featuring researchers and practitioners from three of its Departments (Economics, Biosciences and Food Science) and one of its Spin-Offs (MADEGUS – I Maestri del Gusto)

The S2F Project will benefit from the expertise of the Agricultural Economics and Public Accounting Units at the Department of Economics, of the Department of Biosciences and of the Department of Food Sciences. All of these Departments have been involved in several EU-funded projects including PrimeFish (H2020), SINER-GI, Welfare Quality and HEALTH PLUS (FP6)

The strong interdisciplinary team of researchers involved in Strenght2Food will provide the project with its substantial research experience in agribusiness systems (especially quality products), supply chain management, farm strategies, cooperative systems, agricultural policy impacts, consumer choice and behaviour as well as the economics of food safety. Furthermore, public tenders and their outcomes have been analysed while outstanding publications on nutrition and nutritional education have been produced. Lastly, distinctive expertise in assessing the economic and environmental sustainability of agricultural policy reforms and changes in dietary practices tops it all off.

Read more at http://en.unipr.it/

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The University of Edinburgh is a leading research-driven academic institution engaged in core research, teaching and impact activities. The two principal staff contributing to S2F (Dr Angela Tregear and Dr Mary Brennan) are members of the Business School Marketing Group, a well-established community of scholars with an international reputation in the fields of firm and consumer behaviour in agri-food and rural sectors, origin products, organic and low-input food, communication of food risk and safety, and food consumer research. They have extensive experience of participation in, and management of, large-scale research projects commissioned by national and regional government agencies, research councils and the European Union. The third staff member contributing to the project (Prof Michèle Belot) resides in the School of Economics, also an internationally recognised research-led unit, with expertise in economic analysis of diet and health particularly amongst schoolchildren. Together, the EDIN team brings a depth and range of expertise to their core task of leading WP6 ‘Evaluation of the Impact of Public Sector Food Procurement Policies’, as well as contributing to other WPs in the project.

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Wageningen University is a leading European university in the Life Sciences. Research focuses on the fields of nutrition, health, nature and the living environment. Socio-economic research assists governments and businesses in their entrepreneurial choices, management of production chains, spatial planning, environmental performance and natural resource management. Two chair groups in the Department of Social Science are involved in the Strength2Food project: Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy (AEP) and Management Studies (MST). The AEP group performs high quality scientific economic research within the domains of (1) markets and policies; (2) spatial structures; and (3) institutional and organizational aspects through economic analyses grounded in relevant and up-to-date theory, using appropriate methodologies. The MST group conducts leading research in the field of chain and network science, with a special focus on innovation and internationalization. Key competences of the Wageningen University team, relevant for Strength2Food, lie in economic modelling and econometric analysis and the conceptualisation of novel food chains and alternative food networks.

Team:

Team Leader: Konstadinos Mattas

Team: Christos Karelakis, Efthimia Tsakiridou

The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh) is one of the largest and oldest universities in Greece, with about 42.000 “active” students and 2.300 teaching and research staff, allocated in various schools and research units. Research activities cover all scientific (theoretical and applied) fields. Among the highest active departments is the Department of Agricultural Economics that participates and contributes to this project, demonstrating extremely high performance in participating/coordinating many EU and international research projects (FOODIMA, CARERA, MEDFROL). Key competences relevant for STRENGTH2FOOD lie within the field of agro-food chain and particularly of agricultural policy, food quality and safety. The department’s mission in the project is to bring particular expertise in providing policy and practical recommendations born out of the project at the EU and national level with particular emphasis on QSs, SFSC and public food procurement. The research team will additionally contribute to the assessment of the social, environmental and economic sustainability of Food Quality Schemes and their contribution to rural economies and territorial cohesion. AUTh leads WP10 (Policy and Practical Recommendations) and participates in WP6 (Evaluation of the Impact of Public Sector Food Procurement Policies), WP5 (Evaluation of the Economic, Social and Environmental Impact of EU Food Quality Schemes (PDO, PGI, TSG, Organic).

The INRA-D team works in the multidisciplinary Joined Research Unit CESAER which brings together researchers from AgroSup Dijon and from INRA. CESAER is recognized for researches in the field of rural areas, and focuses on two main structural approaches: (i) analysis of dynamics of territories and territorial planning and (ii) analysis of social groups and rural worlds. Moreover, methods and concepts developed by researchers of CESAER are applied to two particular thematic areas: (i) socio-spatial inequalities and (ii) territories and sustainability. The INRA-D team includes also researchers and engineers from ODR (INRA Toulouse), a Service Unit focused on Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and database management oriented towards agriculture and rural areas.

The team has a wealth of experience in national and international projects dealing with rural development, territorial cohesion, agri-environmental policies, climate economics, consumer behavior towards food, and agro-food marketing and policies. As part of STRENGHT2FOOD, INRA-D will contribute to the development of conceptual and methodological framework for assessing the impacts of food quality policies, public food procurement policies and short food supply chains, whilst also evaluating the relevant socio-economic impacts of different types of food chains studied in the project. INRA-D leads WP3 (Conceptual Framework and Indicators Development), co-leads WP5 (FQS Assessment) and participates in WP2 (Communication and knowledge exchange), WP7 (SFSC Assessment), WP8 (Consumer Analysis) and WP10 (Policy and Practical Recommendations).

Read more on: https://www2.dijon.inra.fr/cesaer/

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The Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (HiOA) is the largest University College in Norway, with about 17 000 students and 2 000 employees. SIFO was merged with HiOA in January 2016 and became part of the Centre for Welfare and Labour Research. SIFO’s main task is to develop new knowledge on consumption, consumer policy and the consumers’ position and role in the society. SIFO has a special responsibility for the knowledge fundament of Norwegian consumer policy.

SIFO ‘s role at HiOA is to develop consumption as a research field as well as to play an active role in making the results from the research public, through publications, lecturing and media. Dissemination of information is targeted to various authorities, consumer-oriented institutions, scientific institutions, private industry as well as to consumers. SIFO has been very active within the 5th FP, 6th FP and 7th FP of the EU, both as coordinator and participant. During the last decade the institute has participated in more than 20 European projects on food research and sustainability.

SIFO’s main expertise in Strength2Food is research on local food consumption, markets and distribution. The SIFO team is composed of anthropologist/ethnologist, sociologist, nutritionist and geographer from both the departments of culture of consumption and environment and technology, having a solid knowledge from agricultural policy to food markets, with a special focus on food consumption linked to rural development and short food supply chains as well as food labels, geographical indications, local and organic food and public procurement. Knowledge on consumer culture, which is the specific historical, geographical and political context in which the consumer acts, will be especially useful in several tasks of the project, directly linked to research and development about consumption. Consumption is a field of study where we need to examine not only how people acquire useful things, but also how they express their attitudes, preferences, affiliations, identity, values and tastes.

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The University of Bonn is among the leading universities of Germany. It is a research focused University that operates internationally, actively seeks outreach and sees learning through research as the royal road to excellence and to strengthening society through the benefits of science and education. The chair of Agricultural and Food Market Research (AFMR) in the Faculty of Agriculture is participant in Strenght2Food.

Agricultural and food market research possess many interesting theoretical and empirical facets that are highlighted in the research of the AFMR chair. The methodologies applied consider the pluralism and integration of analytical tools as is required to address various of the complex questions that arise around markets, the environment and social demands. The chair performs research that relates to the entire food value chain from the primary and processing sector to the consumer. Its primary focus is on identifying drivers and obstacles of sustainability oriented behavior in the food sector.

Key competencies of the AFMR chair relevant for Strengths2Food are in empirical consumer studies in various consumer/product settings. This involves amongst other things the design of questionnaires and experiments, as well as the appropriate analysis of collected data for use in economics and by stakeholders.

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The Faculty of Economics University of Belgrade (BEL) is a renowned academic institution dedicated to the education and research work in the fields of economics and business. Its primary objective is to develop scientific disciplines, disseminate knowledge, and provide future experts with the competence and skills required by the contemporary economic development and market economy. It is recognized as the most eminent research institution in the field of economic and business sciences in Serbia, and its research serves policy makers, business community and other market actors in their decision making processes on the resources management, supply chain administration, entrepreneurship and consumer behaviour. Three chair groups are involved in this project: Business Administration and Management Studies, Economic Policy and Development and Statistical Analysis and Mathematics; covering both qualitative and quantitative, economic and managerial, aspects of the studies. The researchers conducted leading international and national projects on agri policies, economic development, consumer behaviour and supply chain institutions and management. The executive staff are experienced in carrying out EU FP projects. BEL leads WP9 (Pilot implementation and demonstration activities) and participates in WP3, WP5, WP6 and WP8.

Read more on http://www.ekof.bg.ac.rs/?lang=en

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Team Leader: Edward Majewski

Team: Agata Malak‐Rawlikowska

Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW) is the largest Polish agricultural university with an extensive academic experience and tradition of international cooperation. There are 13 faculties focusing on specific fields of science and education. In total, 28,000 students are enrolled who may choose one of 35 degree programmes. The research and education, in which 1,200 academic staff are engaged, cover the entire field of agriculture and related sciences, including Agriculture, Economics, Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Food Technology. Staff are involved in a number of research activities funded from European (Framework Programmes, Cost, Era‐Net, Bonus+, Leonardo da Vinci, Jean Monet) and national sources of funding. Academic staff have also substantial dissemination experience across the agricultural industry through co‐operation with agricultural extension services, training activities as well as through popularization of research findings. The University Press publishes more than 200 titles annually and research results are published in the most prestigious national and international journals. The Faculty of Economic Sciences (formerly Faculty of Agricultural Economics) provides a wide range of expertise in agricultural economics, finance, logistics and business management, which match the research activities of the SGGW team in Strength2Food.

Read more at http://www.sggw.pl/

The Department’s mission is to educate students, to conduct research, and to share knowledge in the area of economics, applied economics, and management. The different activities focus, among other things, on the economics and politics of the agri-food system, carrying out research in areas such as agricultural production and marketing, international trade, supply chain management, political economy and food policy.

These key competences will be employed in STRENGTH2FOOD to conduct an economic impact evaluation on the effect of EU quality schemes (PDO/PGI) on international trade flows. By relying on the emerging international trade literature, which emphasis the important role of firm’ product quality differentiation in affecting trade flows, a formal model on the effect of Quality Schemes in determining firms’ trade performances will be developed. The main theoretical predictions of this model will be then empirically tested, by analyzing to what extent the production of PDO/PGI affects trade flows, considering both the export and import sides.

Read more at http://www.unimi.it/

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CREDA‐UPC‐IRTA is a recently‐created research institute jointly funded by the Polytechnic University of Catalunya (UPC) and the Agricultural Technology Research Institute (IRTA). CREDA’s missions is to contribute to the development and improvement of agriculture and livestock competitiveness, a more sustainable use of the natural resources, the empowerment of the rural environment and a better understanding of the existing relations between society and the territory.

CREDA has a long experience in time-series econometrics, particularly, in the field of food price transmission and volatility analysis. Academically, results from its work have been published in JCR journals. At the academic extension level, CREDA is and has been involved in EU projects and has also collaborated with national government agencies, firms and international organizations (European Commission, FAO).

As part of Strength2Food, CREDA takes part in WP4 and leads Task 4.3. Its main objective is to assess how prices for different FQS products are transmitted along the food marketing chain and to what extent FQS have been proved to be useful to reduce price volatility after the price spikes in 2007-08. CREDA is also involved in Tasks 5.1& 5.2 in WP5 (assessment of EuropeanFQS for food chains and rural cohesion).

Read more on www.creda.es

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The University of Zagreb (1669) is the oldest and largest university in South-Eastern Europe. It is also a strongly research-oriented institution, contributing with over 50 percent to the total research output of the country. The Zagreb team consists of staff from both the University’s Faculty of Economics and Business, (FEB) and Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology (FTB).

Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB)

Faculty of Economics & Business Zagreb (FEB) is committed to research and education of highly qualified experts, who will successfully and responsibly respond to contemporary global business and social challenges, hence raising the quality of higher education and science in national and regional environment.

In the framework of Strenght2Food project, FEB participates in WP5, WP6 and WP9. FEB will be involved in Evaluation of the Economic, Social and Environmental Impact of EU Food Quality Schemes (PDO, PGI, TSG, Organic). Moreover, FEB will lead pilot action on mainstreaming local food supply chains.

Read more on http://www.efzg.unizg.hr/default.aspx?id=10692

Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology (FTB)

Department of Food Quality Control

Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology (FTB) is a high education institution and the central place of academic education of experts in the fields of food technology, biotechnology and nutrition in the Republic of Croatia. FTB aimed at creating new knowledge and ideas and at fostering critical thinking and creativity, and knowledge and innovation transfer towards the economy. The FTB comprises 6 departments with the total of 29 laboratories, two specialist centres and 6 offices. Department of Food Quality Control and Nutrition mission is to provide research, education and dissemination of knowledge in the area of food quality and safety, food chemistry and nutrition. In the framework of Strength2Food project, FTB will be involved in evaluating the nutritional value of school meals (WP6). In addition, in Croatia FTB will carry on the pilot study aiming to evaluate the benefits of school gardens and education on school meal nutrition and children’s awareness as well as acceptance of healthy eating habits (WP9).

Read more on http://www.pbf.unizg.hr/en/

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The European Food Information Council (EUFIC) is a non-profit organisation that communicates science-based information on nutrition and health, food safety and quality, to help the public to be better informed when choosing a well-balanced, safe and healthful diet.

EUFIC has been involved in 23 EU-funded research projects since 2004, as dissemination and research partner, mainly desk or consumer research, and has acted as a coordinator in two projects, FLABEL and CLYMBOL.

EUFIC’s expertise, tools and networks enable a massive outreach to a wider audience of relevant stakeholders, such as consumer organisations, consumer scientists, food and drink industries (including SMEs), food scientist associations, health professionals, media policy makers, retail and catering sectors, public and society at a European level. As an indication of outreach, EUFIC’s website had over 10 million visitor sessions in 2015, and EUFIC’s newsletter FOOD TODAY, which exists in 13 languages, is distributed to more than 47,000 health professionals, educators, media, scientists, and other communication multipliers. EUFIC has more than 15,000 followers in its social media accounts, which include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Read more at http://www.eufic.org

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UEH is one of the top 15 key universities providing education, research and consultancy in Vietnam. Its mission is to develop theoretical and practical knowledge related to economics, business management, law, public policy, accounting, banking and finance. The university has 680 lecturers including: seven professors, 44 associate professors and 158 doctors. It provides graduate and postgraduate education to over 50.000 students per year.

UEH will contribute to the Strength2Food with case studies in WP5 to assess the social, economic and environmental impact of the EU FQS. The research will be performed on “Phú Quốc Fish Sauce” and “Buôn Ma Thuột Coffee” which are the typical specialties in Vietnam and famous in the global market. “Phú Quốc Fish Sauce”, produced in Phu Quoc Island, has obtained the EU PDO. “Buôn Ma Thuột Coffee”, grown in the Central Highlands, has achieved PGI by a local agency and it is going to be accepted by the EU based on the EU and Vietnam FTA.

Another important contribution of UEH is in the communication work package that includes of attending the Strength2Food’s meetings and delivering the project information at local seminars and through public media in Vietnam.

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Kasetsart University is the first agricultural university in Thailand, established in 1943. KU is known internationally for academic excellence and high standard of work. It is a prime mover in mastering intellectual resources to help the nation achieve sustainable development and negotiating power in the world community. KU is the leading university of Thailand in teaching and research particularly on food production (agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries), food processing (agro-industry), economics of natural resources and environment. KU is ranked the most recognized university in agriculture and forestry in Thailand and the top five university in Asia based on QS world university ranking. To promote academic reputation, KU was selected to be one of the National Research Universities (NRU) in 2010 under the support of Office of Higher Education Commission of Thailand. Under the NRU program, Agricultural and Food Economics Research Unit (AFER) was established under the Center for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food to promote high quality research. AFER researchers will bring high quality research and publications in internationally recognized journals from Strength2Food project, and most importantly support local community development via the study of social and economic impacts of PGI products from Thung Kula Ronghai and Doi Chaang areas.

Team:

Team Leader: Adam Wilkinson

Team: Richard Wilde

Mission – To provide meaningful measurement that achieves beneficial change for Communities, Organisations. and Government.

Impact Measurement Limited has led the way in developing tools and methodologies to allow better decision making by public authorities and organisations involved in the delivery of public goods and services. Our LM3Online measure is widely used as the standard mechanism for measurement of public value to communities. Our experience in working with government and suppliers to embed social, economic and environmental impacts within public procurement lies at the heart of the Strength to Food project.

Read more at:

www.lm3online.com

www.impactmeasurement.net

Team:

Team Leader: Fabio Ciannavei

Team: Ermanno Coppola, Rita Gentili, Manfredini Rolando, Duilio Lucangeli, Federica Giovannone, Lucia Francesca Berardini, Corrado Finardi, Antonio De Amicis

Coldiretti is the main farming organization at Italian and European level, whose mission is “to enhance the value of the agriculture as an economic, social and environmental resource in order to guarantee development and income opportunities for agricultural enterprises, within a framework of full integration of agriculture with economic and social interests of the country”. Coldiretti encourages the dialogue between producers and consumers and between cities and rural areas, with the aim to promote a rural development that values natural resources, preserves the environment and the landscape and improves the quality of life in rural areas.

In the Strength2Food project, Coldiretti will contribute to the interpretation and checking of the validity of findings, in particular in matter of impact of the Short Supply Chain, and to the communication activities targeted to agro-food supply chain practitioners. Coldiretti will also implement a pilot action to improve economic, social, and environmental impact of Farmer’s Market.

Top Class Foreign Language Centre is a private organisation that operates in three fields. Firstly, it organises various courses and trainings, from General Language and Culture Courses to Business and Tailor-Made Courses. It also offers Trainings of Presentation Skills in diverse professional environments. Secondly, it provides translation and interpretation services, as well as conference event management. Thirdly, Top Class has separate branch and sub-brands – AcademLink and PonudaFondova.

AcademLink is the online social network which gathers researchers and postgraduate students from South-Eastern Europe in order to support their collaboration, internalisation of their work and unite their scientific efforts. It is also an informative portal which offers latest news on academic life topics. AcademLink successfully organises annual scientific events on diverse subjects and conducts trainings for university educators. Its weekly newsletter is received by 17,000 researchers and research institutions across the region. AcademLink community strives to continually expand its activities and to establish leading brand in Western Balkans scientific sphere.

PonudaFondova (Funds Offer) is an informative portal for SME owners in Serbia. It publishes weekly newsletter which informs businesspeople on funding opportunities.

Within Strength2Food project, Top Class is a partner responsible for providing MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses).

Read more on http://topclass.edu.rs/

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The European Training Academy – EUTA – (formerly BSN),  is an NGO with expertise in project preparation, management, training and cooperation, as well as research targeting social cooperation for rural development. EUTA is dedicated to provide innovative and effective support to organisations and project leaders in the Western Balkan countries to advance their performance, quality of results and impact. Three main pillars of EUTA services are: 1) Monitoring and analysis of EU policy, programmes and Calls for Proposals 2) Highly-focused information, education and training programmes rated by clients as outstanding in their impact; 3) Performance and high quality management support during project implementation.

EUTA will contribute to Strength2Food project management and implementation and will ensure project impact as the project’s dedicated training provider in WP2. EUTA contributes its research expertise in social cooperation and rural development to the WP9 pilot actions to mainstream local food supply chains and liaise with the school meals initiative in Serbia. EUTA will also contribute to WP2 Hybrid Forums.

Link for our new website www.euta.info

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Food Nation is a social enterprise SME based in Newcastle‐upon‐Tyne and provides innovative food and nutrition services to schools, businesses and communities across the North‐East of England. Food Nation is the leading food‐focused social enterprise in the North East with a vision to inspire people about good food. Food Nation has developed strong working relationships with schools, industry, academic and research institutes, public bodies and voluntary and community sector organisations.

To safeguard and further improve food, nutrition and health work taking place across Newcastle, Food Nation led the development of a multi‐sector food partnership, known as Food Newcastle. The partnership acts as an umbrella organisation bringing together a diverse set of stakeholders all working to improve the local food system and tackle some of Newcastle’s most pressing social, economic and environmental problems through initiatives linked to food.

Read more at http://www.foodnation.org/

Team:

Team Leader: Izabella Kamińska

Team: Karolina Zakrzewska

Agricultural and Food Quality Inspection (IJHARS) is the competent authority supervising the quality of agricultural and food products in Poland. In the framework of this broad task, IJHARS carries out quality controls on production in the domestic market, as well as at the import and export stages.

The main activities of IJHARS are:

Commercial quality control of agricultural and food products, at production and trading stage;
Supervision of organic farming;
Protection of regional and traditional products with names registered as PDO, PGI, TSG;
Cooperation with paying agencies in the scope of the Common Agricultural Policy ‐ control “ex‐ante” and control “ex‐post”;
Coordination of Polish cooperation with international organizations dealing with food and its marketing (e.g. IJHARS acts as the FAO/WHO Codex Contact Point for Poland).
In the framework of Strength2Food project, IJHARS will be involved in task 9.3 – The pilot action on improving FQS sales in Poland. IJHARS in co-operation with SGGW will first undertake a review of current practices – interviewing existing registered PDO/PGI/TSG consortia/producers to ascertain how the registration process and promotion of GIs could be improved, certification costs and inclusion /exclusion effects. Based on the review a set of recommendations and action plan will be produced. Recommendations will be implemented by IJHARS in the second stage of the Task and their effectiveness evaluated. The Task will contribute to developing verified strategies for improving the operation of FQS in non-traditional markets such as the New Member States, which possess a substantial agri-food sector and which urgently need to identify ways of adding value.

Read more at http://www.ijhar-s.gov.pl

Team Leader: Péter Csillag

Team: Áron Török

Eco-Sensus mission statement

Eco-Sensus is a not for profit company, founded in 2009 with the aim of developing a local quality food system with the city of Szekszárd, Tolna County, Southern Hungary in the center. Eco-Sensus is dedicated to strengthening the local economy via promoting the short food chain concept with marketing campaigns and attitude-educating actions stimulating the local food market, in the region of Szekszárd. Beyond acting locally, Eco-Sensus aims Hungary-wide to disseminate its experience-based knowledge for local growers, consumers and other actors of a local food chain.

What Eco-Sensus brings to the consortium

Eco-Sensus brings to the S2F project all practical experience of a not for profit SME active in the developing of a short food supply chain. Being in connection with more than 200 producers and has been carried out several consumer actions and surveys Eco-Sensus can bring a very operative view and practice of what can be used in certain activities of the S2F project. One of these activities will be the collaborative pilot project in order to expand regional food labelling and producer co-operation to improve returns to local producers in Serbia.

Read more at https://szekszarditermek.hu/

Team:

Team Leader: Goran Bogović

Team: Darko Knez, Jure Radoš

Konzum is owned by Agrokor, which is the 272th largest family business in the world according to the audit‐ consulting firm EY and the Center for Family business University of St. Gallen in Switzerland (2015). Agrokor retail (Konzum+Mercator) is the largest retail group in the Adria region (operations in Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro) as measured by Deloitte with 6 billion euros consolidated sales revenue. Konzum is the market‐leading supermarket chain in Croatia with 700 stores, serving more than 650,000 customers every day, and has a further 1200 stores outside Croatia. In addition to the retail business, Konzum is developing its wholesale operations with 19 Velpro wholesale stores and holds a leading position in the Western Balkans Region. Particularly outstanding is the company’s offer of fruits and vegetables, milk and meat – domestic, controlled origin, fish and seafood, bakery products and prepared dishes. Konzum was honoured by numerous awards and prizes by consumers such as Trusted Brand and Superbrand awards.

Read more at https://www.konzum.hr/

Team: Željka Dukić, Danijela Šćepanović, Bogoljub Lazarevic, Ivana Kovacevic, Lara Lebidinski

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development (MPN) has overall responsibility for the education policy development for all levels of education and research system in Serbia. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia carries out public administration activities related to the system, development and promotion of scientific and research activities for the purposes of education, scientific, technological and economic development; defining and implementing the policies and strategies of education, scientific and technological development; defining and implementing the programmes of education, scientific, technological and development research; training scientific research staff; defining and implementing innovation policies; fostering techno‐entrepreneurship and the transfer of know‐how to the economy; developing and improving the innovation system in the Republic of Serbia, as well as other activities stipulated by the Laws on Education and on Scientific Research. The Department for International Cooperation and European Integration, within the Ministry, administers activities linked to RTD activities at the EU and international levels and manages the FP7/Horizon 2020 NCP network.

Read more at http://www.mpn.gov.rs/

Team Leader: Ilaria Rossi

Team: Elena Bernardelli

Barilla G. & R. Fratelli Company is the “The Italian Food Company, since 1877”. Founded as an artisanal pasta and bread shop in the city of Parma, Barilla has developed into a global manufacturer and distributor of pasta, baked goods, sauces, representing the best quality of Italian food products in the world. Following such a centre-stage position in the food industry, Barilla has taken responsibility for spreading the word about (Italian) gastronomic culture, and fostering cooking proficiency of both amateur and professional kitchen staff, especially since 2004.

Hence, it has established a certification programme for professional chefs, it organises cooking classes intended to providing participants with tips and tricks on how to combine different food categories and cook them to obtain the (technically) perfect and tastiest result.

Owing to its role of leadership in how consumers and society relate with food, Barilla has taken the lead also in nutritional education, especially of children with the Giocampus Programme, in close collaboration with qualified professionals from a spin-off of the University of Parma (Madegus). This partnership has allowed for the development of new strategies and approaches for teaching and disseminating nutritional education and the culture of food

Barilla will be involved in WP6, WP9 and WP10 of this project to analyse existing culinary practices employed at school canteens or by meals providers to establish whether the meal preparation technique impairs or favours consuming a balanced and nutritious school meal.

Read more at www.academiabarilla.com/default.aspx

CREA (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics) is a National public research organization born in 2015 as a merge of CRA (Council for Agricultural Research) and INEA (National Institute of Agricultural Economics), two agencies that operated under the supervision of the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies. CREA is divided in 12 Units:

6 related to specific areas: genomics and bioinformatics; agriculture and environment; protection and certification; agricultural engineering and processing; food and nutrition; policies and bioeconomy.
6 related to the supply chain: crops and industrial crops; arboriculture; viticulture and enology; horticulture and floriculture; animal husbandry and aquaculture; forests and wood products.
The Unit dealing with Strenght2Food is the CREA-PB, specialized in policies and bioeconomy, with scientific competences in agriculture, agro-industry, fishery, forestry, economics studies, agricultural and rural policies at regional, national and international level. CREA-PB is the Italian liaison office for the EU Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) and it is involved in WP4 – “Analysis of existing datasets on farmers’engagement and performance”. Datasets will be analyzed in order to establish the determinants of farmer’s current engagement in quality schemes and the impact on farm performance (in terms of economic results).

Web site: http://www.crea.gov.it/

Team:

Ecozept is a German-French based, private market research and marketing consulting agency, founded in 2000 and since then engaged in the matter of sustainable agro-food markets. A main weight lies on the research and development of market intelligence systems and marketing approaches for niche markets in the agro-food business (organic products, regional products, typical products, etc.). By seeking direct contact to our partners, Ecozept creates confidence through transparency, openness and on-the-spot support. Ecozept is part of an active network of similar agencies, governmental institutions, the agro-food industry (foremost SME) and extension services in Germany and France and other European countries. Out of the team of a dozen agriculture, environmental and marketing experts, eight are working at the headquarters in Freising and Offenburg (Germany) while four persons are based in the French office in Montpellier.

Our marketing consulting designs marketing concepts on strategic and operational level. Here, we work with individual enterprises as well as with clusters, groups and business networks. Supply chain management is one of our main tasks in this domain: we make people, ideas and products match and we organize the cooperation from farm to fork, by innovative and sustainable approaches.

Team:

The Consorzio del Parmigiano Reggiano (CPR) is the Producer Group in charge of the PDO Parmigiano Reggiano. It was funded in 1934 and associates all the producers of this traditional cheese. The Consorzio is in charge of the protection, the promotion and the valorization of the cheese as well as the information of consumers. Its staff has a long experience in the domain of the evaluation of the social, environmental and economic impacts of the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese on rural areas. It has developed several projects related to sustainability and quality of traditional food products, as well as the different aspects connecting a local food chain to a global market. The daily contacts with milk and cheese producers and the actions to monitor markets at the consumption level give CPR the necessary information to follow the consumer’s food practices and perceptions regarding quality.

Read more at http://www.parmigianoreggiano.it/

Team:

Team Leader: Nedeljka Dmitrovic

Team: Milan Petrovic

The Municipality of Arilje is a local self‐government that establishes, manages and finances actions and institutions on its territory, closely defined by Serbian National law on local self‐governments. The local Mayor, together with the Municipal Council and Parliament, proposes, adopts and implements decisions entrusted by the central government. This includes local Annual budget, that is the highest local political and legislation act. The local budget clearly defines sectorial priorities, such as local sustainable development, agriculture and rural development, and financial assistance to local institutions, such as schools, kindergartens, health centres, and public companies. Local government manages local institutions through members of management boards, which then comply with and implement local policies within the institution. Arilje is well known for its entrepreneurial spirit, demonstrated by a high level of agricultural production, namely fruits, highly developed textile industry, and institutions like ”Innovation centre for Agriculture” and ”Elementary school cooperative Tinker bell”. It has a population of 18725 people on 340 sq km.

Read more at http://arilje.org.rs/