The stand
Highlight at the stand was the first presentation of the Interactive Technology Portal (ITP) to the broad public. Several visitors used the chance to search for innovations of their interest and provided feedback to the content and the user-friendliness of the portal. This will be used for a continuous improvement during the project. As the portal is still under development it is normally exclusively accessible for members who registered for the project’s Associated Membership Platform (AMP). Registration is free of charge and still possible at: www.hightecheurope.eu/amp.html. Furthermore, visitors received information about the objectives of the project and several new AMP members could be acquired. These will help to broaden the network and support with their feedback the establishment of the European Institute for Food Processing which will be built up during the last phase of the project.
The brokerage event
In cooperation with Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) a brokerage event was organized at the stand. With 90 participants from 14 different countries and 150 one-on-one meetings the event was a great success and supported companies as well as research institutes in finding new business and research partners.
The workshops
Next to the stand activities two workshops took place as part of the fair’s scientific conference program. During the first workshop titled "Consumer perception of novel food processing technologies" the results of the project’s consumer studies were presented. The analysis of the studies showed that consumers are not well-informed about novel technologies and that a labelling of products with these technologies decreases the consumer acceptance. During the following round table discussion with a manufacturer of high pressure treated juice, a high pressure equipment producer, a food lawyer and a marketing expert the topic was discussed taking high pressure as an example. The advantages like safer and more natural food with better taste and fewer additives were stressed together with the importance to advertise the positive effects rather than the use of the technology towards the consumers. Next to the reluctant consumer acceptance one of the main barriers for implementing the technology especially in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is the high investment costs.
During the second workshop "Future of Food Processing" the results of the stakeholder consultation were presented, showing the different interests and needs of research institutes, companies and associations. Together with experts in these fields the possible structure and service of the European Institute for Food Processing (EU-IFP) was discussed. The attendants agreed that it is important to avoid duplications to already existing structures. Instead current networks should be combined and more focused and filtered information should be offered to SMEs to avoid an information overload. With regard to SMEs it must also be considered that they might need assistance for implementing innovations due to a lack in experience with open innovation. A further mission of the institute could be a more industrial oriented training of students to improve technology transfer.
Workshop presentations are available for AMP members: http://www.hightecheurope.eu/amp.html.
