The sustainable transition of the food system globally through collaboration and innovation
The Global Foodture project will create a worldwide network of clusters along the food value chain working to mitigate climate change to boost the sustainable transition of the food system globally through collaboration and innovation.
The project brings together the largest and strongest clusters across the agrifood value chain. Food & Bio Cluster from Denmark, FOOD+I from Spain, Vitagora from France, Flanders’ FOOD from Belgium and Foodvalley from Netherlands, who have joined forces for the first time with the aim of triggering a sustainable paradigm shift within their sector by empowering SMEs. The consortium is completed by two strong transversal industries clusters, Packaging Cluster and DIH Agrifood, which close the loop bringing down sectoral boundaries and allow cross-sectoral collaboration.
The project Global Foodture has selected Asia as it has become the largest driver for growth, innovation, and an entrepreneurship engine that by the establishment of the right cooperation agreements can improve the competitiveness of European SMEs. Particularly the four key markets of Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand. These regions combine a rapid development, or a mature food and agriculture sectors with a growing middle class able to afford higher quality products, as well as increased demands for a cleaner environment.
In this project, the main objective of the consortium is to intensify collaboration between clusters and business networks across borders and sectors, creating opportunities for the mutual exchange of environmental and climate challenges, technologies and mitigation processes, ensuring that clusters in Europe and Asia are aware of these problems and can work together to solve them. One of the most important goals is to provide a range of market access services to strengthen cooperation between clusters and business networks and to support SMEs to internationalize and enter global markets. One of the other goals is to support SMEs in global competition by providing a portfolio of support services and actions. Also develop a pan-European partnership of strategic climate change clusters within the agri-food sector (provisionally Global Climate Change Alliance for Food) as international cooperation. On the other hand, to develop and promote a joint internationalization strategy and actions to support the entry of SMEs into third country markets.
To achieve these main and secondary objectives, the consortium will carry out the following activities:
- Market analysis and relationships: a market analysis in the four target countries Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand to better understand the target regions in Asia and identify the most relevant cooperation partners with whom the consortium will work closely.
- SME and Global Foodture ecosystem identification: to recruit, and train designated facilitators from Global foodture project partners, to be able to implement activities as effectively as possible. And to identify relevant food system related product and service provider SMEs and other stakeholder organizations and systematically populate them in already existing, sustainable, open and free European DIH Agrifood Cooperation Platform.
- International training programme: design and implementation of a support programme for internationalisation that unlocks the capacities of SMEs to improve their competitiveness. Besides, a global support programme that improves SMEs internationalisation capabilities will be provided
- International missions and matchmaking: A group of European SMEs will be participating in a mission towards the target countries to support innovation collaboration to boost sustainable transition of the food system. In addition, the consortium will organize online events to prepare SMEs for individual missions and meetings.
- Exploitation and sustainability: The Global Foodture consortium wants to guarantee the exploitation and sustainability of the project. This goal is twofold, on the one hand, the consortium will create a set of support services for participating companies and the consortium will identify Key Account Managers (KAM) who will support companies in their journey throughout the project. On the other hand, a strategy for project sustainability will be created to enable a partnership over the long term, a Global Climate Alliance of Food will be created as the main living instrument. Next to creating a sustainable network among the targeted stakeholders, an exchange channel with policy makers & authorities will be created as well.
