Flanders' FOOD, FF

Overview

The spearhead cluster agri-food focuses mainly on the economic growth of the Flemish food industry. Flanders’ FOOD will thereby mainly act as an enabler for innovation, and an integrator to create a trust zone of open innovation with all stakeholders in the agri-food business complex. The three economic drivers for growth are: (1) increasing local and international competitiveness, (2) focus on new business opportunities through system integration and (3) take up the social and societal responsibilities. To provide an answer to these three economic drivers, four strategic objectives are defined (Lead in knowledge, Lead to knowledge, Accelerate efficient & effective innovation and Create/cross value chains). They should increase knowledge and broaden the horizons of companies on one hand, and on the other enable them to validate and implement this new knowledge into new products, processes and concepts that drive their economic growth. Flanders’ FOOD is not defining the products, processes and services of the future, but will create enablers for companies to act quicker, better and more efficient in their innovation processes. The knowledge-driven strategic goals focus on three program lines: (1) World Class Food Production, (2) Resilient & Sustainable Agri-food Systems and (3) Personalized Food Products & Healthy Diets. A number of activities contribute to the realization of the strategic goals, such as: Development of dedicated roadmaps, creation of a (virtual) inspiration center, education of the target group, distribution of information beyond the target group, establishment of a scientific and technological advisory network, enable access to pilot infrastructure, support in workplace innovation, support in research implementation, guidance towards co-creation and co-development Flanders’ FOOD, in collaboration with the Institute for agricultural and fisheries research (ILVO), has set up a Food Pilot, this is a pilot plant filled with industrial process lines on a pilot scale, accessible to food companies for testing. Pilot tests on a semi-industrial scale allow companies to try out new concepts, processes and products. The past 5 years, the Food Pilot has become an important service provider with an integrated approach to collaborate with companies. Companies from various sectors found their way to the Food Pilot. (Website: http://www.foodpilot.be/en/) Flanders’ FOOD counts 310 member companies in 2017, spread over the ecosystem of the food industry: about two thirds of the members are companies in food production and ingredient suppliers, the other members are companies in machinery and technology, feed and retail. All cluster members, beingall actors in the triple helix including research and technology organizations (RTO’s), other cluster organizations and innovation actors work together to achieve common goals, as defined in the strategic objectives, but also make sure each partner involved benefits from these collaborations. Different types of stakeholders have different roles in the strategy and are more involved in some strategic domains than others. Flanders’ FOOD is leading partner for a smart specialization platform Agri-food http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/smart-electronic-systems To collaborate internationally Flanders’ FOOD is associated partner in several ERANETs (Cofund Facce Surplus, Susfood II and Marine Biotech) and interreg projects. The Food Pilot is European wide interesting for other SMEs. Today several customers from abroad already found their way to the pilot plant. The facilities are open for all EU companies at the same conditions as for Flemish companies. Digital technologies.