4.4 million EU funding for German-Dutch food companies

FOOD2020 starts in Phase II

09-Aug-2018 - Germany

How will algae and insect products be produced in the future? How can the meat industry react sustainably to the nutritional needs of the population? And how will food actually be prepared in the kitchen in the future? FOOD2020 has the answers.

The German-Dutch cooperation project will be completed this year. The balance: More than 500 participating SMEs in the agricultural and food industry from the German-Dutch project region encountered 66 different activities. In addition to establishing cross-border relations and increasing competitiveness, the SMEs in the project region developed individually. More than 25 jobs and 20 trainee positions were created. The companies were supported by the regional coordinators DIL e.V., GIQS e.V. and FPI e.V. as well as BOM, NV NOM, Oost NL and LIOF.

The success of the project is to be continued. Phase II started in July 2018 and enables SMEs in the German-Dutch project region to further develop their innovative ideas and establish themselves on the market. The focus of the project is on overcoming social challenges in the Global Food System. With a budget of 4.4 million euros, 19 innovation projects in the fields of food safety, food security, healthy food, social innovation, and sustainability will be funded. The range of seminars and workshops gives interested parties in the project region an insight into future developments in the food industry.

What distinguishes Phase II from the first part of the project? New are the so-called think tanks. Over a longer period of time, companies deal with concrete questions such as digital challenges, environmental services or clean labels and how they are individually geared to the future of the food industry.

"With FOOD2020 it has been possible to optimally prepare SMEs from the project region for future challenges" emphasizes project manager Christian Kircher from the German Institute of Food Technology. Examples of this are Bugfoundation GmbH and Livestock Robotics. By participating in the project, Bugfoundation GmbH has introduced a skeptically viewed product into German food retail. The Dutch company Livestock Robotics, in cooperation with its project partners, made an important contribution to the topic of agriculture 4.0. Phase II again contributes to strengthening one of the most important economic sectors of the German-Dutch border region.

FOOD2020 is implemented within the INTERREG programme Germany-Netherlands and co-financed by the European Union, MWIDE NRW, the Ministry for Federal and European Affairs and Regional Development of Lower Saxony, the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands and the provinces of Drenthe, Fryslân, Gelderland, Groningen, Limburg, Noord-Brabant, and Overijssel.

https://www.yumda.com/en/news/1156838/4-4-million-eu-funding-for-german-dutch-food-companies.html