The food companies find themselves faced with a dynamic development of the procurement and sales markets at home and abroad. This leads to increased competition with an enormous price competition.

In the project Food Net NRW (North Rhine-Westphalia) the players from industry and academia are developing innovative and transferable approaches together. Main objective is to exploit untapped growth and employment potential of agro-NRW.

In the project Food Net NRW the associations Food-Processing Initiative (FPI) and Nordrhein-Westfälische Ernährungswirtschaft Sozialpartnerprojekt (NEW.S) are putting their forces together. By pooling their know-how synergies are realised, the project objectives are aimed efficiently and added value for the food industry in NRW is generated.

With the support of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia Food Net NRW facilitates the companies of the food chain to expand their already strong position.

Details about the project Food Net NRW.

7th Framework Programme

Each year the European Union supports a wide range of research projects in the agri-food industry. At the same time we have to note that the scientific results of European projects are often not transferred into operating practice.

How to improve this situation? How to transfer the results of research and development in an efficiently and effectively way? What new ways of transferring can be used?

The aim of the project AgriFoodResults is to find concrete answers to these questions and to develop practical solutions.

The Food-Processing Initiative e.V. belongs to the team of 16 partners from Germany,France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Hungary and Romania. Together, we address ourselves to the task of disseminating present results about technical issues of quality, processing technology and nutrition & health aspects and to support the implementation of new tools into practice.

The focus is primary on SMEs and small research projects. In order to reach the main objectives of offering innovative and sustainable services for dissemination, raising skills of European food scientists on dissemination practices and to successfully disseminate recent results from agri-food research projects there will be tools designed. These include:

• Manuals for the transfer of research & development results
• Training sessions and workshops
• Information campaigns
• Catalogue and online platforms with results from research & development
• Innovative applications on the internet for direct exchange of experiences (web 2.0) and three-dimensional representations of machines and technologies (web 3D)
• European Conference

The project AgriFoodResults started on 1st May 2009 and is limited to the period of 2 years. Press release.

For further information please visit http://agrifoodresults.eu/ or get in touch with:

Food-Processing Initiative e.V.
Norbert Reichl
Phone: +49(0)521 98640-0
E-mail: Norbert Reichl

Any technological innovation is only as good as its application in practice. Therefore, the project FutureFood.NRW (North Rhine-Westphalia) will bring innovation into SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) of the food industry - and will anchor it in the minds of employees. The project started in June 2009 with the participation of eight companies in the region of OstWestfalenLippe.

The focus of this innovative project is an operating innovation management and the development, testing and disseminating of innovative approaches and solutions. Activation of employees, their qualification and the balance of interests between employees and company is a central purpose of the project. This employees and corporations will be prepared to successfully implement innovations independently or in cooperation with other companies or research institutes.

The project FutureFood.NRW is coordinated by innowise GmbH, performed together with Food-Processing Initiative e.V. and is accompanied by the Regionalagentur OstWestfalenLippe. The project is funded by the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs NRW and the European Social Fund.

Press release with details (German).

Contact:
Food-Processing Initiative e.V.
Beate Kolkmann
Phone: +49(0)521 98640-0
E-mail: Beate Kolkmann

Together with the “Fachverband Nahrungsmittel- und Verpackungsmaschinen im Verband des Deutschen Maschinen- und Anlagenbau VDMA“ (professional association) FPI organises a working team dealing with the full integration of the production into the IT system of the company.

The digital factory in the meat industry of the future is 100% integrated. The complete connection of all machinery and equipment with IT communications will be for granted in the near future.

Together with the processed meat industry and the machinery manufacturers the initiators VDMA and FPI want to define the standard interfaces for food processing machinery.

Representatives from the meat processing industry and the machinery and plant construction meet to work out a common standard for the unification of the systems for operating data.

Have we meet your interest, would you like to get more information about the project? Do you imagine to get involved with your expertise in working? Please get in touch with the co-ordinators of the project and working team Mr. Bellin (VDMA) and Mrs Kolkmann (FPI).

An initial summary of the project can be found here (in German).

FPI understands itself as a network and we are cross-linked in regional, national and international organisations. Within these Networks we are active for you.

Food safety and hygiene plays in the food industry, whether in machine and plant construction and production of food an important role. The machinery and equipment manufacturing as well as food industries find themselves in part the same regulations, but also face different legal and private requirements.

Exchange of experiences and discussions with representatives of the processed food industry and the mechanical and engineering knowledge give findings and show connections.

Functional foods promise an added value in addition to nutrition, such as increasing the well-being. This added value can only be declared on the product when it has gone through the "Novel Food" procedures, which is hardly affordable for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The exchange of experiences on the practical implementation of new legal requirements on the production shop goes along with technical experts. Practitioners in the field of certification, professionals, and responsible employees of the companies from the network support the businesses.