Lowinfood General Project Meeting took place in Munster
On 30 November and 1 December 2023 Lowinfood project, funded by the European Commission (call RUR-07-2020, Horizon 2020 programme), celebrated its General Project Meeting (GPM) in Germany, hosted by the Institute of Sustainable Nutrition (ISUN) based in the Münster University of Applied Sciences.
For the first time since the beginning of the project at the end of 2020, 30 partners were gathered together, which was a unique opportunity to share experiences and lessons learned and tackle together the challenges that have arisen.
A delegation from the Agriculture Directorate of Emilia-Romagna Region and its partner in task 2.1, University of Bologna, participated in the meeting.
Day 1 – Thursday 30 November
Some of the innovations tested in five different value chains have already been demonstrated, some others are currently under evaluation. As stressed by the coordinator Professor Clara Cicatiello, at this point it is very important to ensure that the results are properly disseminated at three levels: the policy level, publications on scientific journals and multichannel communication by each and every partner of the project.
During the first day’s session, the discussion focused on the dimensions considered while evaluating four innovations: efficacy, economic, social and environmental impact, as well as the challenges in data collection and analysis.
The plenary session was followed by group discussions on the challenges and opportunities encountered in the process of market replication by each specific task member: with respect to Sir platform, it was difficult to find a replicator because the fruit and vegetable surplus is variable among the EU member states and most of them do not handle big volumes such as Italy.
In the afternoon the participants took part in different activities, such as the visit to an organic bakery and a cooking session in the ISUN facilities, which ended in a sustainable, homemade and zero-waste social dinner, which was very tasty and amusing.
DAY 2 – Friday 1 November
The second and last day of the GPM was dedicated to the 14 innovations that are being tested, validated and boosted. During the pitching sessions, a representative from each innovator briefly updated the consortium partners about the advancements reached during the last months, thus providing a general overview of the project’s state of the art.
In the last part of the meeting dedicated to the dissemination, representatives from the research centres presented the publications: the articles already published, the submitted ones, including the papers to be written during 2024 which are open to possible collaborations for other partners willing to participate.
As mentioned before, the project is entering its final phase, where results are emerging: like for all European projects, a key issue is not only to get the expected results, but also to spread them outside the specific sector related to the project, so the time has come to get Lowinfood known both to specialized audiences and the general public.
