TRAFOON EU Project: Overview

TRAFOON – FooD-STA Entrepreneurship Workshop,05 July 2016, Vienna, Austria

Susanne Braun| Managing Director, Research Center forBioeconomyUniversity of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany

TRADITIONAL FOOD NETWORK TO IMPROVE THE

TRANSFER OF KNOWLEDGE FOR INNOVATION

TRAFOON project is funded by the European Community'sSeventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) undergrant agreement no. 613912

University of Hohenheim

Founding of the University of Hohenheim

• The eruption of the Indonesian volcano Mount

Tambora in 1815 triggered a global climate

change

• Leading to a massive famine in the Kingdom of

Württemberg

• In 1818 King William I of Württemberg set up an

Agricultural Academy in Hohenheim to improve

general nutrition through teaching and

experimentation

University of Hohenheim

World-class research and modern

teaching

• Stuttgart’s oldest University

• 10,000 students in 51 study programs

• 120 professors

• Internationality, innovation and multidisciplinarity

• Networking in the region, Germany, Europe and

worldwide

Agricultural Sciences Natural SciencesBusiness, Economics

and Social Sciences

Sustainable Land-use

Resource Management

Market and Politics

Society

Food and Nutrition

Bio-based Resorces

Bioenergy

Environment and Climate

Resource Management

Market and Politics

Society

Services

The University of Hohenheim - three faculties

Our Fields of Bioeconomy

Bioeconomy in Hohenheim

General Information

• Name: TRAFOON

“Traditional Food Network to improve the transfer of knowledge for innovation”

• Period: 01.11.2013 – 31.10.2016

• Project duration: 36 months

• Consortium: 30 partners from 14

European countries

Scope

• TRAFOON is a network of research institutions, technology transfer agencies and SME associations and covers the value chain of four groups of traditional food products based on:

• Grain

• Fish

• Vegetables and Mushrooms

• Fruits and olives

Partners of TRAFOON

TRAFOON food categories

Main Objectives

1. Improvements in technology transfer to SMEs producing and processing traditional foods:

• For improved food quality, safety and environmental performance

• Stabilized production protocols

• Correct use of IPR, European food law, use of labels, marketing, product development strategies

2. Development of strategic research and innovation agenda for traditional foods responding to the needs of all stakeholders.

3. Stimulation of entrepreneurship among food researchers, commercial take-up of food R&D results, and entrepreneurial networking.

The TRAFOON Innovation

Network

Barriers preventing knowledge

transfer

Donor

• Assumed benefits of processing knowledge exclusively

• Lack of ability to transfer knowledge to a non-specialist

• Lack of face-to-face conctact to industry partner

• Language and culture barriers

Mediator

• Knowledge of cultural structure and language

• Guidance through innovation cycles

• Enhancing communication

Receiver

• Lack of trust

• Lack of structures for knowledge processing

• Lack of knowledge concerning the know-how transfer process

• Language and culture barriers

TRAFOON Work Plan

Performance of inventory of needs (IoNs)

(questionnaires and interviews with identified SMEs)Acquisition

Qualitative analysis of IoNs in multi-stakeholder

workshopsAnalysis

Training Workshops for SMEs 2015 answering the

identified needsTraining

Feedback Analysis

Analysis

Training Workshops for SMEs 2016

Training

Strategic research and innovation agenda

Strategy

TRAFOON training workshops

for SMEs (2015)

Table olives and olive oil

2 Workshops

Sweet fruits

10 Workshops

Vegetable & mushrooms

6 Workshops

Fish (aquaculture)

6 Workshops

Grain and grain products

7 Workshops

Food safety & quality

1 Workshop

TRAFOON training workshops

for SMEs (2016)

Table olives and olive oil

2 Workshops

Sweet fruits

4 Workshops

Vegetable & mushrooms

6 Workshops

Fish (aquaculture)

4 Workshops

Grain and grain products

5 Workshops

Fostering

Entrepreneurship

2 Workshops

Second round TRAFOON

training workshops based on

the feedback from the SMEs

TW Impressions

SRIA concept

EU Commission

Product Groups

Specific

Needs

Common Needs National policy

makers

Communication

via mediator

Communication

via mediator

SRIA at European

level

SRIAs at National

level

SRIA at national level

• Many collected needs and knowledge gaps of traditional food SMEs do

not have available innovations or it is needed further research

• TRAFOON has already identified these needs = basis of the future food

specifics SRIAs at national level

• The list of topics/needs to be included in the SRIAs will be presented to

the SMEs during the second round of Training Workshops (2016):

• Confirmation of selected topics/needs

• Addition of missing topics/needs

SRIA at European level

• Based on the analysis of the identified common needs/topics of the

different food categories, a general SRIA for traditional foods at

European level will be developed

• This SRIA will be communicated to European Commission and policy

decision makers at European level to influence future research-funding

programs in Europe.

What does TRAFOON offer?

Website Training Workshops, Webinars,

News & Events

www.trafoon.eu @TrafoonProject

What does TRAFOON offer?

Information Shop

• provides information about innovations

in production and marketing of traditional

food, using regional raw materials

• fosters entrepreneurship in the sector of

traditional food producers and researchers

• develops strategic research and

innovation agendas for the traditional

food sectors to be competitive on future

markets

www.trafoon.org

Contact

Contact:

University of Hohenheim

Susanne Braun:

Susanne.Braun@uni-hohenheim.de

Tel.: + 49 (0) 711 459 24026

Any questions, comments?