DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF
AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH
AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH
The excellence hub EXCEL4MED is an initiative to strengthen Mediterranean innovation excellence in innovation ecosystems focusing on the production of nutritious food products and the valorization of food industrial side-streams. It is a cross-border collaboration between Greece, Malta and France on a common strategy on strengthening the Mediterranean food added-value chains. EXCEL4MED innovation ecosystems will be interconnected with umbrella company organizations, research institutions, governmental bodies and societal actors that will be mutually reinforcing each other in a Mediterranean context and together will raise the level of innovation excellence in their regional fabric. Within EXCEL4MED novel products will be developed such as fresh orange juices with reduced sugars, fruit smoothies and dairy products enriched with oil form pomegranate seeds and bioactive compounds from orange peel residues. The main targets of the project are summarized below:
· Establish a perceptual map of consumer behaviours, purchasing habits and food losses/waste
· Identify bottlenecks for innovation diffusion within the value chains
· Provide stakeholders with tailored and innovative Living Labs as a base of an interactive, participative and open Ecosystem of Innovation for improved organisational models and value chain governance
· Identify limitations and opportunities of existing business models in the Mediterranean supply chains
· Propose novel strategies for the green extraction of pomegranate and citrus and their by-products
· Establish green technologies for juice sugar breakdown conversion
· Produce novel added-value food products
· Carry out commercialization and feasibility analysis to identify whether there is a market for the technology itself, or for other technologies, products and services that might be derived from it
· Assess the potentially relevant needs, characterized by customer segments and geographical location
· Assess the ease of access to the potential market, focusing on the intensity of competition, regulatory and tax barriers, and customer readiness
Recommendations for improved policy instruments to promote the green technologies in the Mediterranean food chain will be developed.
Website: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101087147
Information: Dr. Georgios Katsaros, email: gkatsaros@elgo.gr