 | | | ETP - EUROPEAN TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM
“FOOD FOR LIFE” (F4L)
The ETP Food for Life Vision for 2020 and beyond was launched on in Brussels on 5 July 2005. The next stage will be the development of a Strategic Research Agenda affording a dynamic strategy for achieving this vision and meeting the challenge, and a detailed Implementation Plan that describes the research, training, education and dissemination requirements needed to fulfil the vision and strategy.
What is a Strategic Research Agenda?
The Strategic Research Agenda describes what science questions need to be answered to accomplish the vision, and will define themes and priorities for future research. It will contain technology roadmaps for those thematic areas aimed at providing ‘fertile ground’ for subsequent commercial development and exploitation in Europe. The Strategic Research Agenda must be available by the end of February 2007.
What is an Implementation Plan?
The Implementation Plan will define how the research topics, as identified in the Strategic Research Agenda, are to be implemented and how the innovation framework conditions in Europe need to be altered to enable or accelerate innovation to directly promote the competitiveness of the EU food industry and optimise the benefits for all stakeholders. The immediate focus is defining priorities for the Commission’s Framework Programme 7, but the focus is also on the longer term and on national initiatives.
Time plan
2005: meeting Working Group Teams (WGT)
- 27 and 28 November, Amsterdam: WGTs on Food and Consumer, Food Safety, Sustainable Food Production, Food Chain Management, Communication, Training and Technology Transfer, and Horizontal Activities to discuss a first draft SRA
- 4 and 5 December, Amsterdam: WGTs on Food and Health and Food Quality and Manufacturing to discuss a first draft SRA
January – March 2006: draft SRA for discussion with experts
- Week No. 1 or 2, January: Board meeting
- Week No. 2, January: follow-up meeting WGTs
- Week No. 4, January: SRA draft 1 ready for discussion and web consultation
- Week No. 6, February: Expert Meeting (open meeting – workshops to discuss the SRA per theme)
- Week No. 7, February: SRA draft 2
March 2006: submission of SRA to EC
March - December 2006: towards the final SRA and IP
Following various other activities, workshops and discussion meetings, the final SRA and IP will be ready by the end of 2006.
Vision of the European Technology Platform on Food for Life
An effective integration of strategically-focussed, trans-national, concerted research in the nutritional-, food- and consumer sciences and food chain management will deliver innovative, novel and improved food products for, and to, national, regional and global markets in line with consumer needs and expectations. These products, together with recommended changes in dietary regimes and lifestyles, will have a positive impact on public health and overall quality of life (‘adding life to years’). Such targeted activities will support a successful and competitive pan-European agro-food industry having global business leadership securely based on economic growth, technology transfer, sustainable food production and consumer confidence. |
Information, further reading
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