Food RADARS

Why this project?

The food industry is a pillar of the local economy and one of the largest employers in the Franco-Belgian region. Uncertainties such as energy prices, raw materials, legal requirements around safety, waste, packaging, greenhouse gas emissions and digitalisation are playing an increasingly important role. This creates complexity in business operations and calls for a flexible development process to cope with all these changes.

Nevertheless, agri-food companies invest relatively small amounts in innovation and research & development. It is therefore important to establish a culture of innovation that responds to today’s reality while also looking ahead to the future. Innovation should not be limited to the production process, but should also consider logistics and communication tools.

Research approach and expected results resultaten

The Food RADARS (Reinforcement Actions to Develop Agrofood-Ecosystem Resilience and Sustainability) project aims to strengthen the competitiveness of agri-food companies in the Franco-Belgian border region by:

1. strengthening innovation capacity in order to anticipate and manage risks,
2. promoting a more sustainable and efficient food chain through three pilot actions focused on local raw materials, packaging and logistics, and
3. strengthening sales by accessing cross-border markets and offering sales training. 

The first component focuses on innovation through: (i) increasing knowledge via company visits and visits to pilot and test infrastructures, (ii) identifying opportunities and obstacles using innovation scans, (iii) setting up a learning network around innovation themes, (iv) providing access to expertise through masterclasses and (v) organising co-creation sessions to find innovative solutions.

The second component will set up pilot actions around: (i) local and sustainable raw materials, (ii) sustainable and cost-efficient packaging solutions and (iii) making transport more efficient at interregional level.

The third and final component will support: (i) a better understanding of customer needs through training and round-table discussions, (ii) inspiration through visits to innovative points of sale and (iii) participation in and visits to interregional trade fairs and B2B meetings

Target group

Food RADARS brings together a chain of Flemish, Walloon and northern French companies: from processing farmers to small and medium-sized food companies and large industrial factories.

Project partners

Flanders' FOOD participates in the component that aims to strengthen companies’ innovation capacity. To this end, companies of different sizes and from different sectors and regions are brought together, and we provide support with:

• raising awareness of the need for innovation,
• addressing scientific, technical and regulatory obstacles while taking specific regional characteristics into account,
• exploring new sustainable solutions and helping companies integrate them quickly into their products and processes.

The other project partners are:

• Hainaut Développement Gestion – project lead
• POM West-Vlaanderen
• Wagralim
• Inagro
• Eurasanté
• CCI Marne Ardennes (CCI = Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie)
• Chambre d’Agriculture Nord-Pas de Calais Eurasanté
• AKT CCI Luxembourg Belge