Concept
The basic concept behind the Food Cluster initiative is to connect the new FP7 food projects with the Food Innovation Network Europe (FINE) to set up a European Food Cluster.
FINE is a network of regional research driven food clusters (comprising interacting science, industry and government components) sharing a vision of connecting to each other. The objectives of the partnering FP7 projects range from setting up new research infrastructures, connecting companies and other research organisations to these, to developing new cluster organisations with the help of other regions as well as entirely new research projects.
In relation to these new projects there is indeed a case for thinking both about clustering regionally in terms of development aims and for clustering scientifically on the basis of derived impact objectives. The Food Innovation Network Europe (FINE) is an emerging network of strong food regions gathered together with the ambition of increased RTD investments through activation of stakeholders and development of regional strategies and the development
of strategic interregional collaborative projects.
The development of the FINE network was funded through 'Regions of Knowledge 2' between 2005 and 2007.
All FINE-regions have common regional characteristics.
- A food sector playing an important role in the regional economy;
- The presence of a strong agricultural sector and other specialized suppliers of the food industry;
- A high level of food-related knowledge in the region;
- The presence of public support for the food industry; and
- Local networks linking the different actors together.
FINE has been identified as the prototype network for starting the Food Cluster Initiative since it is seen as a successful example of building an interregional network of clusters.
In 2007, the Food Cluster has been launched with the ambition of involving different EU funded research projects within an exchange of knowledge and experiences, learning about each other's strengths and weaknesses, defining regional strategies and investing in the strengths through integral use of national and regional funding (Research Framework Programmes Structural Funds, Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme, etc.) as a basis for establishing EU consortia in food science – in fact building the ERA in Food.
