A Regions 4Food Interreg Europe project held its online Interregional Seminar event on 30 November 2020, where all partners, including the DDRIÜ South Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency Nonprofit Ltd. and was represented. One of the aims of the seminar was to publish final strategic recommendations regarding European policies. The second draft of this document has recently been completed, which is summarised below.
According to the partners of the Regions 4Food project:
- Digital technologies are evolving faster than the rules that go with them, so a policy mix could be a suitable approach to address this concern.
- European regions need European policy measures that ensure their support for the agri-food value chain.
- Promoting digitalisation by streamlining processes or through mandatory regulations can be useful for accelerating digital transformation processes along the value chain. To maintain competitiveness, it is important to find ways to streamline processes for ICT companies.
- Improving collaboration, digital infrastructure and open data is alongside awareness-raising actions and public action as a strategic area.
- Developing the digital economy of European regions across all sectors would bring significant economic benefits, primarily thanks to the resulting increase in productivity.
These five points align with the following messages:
- Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
- Digital timetable
- Horizon Europe programme
Based on the exchange of experience between decision-makers and experts in innovation and digitalisation of the agri-food value chain, the partners of the Regions 4Food project recommend the following:
- Establishing legal frameworks for data management, analysis and sharing: multiple public open data platforms and interoperability.
- Creation of innovation ecosystems, as well as the coordination and consolidation of existing structures, which promotes collaboration among all stakeholders in order to boost digitalisation processes within the food value chain.
- Increasing public and private investment to promote the digital transformation process.
- Support for technological solutions and specialised hardware and software in the agri-food sector by ICT companies, as well as the development of digital infrastructure across Europe.
- Development of multidisciplinary training and the creation of a new professional profile connected to innovation.
- Increasing awareness and communication.
- To create opportunities for the co-design / co-development of initiatives, programmes and technological solutions in the agri-food sector.
During the 6th semester, the Regions 4Food project partners will discuss the results of the preliminary conclusions with stakeholders, which were obtained at the interregional seminar held online on 30 November 2020. The aim is to validate these recommendations or use new input based on them. At the seminar planned for May or November 2021, the project partners, together with experts in innovation and digitalisation of the agri-food value chain, will discuss and then agree on the joint strategic recommendations. The final document will be presented in phase 2.
The Regions 4Food project is being implemented with co-financing from the European Regional Development Fund and the Hungarian State.