European Technology Platform Food for Life: Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda

The European food industry faces many demanding challenges if it is to maintain its competitiveness and stop the current decline in its market share. To do this it must address some key research questions that will enhance its competitiveness and lead to greater innovation within a fragmented industry of close to 400,000 enterprises, many of them small and medium sized enterprises. Without doubt it will require a complex range of new technologies if it is to meet the society driven demands for healthy, safe, sustainably produced foods that are convenient, perhaps individual, promote healthy aging and are perceived as natural. If scientists are to succeed in enhancing European competitiveness, there will be a need to have food items tailor-made for Europe that respect sustainability, that are functionally enhanced, that reduce waste, water use and packaging and, in all probability, show a shift from meat to plant based protein sources. These future research needs as defined by the European food industry through the European Technology Platform Food for Life, are outlined under the headings: o Health, well-being and longevity; o Safe foods the consumer can trust; o Sustainable and ethical production; o Food processing, quality and packaging; o Food and consumers; o Food chain management; o Communication, training and technology transfer. How these themes fit with the published goals of the European Commission and its Horizons 2020 programme are also outlined. The speaker Prof. Brian McKenna is Emeritus Professor of Food Science, UCD - University College Dublin, Ireland. He was  president of EFFoST from 2005-2007 andfrom  2009-2010. Currently he is Scientific Co-ordinator of the ETP Food for Life, President of the Institute of Food Science & Technology of Ireland, Scientific Committee member of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and Board Chairman of the National Virus Reference Laboratory of Ireland.Webinar fee: EUR 30.- per participant. Please mind that in this case credit card payment is mandatory. After your registration you will receive via e-mail an invoice. As soon as the credit card payment is done, you will receive the link to join the webinar.For all ISEKI Food Association (IFA) members the webinar fee is waived but not for ISEKI_Food 4 Project partners.If you have any questions or doubts, please contact: office [AT] iseki-food [dot] netThe full presentation and the recording of the session can only be accessed by IFA-members. Non IFA-members can ask for access against a small handling fee of 30 € at office [AT] iseki-food [dot] net