ERA-Net Cofund on Sustainable Food production and consumption (SUSFOOD2)

Project Information

SUSFOOD2

Grant agreement ID: 727473

DOI

10.3030/727473

Project closed

EC signature date 11 October 2016

Start date 1 January 2017

End date 30 June 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy

Total cost

€ 14 269 217,00

EU contribution

€ 4 708 841,61

Coordinated by

FORSCHUNGSZENTRUM JULICH GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SUSFOOD2 (ERA-Net Cofund on Sustainable Food production and consumption (SUSFOOD2))

Reporting period: 2018-02-01 to 2022-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The aim of SUSFOOD2 Cofund is to foster research and innovation in the field of sustainable food systems through enhanced cooperation and coordination between EU member and associated states. It is thereby contributing to the overall EU objective of building the European Research Area as well as a newly emerging Food Research Area.
Major challenges will influence future food chains asking for innovative solutions to
- respond to increased demand for food by increasing production sustainably (Food and Nutrition Security)
- make optimal use of resources while mitigating impact on the environment
- reduce losses and waste, following a whole food chain approach from production to consumption
- improve competitiveness of the European agri-food-business

SUSFOOD2 focusses on sustainability in post-harvest food production, covering relevant fields from natural sciences to food engineering and social sciences. Building on the achievements of its predecessor in FP7, SUSFOOD2 strengthened efforts to support and fund excellent research in the food area. Therefore, the consortium pursued a three-fold approach:
i. funding activities for maximum support of the research community,
ii. strategic work, creating impact and interaction with other initiatives following the SUSFOOD2 objectives
iii. strengthen networking and knowledge transfer among various stakeholders (i.e. by workshops, stakeholder events and trainings etc.).

With the outlined approach, SUSFOOD2 contributed to the following overall objectives:
- maximizing impact of transnational cooperation, pooling resources (material and intellectual) and implementing best practices
- using synergies and reducing overlap by interacting and aligning with related (international) initiatives
- promoting the outputs of SUSFOOD2 network and funded projects via targeted dissemination
- sharing a common vision and creating awareness for the field of food sustainability.

SUSFOOD has worked for 10 years (5.5 years under H2020) on programming and aligning of national, EU and international R&I strategies and funded research with impact on sustainable food systems.
The scope from production to consumption (beyond primary production) is of high relevance and needs more political attention in the future. In SUSFOOD2, partners from 15 countries have worked together to maximise the contribution of research, to increase impact, to pool resources and to avoid duplication. Also in the future, there is a need to support excellent research with effective and efficient funding practices, to put emphasis on stakeholder engagement, to involve industry more inclusively and to improve the science-policy interface. We have invested largely in networking and connecting people: the ERA-Net partners, the funding bodies in joint calls, the research community and the stakeholders. Knowledge transfer, capacity building and dissemination and exploitation are key and SUSFOOD2 has put up a number of activities in this regard.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the project runtime of 5.5 years, SUSFOOD2 has continuously worked towards its objectives. By the time of the official start in January 2017, the co-funded call was ready to be launched and the website was updated. The co-funded call was implemented successfully with the help of all partners, funding 12 transnational projects with 11.4 Mio Euro total funding. The projects were continuously monitored including regular updates, mid- and final reports and 3 seminars were held with the aim to share knowledge, to interact and network. SUSFOOD2 successfully implemented a variety of additional activities within the project´s runtime: two additional funding activities in collaboration with other ERA-Net Cofunds, leading to 17 transnational research projects being funded and followed-up. A number of 4 strategic workshops fed into two strategic reports, two implementation plans, the impact assessment on network level and a policy brief. Visibility, networking and international outreach were brought forward performing a variety of activities from mapping exercises to workshops and trainings. Overall, exploitation and dissemination activities were performed at network and funded project level and include: information and communication materials (branded communication toolkit, bookmarks, brochures and factsheets, postcards, e-book), various communication channels (website, social media, newsletter, publications and policy brief) as well as events and presentations (research project seminars, stakeholder workshops, capacity building and trainings, e.g. on communication for impact, on RRI, on valorization).
Moreover, the SUSFOOD2 network is well established and continuation of the collaboration using the best-practices and lessons learned is envisaged via the active involvement in the preparation of the future Partnership on Sustainable Food Systems, as well as the Green-ERA-Hub project.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

SUSFOOD2 is an excellent network with many positive interactions among its members and beyond. It puts sustainable food systems on the agenda, with clear examples of relevant scientific themes, and thus managed to fill gaps in national and international research programmes. It creates added value for the national research programmes with good collaboration and interest of the researchers. SUSFOOD has supported projects on resource efficiency and valorization, consumer behaviour, sustainable and diverse food systems and processing technologies, focusing on the involvement of companies from the food industry. In general, SUSFOOD2 established broad cooperation networks to foster research and interaction among the research community.
SUSFOOD2 promoted knowledge generation and innovation by stimulating cutting-edge research projects in the field of sustainable food production and consumption. Knowledge generation was complemented by knowledge transfer to strengthen both European excellence and competitiveness. This was achieved through various dissemination and exploitation activities for different target groups. Stakeholders were informed and basic knowledge was provided to a wider audience increasing awareness.
The key to successful cooperation was the pooling of resources such as complementary expertise, knowledge, skills, equipment and facilities but also funding. Via the two joint calls eight countries were reached that did not take part in SUSFOOD2 before. The impact of the two joint calls was thus the broadening of the SUSFOOD2 network, also beyond Europe.
Complementarity between teams and valorisation of the differences on country and regional levels, which are seen as opportunities to learn from each other, are the most common added value of transnational projects. Thanks to well-organised project structures, frequent communication and an open exchange within the consortia, many best practices were applied.
Future policy needs were identified such as a growing need for attention towards the scope of SUFOOD (from production to consumption, beyond primary production).
The qualitative and quantitative evaluations carried out during SUSFOOD2 confirm the importance for finding solution-oriented innovations and for promoting applied research in areas that are not always covered by national funding. Significant and positive impacts in terms of scientific outputs have been confirmed, as well as its ability to enhance international cooperation, coordination of efforts and the EU's leading role in sustainable food systems research.

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