EXCEL4MED is an ambitious project that aims to establish an Excellence Hub in Mediterranean fruit supply chains.
EXCEL4MED will create ecosystems that will generate high-quality new knowledge which will strengthen the skills, training, experience, education, knowledge, know-how, and competencies to reach excellence in the R&I systems of Malta and Greece. The final aim will be to diminish the disparities across the whole European Union in terms of research and innovation performance. This project will focus on the needs of the small-scale producers, processors, stakeholders, policymakers but will also consider the wider context of the fruit supply chain by involving new talent and high-level professionals in granting success as well as knowledge and expertise.
Conceptual design and pre-planning for pilots and demonstrators of electrochemical and sonochemical technologies in the food industry will be presented. EXCEL4MED will aim at creating proof of concepts and scale-up validation assessments for the pomegranate and citrus food chain. This will be achieved by consolidating academic business linkages and providing evidence for strategy building and investment.
Additionally, accompanying measures will be implemented by raising the visibility of the EXCEL4MED, and by engaging citizens in demonstrations and tasting events. The aim will be to organize workshops and involve stakeholders, academia and business to ensure immediate technology transfer. At the same time researchers and business staff will be involved in entrepreneurship training that will be organized by members of the consortium. The aim will be to support the development of the food industry addressing current needs on sustainability, resilient food supply chain under climate change and pandemic crisis.
Finally, EXCEL4MED will aim to foster the diffusion of knowledge and Open Science. It will develop a common platform for collaboration and best practice sharing across borders, facilitate cross-fertilization and smart directionality among ecosystem actors to achieve transformative changes and advance Europe together.
O1: To develop excellent and sustainable place-based process innovation ecosystems in Malta and Greece that contribute to the production of added-value food products and reduce waste along the food chain
EXCEL4MED will create ecosystems that will generate high-quality new knowledge which will strengthen the skills, training, experience, education, knowledge, know-how, and competencies to reach excellence in the R&I systems of Malta and Greece. The final aim will be to diminish the disparities across the whole European Union in terms of research and innovation performance. This project will focus on the needs of the small-scale producers, processors, stakeholders, policymakers but will also consider the wider context of the fruit supply chain by involving new talent and high-level professionals in granting success as well as knowledge and expertise.
O2: To create joint R&I strategies in teaming and developing concrete action plans and common investment plans for R&I in the area of food processing
EXCEL4MED will create ecosystems that will generate high-quality new knowledge which will strengthen the skills, training, experience, education, knowledge, know-how, and competencies to reach excellence in the R&I systems of Malta and Greece. The final aim will be to diminish the disparities across the whole European Union in terms of research and innovation performance. This project will focus on the needs of the small-scale producers, processors, stakeholders, policymakers but will also consider the wider context of the fruit supply chain by involving new talent and high-level professionals in granting success as well as knowledge and expertise.
O3: To create R&I pilot projects demonstrating food processing and valorization activities that reach a TRL 7
Conceptual design and pre-planning for pilots and demonstrators of electrochemical and sonochemical technologies in the food industry will be presented. EXCEL4MED will aim at creating proof of concepts and scale-up validation assessments for the pomegranate and citrus food chain. This will be achieved by consolidating academic business linkages and providing evidence for strategy building and investment. Overall, EXCEL4MED will foster innovation excellence in place based on innovation ecosystems and improve science business linkages, and regional widening dimension.
O4: To create new business opportunities especially for SMEs in the area of waste processing, and the production of functional foods.
EXCEL4MED aims at developing action and investment plans that will include activities such as market research, estimation of cost and revenue, financial, economic and welfare assessment, and risk profile analysis. Additionally, the identification of the venture capital and the creation of consortia to attract projects related to teaming will be among the main priorities.
O5: To achieve improved knowledge transfer and development of entrepreneurial skills while up-taking innovative green technologies in the area of food processing valorization
Accompanying measures will be implemented by raising the visibility of the EXCEL4MED, and by engaging citizens in demonstrations and tasting events. The aim will be to organize workshops and involve stakeholders, academia and business to ensure immediate technology transfer. At the same time researchers and business staff will be involved in entrepreneurship training that will be organized by members of the consortium. The aim will be to support the development of the food industry addressing current needs on sustainability, resilient food supply chain under climate change and pandemic crisis.
O6: To develop new competencies and skills for researchers, entrepreneurs and professionals in R&I domains of food science and creation of poles of attraction for talents in Greece and Malta
EXCEL4MED aims to strengthen human capital in R&I. This will include skills, training, experience, education, knowledge, know-how, and competencies to reach excellence in R&I systems of the widening countries of Malta and Greece and diminishing the disparities across the whole European Union in terms of research and innovation performance. This project will play a key role in strengthening human capital by directly contributing to scientific impacts such as research excellence, profile and attractiveness of research institutions.
O7: To raise public and scientific awareness by providing effective dissemination and exploitation of project’s outcomes through scientific events open to all parties/stakeholders including industrial/commercial user groups.
EXCEL4MED will aim to foster the diffusion of knowledge and Open Science. It will develop a common platform for collaboration and best practice sharing across borders, sectors and disciplines on knowledge production, circulation and use, and facilitate cross-fertilisation and smart directionality among ecosystem actors to achieve transformative changes and advance Europe together.
