FOOD2020 enters second project phase

FOOD2020 enters second project phase

At its April meeting in Assen, the steering committee of the INTERREG V A funding programme gave the go-ahead for the second phase of the FOOD2020 project. GIQS has been one of FOOD2020‘s regional partners for two and a half years and will continue to be responsible for the North Rhine-Westphalian INTERREG region in the coming years.

It was on Friday the 13th that the decision was taken to extend the FOOD2020 project. For FOOD2020 and five other German-Dutch cooperation projects, however, it was anything but an unlucky day. Thus, the seven regional FOOD2020 partners under the leadership of the lead partner German Institute of Food Technology e.V. (DIL) will be able to look forward to another project phase with a total budget of 4.4 million euros.

In the second phase of FOOD2020 there will be a complex of social and societal challenges. The focus will be on the areas of “food security”, “sustainable food”, “food safety”, “healthy food” and “social innovation”, for which innovation projects and accompanying measures for further education and training will take place. Phase II will also introduce a new measure in the form of think tanks: In small groups of specialists, solutions to current and future challenges on specific topics will be worked out in several sessions.

The kick-off meeting for the second project phase will take place on 26 September 2018 at 2 p.m. at the lead partner DIL. The successful results of Phase I as well as the planned topics and project objectives of Phase II will be presented at the event in Quakenbrück. The project team is pleased that the German Ambassador to the Netherlands, Dirk Brengelmann, will attend the event.

FOOD2020 is implemented within the INTERREG programme Deutschland-Nederland and is co-financed by the European Union, the Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Innovation, Digitalisierung und Energie of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Ministerium für Bundes- und Europaangelegenheiten und Regionale Entwicklung of Lower Saxony, the Dutch Ministerie van Economische Zaken en Klimaat and the provinces of Drenthe, Fryslân, Gelderland, Groningen, Limburg, Noord-Brabant and Overijssel. It is supported by the programme management of the Ems Dollart Region. Lead partner is the Deutsches Institut für Lebensmitteltechnik e.V. in Quakenbrück.

Further information can be found in our project description and on the project website.