NICHE Action plan launch event was held 9th of March 2018 in Seinäjoki. NICHE project partner, Regional Council of South Ostrobothnia, together with the Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences introduced the action plan for innovative food value chain in the region. Altogether around 40 persons attended the launch event.
Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, School of Food and Agriculture, worked as an external expert for the regional council in order to successfully create the action plan.
The process of NICHE Action Plan was carried out in five stages: interviewing local enterprises through the food value chain, arranging two workshops, comparing the Good Practices of NICHE project partners to the needs of the region, inviting implementing actors and drafting the actions with the interested partners. The draft was analyzed and commented by the stakeholder group. In the final phase, key organisations were contacted again to ensure their knowledge of the Action Plan and to invite them to participate.
In the process, clear themes came out. Those were tightening of cooperation, branding the region, and emphasizing the knowhow in food safety. In all, the Action Plan pursues togetherness and cooperation of the food value chain in the region, utilizing the existing cluster, and this way improving innovativeness in the food value chain.
