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Food industry roundtable-discussion
Published on 02 July 2018
Hungary
Dél-Alföld
This is the good practice's implementation level. It can be national, regional or local.
About this good practice
The aim of Debrecen’s management is to create a supporting business environment in which the local enterprises can „feel comfortable” & become more successful. During personal consultations, EDC Debrecen (Urban and Economic Development Centre in Debrecen) experienced problems with representatives of food sector which can happen often in this industry. However, there were no initiatives that would enable these businesses to raise their questions to the Local Government. So, EDC Debrecen gathered the problems and passed them to the municipality of Debrecen. Then, the Municipality evaluated the actual situation & found solutions also by using knowledge gathered through the STRING project. These decisions that Municipality made had positive impact on managers of food industry firms.
The managers of these companies cannot easily cooperate and they see each other mainly as competitors. So, the goal of EDC Debrecen is to gather managers and make them understand that they have shared problems which, with the help of EDC, could be presented to the Municipality. Consequently, this process also enables Municipality to learn a lot about the issues these companies are facing. The routable discussions are organized minimally 4 times a year, they last for 2-3 hours during 1 day & take place in the building of EDC Debrecen Nonprofit Kft. Actors involved are: EDC Debrecen, Companies of Food industry, Business Development Department of EDC Debrecen & Municipality of Debrecen.
The managers of these companies cannot easily cooperate and they see each other mainly as competitors. So, the goal of EDC Debrecen is to gather managers and make them understand that they have shared problems which, with the help of EDC, could be presented to the Municipality. Consequently, this process also enables Municipality to learn a lot about the issues these companies are facing. The routable discussions are organized minimally 4 times a year, they last for 2-3 hours during 1 day & take place in the building of EDC Debrecen Nonprofit Kft. Actors involved are: EDC Debrecen, Companies of Food industry, Business Development Department of EDC Debrecen & Municipality of Debrecen.
Resources needed
The EDC Debrecen is a municipal firm and these discussions are always organized in their own premises. Thus, the venue is free and no rental fees are paid. EDC Debrecen pays only for the preparation of this meeting. However, since it is a soft event, the total funding needed is minimal.
Evidence of success
On one of the first roundtable meetings, EDC Debrecen and the companies discussed the education problems in the food industry. The conclusion was that there is a need for a new dual training system for the secondary and vocational school students. As an outcome of this meeting, the decision was made that The Vocational Training Center of Debrecen will start a new education system in Sept 2019 with two different faculties (cook, confectioner).
Potential for learning or transfer
During these roundtable meetings, the managers, EDC Debrecen and the municipality had to change their habits and attitude since their stakeholders had to cooperate with each other. The key elements of this practice can be transferred to other European regions. This Triple helix model has a lot of potential since local governments need information from the companies operating in their area. In our region, we found that the round table discussions were very successful in this respect and it is something that other regions could do as well. Moreover, these meetings help all sides of the triple helix and enable them to learn from each other. Knowing about each other’s need and problems makes local government, companies, Universities, clusters etc. cooperate more easily. By using this model, other regions could benefit from improved cooperation as long as all stakeholders keep an open mind and do not perceive others only as competitors.
Further information
Website
Good practice owner
Organisation
Municipality of Debrecen
Hungary
Dél-Alföld
Contact
Policy advisor agrofood