In South Ostrobothnia, the Action Plan process is in final stage, and received positive feedback from the stakeholder group
In Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences (SeAMK) from South Ostrobothnia, Finland, the Action Plan process of Regions4Food is in final stage. The final draft of the Action Plan was sent for regional evaluation for the stakeholder group in April and presented and discussed in the 6th stakeholder group meeting 3rd of May.
The feedback was very positive, as the stakeholders saw, that the actions correspond to the regional needs and are concrete and realizable. It was also brought out that these actions are expected to spawn further projects and development to agri-food sector digitalisation and support the regional R&D as they progress.
Interregional learning process had been fruitful and implementing the Good Practices of the Regions4Food partners is visible in the Action Plan. The actions are implemented by 5 regional R&D organisations in close cooperation with the quadruple helix network of the food sector and ICT. The main themes of the Action Plan are Developing the regional agri-food cluster, Education and knowhow and Developing utilisation of data in the food value chain.
There were several Good Practices in the project to inspire and implement in these - rather interregional - themes.
The project partner, Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, is not the regional authority but an active and important R&D actor in the regional development, working in close cooperation with the managing authorities. So it was also great that the representatives of managing authorities of both policy instruments addressed in the project (ERDF & EAFRD) have been actively involved in the stakeholder group and were satisfied with the content.
The content of South Ostrobothnia’s Action Plan is:
- ACTION 1 Developing the regional agri-food cluster
- ACTION 1.1 Food Technology Knowledge and Competence Centre
- ACTION 1.2 Food Province 2030
- ACTION 2 DigiFarmi-project: Education for farmers in digitalisation and new technologies
- ACTION 3 Developing utilisation of data in the food value chain
- ACTION 3.1 Establishing Regional Data-Cooperative for farmers
- ACTION 3.2 Combining data to reduce surplus food: PAJATSO
Beyond the Action Plan process, the interregional learning can also lead to further activities, that are not directly targeting the policy instrument, but in other ways answer to the regional needs. The Good Practices considering education and knowhow have been also inspiring a new educational action to be launched in SeAMK in 2022: Bachelor Degree Programme in Engineering: Agri-food Engineering.
Please read more here.
The dissemination event of the Action Plan will be organized in autumn due to schedule of finalizing the Action Plan, and in hope to be able to organize a live or hybrid event to celebrate the regional and interregional cooperation.
