South Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency, partner of the Regions 4Food Interreg Europe project organised its 4th stakeholder meeting on 27 May 2020 Wednesday afternoon in between 14:00-15:00 hours p.m., using the online communication channel of the GoToMeeting application. Key actors being present on the meeting were the Kaposvár University, with its lecturers and researchers, and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics was represented by the head of its Industry 4.0 Technological Centre. Together with the head of department of the Managing Authority of the Economic Development and Innovation Operational Programme (EDIOP) representing the Ministry of Finance, the number of participants accounted to 11 people.
The event started with the introduction of the project, coupled with the content-wise presentations of further Hungarian development strategies complementing EDIOP in terms of supporting the agri-food digitisation.
The following strategies were introduced to the audience:
- Digital Agrarian Strategy of Hungary,
- Strategy for the modernization of the Hungarian food industry using Industry 4.0 and digitalization,
- National Smart Specialisation Strategy.
As the next part of the stakeholder meeting, commencing with showcasing some relevant interregional Regional 4Food Good Practices, the introduction of the four Hungarian actions of the project took place. The Agency especially along these four directions proposes the influencing of the EDIOP, also the impacting of the above three strategies in case that proves to be relevant.
The four actions are:
- capacity building of agrarian start-up enterprises,
- fostering the cooperation of agri-food actors,
- supporting agri-food sector by encouraging digital technologies,
- meeting of digital natives and traditions in rural areas.
Taking into consideration the fact that the most important agri-food research base, Kaposvár University has not been consulted on the above four actions, the Agency received meaningful, South Transdanubian specific comments from university lecturers and researchers being present. Similarly, from the EDIOP Managing Authority important hints as regards especially the calls for proposals were received. The Agency, by building the obtained feedbacks and opinions, continues to deliver its action planning activities. The Action Plan document will be elaborated by May 2021, i.e. the end of Phase 1 of the project.
The Regions 4Food project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and Hungary.
