Study visit to Castilla y León within the framework of the STRING project piloted at the regional level by ICE and VITARTIS
The STRING project (Strategies for Regional INnovative Food Clusters), funded by the Interreg Europe program, aims to improve the innovation capacity of agri-food industry companies, a key sector in each of the participating regions: Noord Brabant (Netherlands) ), Central Denmark (Denmark), Alsace (France), North Plain Hungary (Hungary), Cosvana County (Romania), Emilia Romagna (Italy) and Castilla y León, represented by ICE and by the regional agro-food cluster VITARTIS.
The objective of STRING is to create an agro-innovation ecosystem, using the agrifood sector clusters as facilitators and dynamic elements of these companies, whose traditional profile is sometimes a barrier to be able to innovate.
The STRING project began in early 2017 and lasts for 54 months. During this time, the participating regions have identified good practices on innovation programs and policies applied to the agri-food sector carried out in each of them, selecting those that are most relevant and potentially capable of being reproduced elsewhere.
The best practice selected in the case of Castilla y León has been the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Network of Castilla y León, developed by ICE in collaboration with more than 100 regional entities, including the regional agro-food cluster, VITARTIS.
In this framework, each participating region, together with the main representatives of the regional agri-food sector (stakeholders): public administrations of the agro, economy and education sectors, as well as business associations, clusters, technology centers and / or companies, have visited Castilla y León in order to know the Network of Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Castilla y León.
More than 40 people from the different participating regions visited during three intense days (6, 7 and 8 February 2018) some of the entities that collaborate with ICE and VITARTIS in the network, knowing first hand the work methodology that the Network proposes, according to the philosophy of the project around the creation of an innovative ecosystem.
More information on the project website: www.interregeurope.eu/string/
