Opening a window on Innovation: reaching out across Italian regions

The ‘Window on Innovation’ is an interactive portal on the ItalianAgriregionieuropa website that gives information on regional and Europeanpolicy developments and on opportunities offered by the European InnovationPartnership (EIP-AGRI). Its first editions sparked a great interest in Italy,especially because all information on the website is published both in Italianand in English. Franco and Valentina were happy to explain this concept to us

Insetti per l’alimentazione umana: barriere e drivers per l’accettazione da parte dei consumatori

As the overall demand for food increases, there is an urgent need of sustainable proteins. To what extent European consumers are willing to accept innovative ingredients in their diet is the main research question we address. Interviews are conducted on a sample of 45 Italian consumers and results are analysed through the laddering method with the aim to understand how consumers express their personal values. The paper intends to contribute to the ongoing debate on global food security addressing potential drivers of, and barriers to, Western consumer acceptance of insects-based ingredients in the food supply chain. Results show that a combination of socio-cultural barriers and fear is assumed to contribute to the lower acceptability of insects-as-food in Western societies

Innovation in agro-food supply chains – The EU policy context

This report provides insights into the definition of innovation and specifically how policies affect knowledge creation and innovation in agro-food supply chains (D9.1a, objective 1), considering innovation as a key determinant for competitiveness. The innovation system – rather than the linear model of innovation – will be central to our discussion. The first part of the report focuses on innovation systems. It discusses basic definitions of innovation, the relationship between innovation and competitiveness and the measurement of innovation. These three topics are discussed both in general terms and with specific reference to the agr0-food sector. Next, the report provides a conceptual framework based on the National Innovation Systems approach with reference to the agro-food sector. The second part of the report focuses on the role of policies and provides insights into the main policies set at the European level that affect research and innovation in the agro-food domain