The FoodWal Scientific Day took place on 7 October. This day gave our researchers the opportunity to present their results in the form of talks as well as posters👩🔬 The following day, the scientific committee, including 4 external scientific experts, met to discuss the progress of the portfolio. Thank you all for your involvement and to our experts Juliane Calvez, Claire Gaudichon, Siegfried Vlaeminck and John Van Camp for their constructive comments 💪 Looking forward to another successful year of research 🔬!
Once again, the FoodWal coordination team had the opportunity to take part in the NutrEvent meeting. This year, it was held in Lille and we had the opportunity to listen to some very interesting talks and meet all kinds of players in the food innovation sector. We were also able to answer various questions on the Walloon S3 strategic plan with our colleagues from the FoodBooster IIS and Protewin IIS.
In May, we had the opportunity to attend 2 consecutive events in Geneva: the Future of Nutrition summit and the Vitafoods Europe trade fair. Healthy food is more in vogue than ever before, but supplements are making their way onto the global market. This trade show was an opportunity to consolidate our links with certain partners, but also to meet new ones.
The FoodWal portfolio was present at the Wallonia S3 Forward event organised by Wagralim!
Under the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, we were able to find out more about Wallonia’s Strategic Innovation Initiatives and initiate some promising collaborations. We were also able to help set up a joint workshop between the IIS FoodBooster and the IIS Protewin!
In February, FoodWal was at the Moulins de Beez for a Business Club dedicated to the agri-food sector. The evening was organised by Apaq-W in collaboration with Fevia 🤝We had the opportunity to discuss the role of innovation in the agri-food sector in response to the current challenges facing the sector on a number of different fronts:
- Creating value together, with local roots
- Sustainable relocation of agri-food sectors
- Local solutions to global challenges
In October, we organised our first scientific day, during which the researchers presented their first promising results. These results were then assessed by the scientific committee, which included internationally renowned experts. A lot of exciting things came out of it, and the researchers are going back to their laboratories with a lot of work to do, but it’s all very exciting!
The NutrEvent conference was held in Rennes on 17 and 18 October 2023. The coordination unit had the opportunity of attending a number of conferences focusing on nutrition and health. Hélène, our PLO, also had the opportunity to meet the Valorial competitiveness cluster, at a pre-NutrEvent event organised by them and focusing on setting up European projects !
From 7 to 11 October 2023, the ANUGA exhibition opened its doors to visitors from all over the world. Our PLO went there to take a look at the food innovations on display but also to attend various conferences on artificial intelligence and the food of tomorrow. She was joined by two PhD students from the FoodWal portfolio, who were able to discover the scope of the show and find out more about alternatives to dairy and meat products.
Food Connections, the annual event organised by Wagralim and Fevia, took place on Thursday 21 September 2023. The coordination unit took the opportunity to meet members of the food industry and invited PhD students from the three projects to take part in the plenary session on the revaluation of food. Aline and Hélène, our PMO and PLO, also had the opportunity to take part in a restricted event on the Walloon Region’s IIS.
As part of the circular economy fortnight, Celabor, Wagralim and Land, Farm & Men organised a technical day on the theme of circularity and the valorisation of plant protein and its alternatives in Wallonia. Many of the FoodWal portfolio partners (coordinators, valorisation operators and researchers) were present, either as speakers or spectators.