As part of Wallonia’s Intelligent Specialisation Strategy (S3) plan, five Strategic Innovation Domains (“DIS”) have been proposed by the Walloon Region.
Among these, DIS 5 “Agri-food chains of the future and innovative management of the environment” has given rise to the desire to create an international institute for food research and innovation and to develop fundable projects. Following a call for expressions of interest, six Strategic Innovation Initiatives (IIS) were validated.
In 2022, a Win4Excellence call for proposals was launched and the FoodWal portfolio was built up. The portfolio was approved in December 2022 and started in January 2023.
The partners included in the portfolio will each contribute their own specific skills, which will be put to good use throughout the consortium. In fact, the way the projects are structured encourages both intra- and extra-project exchanges. One of the major aims of the portfolio is to create a community of researchers who are committed to and ready to meet the challenges of the agri-food sector.
The FoodWal portfolio comprises three projects: MICROBoost, PEPTIBoost and PROTEBoost. These projects are directly linked to the FoodBooster IIS, which focuses on the functional food and ingredients sector, as well as to the Protewin IIS, which aims to contribute to Wallonia’s protein independence.
Through this portfolio, the Walloon Region is funding collaborative research involving top talent from French-speaking Belgian universities and accredited research centres, the results of which will benefit the Walloon economic sector.