BaltFood integrates local, regional and national food cluster organisations in six countries around the Baltic Sea into one food cluster. The cooperation focuses on enhancing the competitiveness of the BSR food industry to become the European source for valuable and affordable food products.
The food industry has developed into one of the strongest business sectors in the BSR characterized by high SME involvement. This competitive position has to be secured in a dynamic, fast changing but relatively mature (regional) marketplace. Concurrently, emerging trends require a constant search for lower costs, innovation and flexible processes. This calls for both process and product innovations to be jointly nurtured and diffused by the scientific and business communities with public institutions shaping the economic development framework.
Consequently BaltFood aims at contributing to a sustainable cluster-specific economic development in the BSR by making regionally-embedded knowledge available on a wider geographical basis. The specific objective is to advance the process of building a sustainable and demand-oriented pan-Baltic food cluster structure in the attempt to increase the transfer and application of technological and market-related know-how among its scientific, industry and public members by the year 2011.
The coordinating partner for the project is Lübeck Business Development Corporation. There are totally 13 partners from Poland, Sweden, Germany, Finland and Denmark.
The Finnish partners include Centre for Extension Studies and Functional Foods Forum (University of Turku), Finland Futures Research Centre (Turku School of Economics) and Agropolis Ltd.
Finland Futures Research Centre is focusing in a large scale scanning of the environment in the Baltic Sea Region food sector and produces the future food scenarios 2030 for the region.
The BaltFood project is been carried out during 2009-2011. It is mainly funded by the Baltic Sea Region INTERREG III B.
Further information:
Riikka Saarimaa, Researcher
Tel. +358 2 481 4613
riikka.saarimaa(a)tse.fi
> Finland Futures Research Centre