The kick-off of the Excellence Programme “Safe Smart Food” was presented to the European Clusters Collaboration Platform (ECCP) and the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) in Brussels. Project within the COSME program was created to improve the services of the participating clusters, both at the consortium level and the individual level.

The man objectives of this European exchange initiative are:

• promoting the internationalization of the associated clusters and their member companies;
• improving management capacity and their situation through networking conferences, specific training or activities that allow maximum excellence and quality of the services offered;
• creating a favorable ecosystem for the agri-food sector.

“Safe Smart Food” initiative provides for more than 50 exchanges between the different members of the European Clusters. The main beneficiaries of “Safe Smart Food” are clustered small and medium-sized enterprises, which will be the focus of this initiative for their development and competitiveness.

The project will be implemented by the consortium consisting of Packaging and Foodservice clusters (Catalonia, Spain), Business Upper Austria cluster (Austria), Food Products Quality cluster (Latvia) and SMART FOOD cluster (Lithuania).

According to Giedrius Bagušinskas, Director of the Lithuanian Food Exporters Association (LitMEA) and SMART FOOD cluster manager, this is the first and so far the only project in this type of COSME call for the food sector. “It is a unique opportunity to exchange good cluster work organizing practice. Working with clusters of advanced countries opens up opportunities for learning and sharing good practice from abroad. The project is intended to encourage cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises, exchange of experience in the field of food and packaging innovation, and the search for joint projects between enterprises. Seeking for closer cooperation, we will carefully analyze the opportunities and needs of partner cluster members – companies and research organizations – and present the capabilities of Lithuanian SMART FOOD cluster members. Once common interests have been identified, b2b meetings and collaborative visits will be organized”- says cluster manager G.Bagušinskas.

The total budget for the European exchange project Safe Smart Food is 456,623 € with a contribution of 347,467 € by the European Union and 20 months to carry out the task. They will seek solutions to ensure not only healthy and quality food but also sustainable green packaging and optimizing the resources needed for solutions at the national and European level.

LITMEA and the SMART FOOD cluster are also involved in the InoLink project. It is a project of the EU measure Inogeb LT, which MITA is implementing together with the Lithuanian Innovation Center. The project aims to promote cluster merger, increase cluster maturity, growth and international cooperation. The project and its activities are funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

Photo: representatives of a consortium consisting of Packaging and Foodservice clusters (Catalonia, Spain), Business Upper Austria cluster (Austria), Food Products Quality cluster (Latvia) and SMART FOOD cluster (Lithuania).