Description
One of the pre-identified target countries for innovation collaboration within the “New Frontiers in Food”-project is Brazil. On August 17th and 18th meetings were held with various organisation in food research and food innovation in Rio de Janeiro en Minas Gerais, respectively. The Embrapa insitute in food research in Rio de Janeiro was visited and in a interactive meeting the New Frontiers in Food activities have been described and discussed. Embrapa is a large food and agricultural research organisation (10.000 employees) in Brazil which HeadQuarters in Brasilia, and various branches and research centres throughout Brazil. In Rio de Janeiro-area the Food Technology is located. In the Food Technology various fod technology topics are being addressed, including food sensory, food structure, food microbiology and a few pilot plants with diverse specifications.Embrapa is developing from an organisation active in research towards an organisation rather focussed on innovation. The interaction with companies for research is becoming more prominent. The fact that Embrapa is a nation-wide organisation in Brazil could further increase the impact.
Next to this also, the province of Minas-Gerais was visited. The visit was organized in cooperation with the Federal Industry Agency of Minas Gerais (FIEMG) and hosted at the facilities of SENAI Institute of Technology in Food and Beverages (SENAI) in Belo Horizonte.
FIEMG supports the development of industry in the province of Minas Gerais. Agriculture and Food are major topics for this province because of the significant production, the industry and also the knowledge infrastructure. FIEMG has the ambition to support the development of agro-production and food industry by stimulating innovation to further support the generation of added value to the products/raw materials of Minas Gerais. FIEMG invited a group of universities, research organisations and clusters from Minas-Gerais to the afternoon meeting with an attendance of over 20 people. Jeroen Wouters (Director International of Food Valley NL) presented on Food Valley NL and on the New Frontiers in Food-Project. After this the other participants, including Federal University of Vicosa, dairy research institute EPAMIG, cluster Anbiotec, CTIT/UFMG, SENAI institute and FIEMG presented their organisations via powerpoint presentations including movies, websites etc. The meetings proved to be a very good set of activitiess and an efficient get-together and information gathering of food research and food innovation activities in Minas Gerais, Brazil.