Results of the call for expression of interest to participate in EIT Food RIS Consumer Engagement Labs 2023

EIT Food announces the results of the call for expression of interest to participate in EIT Food RIS Consumer Engagement Labs project from March 2023.

EIT Food received altogether 11 applications from 8 countries. Experts reviewed the applications, using the evaluation criteria from the call for proposals and 6 highest ranked applications were selected (countries listed in alphabetical order):

• Greece: American College of Greece – Research Center (ACG-RC) & E.J. Papadopoulos S.A. (challenge addressed: healthy biscuits/snacks for young consumers);
• Latvia: Riga Technical University (RTU) & MILZU! (challenge addressed: protein diversification by combination of meat and plant-based ingredients);
• Malta: The Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST) & Malta Dairy Products Ltd (challenge addressed: obesity and lactose sensitivity);
• Romania: University of Life Sciences King Mihai I, Timisoara (ULST) & SC PROSPERO SRL (challenge addressed: low glycemic baked products for consumers suffering from diabetes);
• Slovenia: University of Ljubljana & Perutnina Ptuj d.o.o. (challenge addressed: obesity of young adults and protein diversification);
• Turkey: TÜBİTAK MAM & Altıparmak Gıda Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. (challenge addressed: healthy dairy product).

EIT Food RIS Consumer Engagement Labs is Europe's largest food co-creation initiative. It involves consumers and producers based on the innovative methodology developed by the University of Warsaw. Each Labs process engages a relatively coherent group of consumers, who jointly go through a multi-stage interactive ideation process to develop proposals for new products that better address their specific needs. In 2019-2022, the co-creation processes involved 82 consumer panels and 43 companies from 16 European countries, who worked together to design, develop, and introduce 22 innovative food products to the market. In 2023-2025, the methodology will be applied to societal challenges linked to targeted nutrition and protein diversification. Labs will be implemented by local partners (scientific organizations and companies), selected in the above-described call and supported by experts from the University of Warsaw.

More information about the Consumer Engagement Labs methodology developed by the University of Warsaw is available at https://www.eitfood.eu/projects/ris-consumer-engagement-labs