The 3 different levels of agrifood sector where discussed at the Agrifood Open Day in Lisbon
Annual event of the Portuguese Hub, in partnership with the Municipality of Arruda dos Vinhos, aimed at discussing the agrifood sector at 3 different levels: local, national and European.
The Portuguese hub of EIT Food, led by Building Global Innovators (BGI), organised the first edition of its annual event in the municipality of Arruda dos Vinhos. The "Agrifood Open Day" took place on 13 December, at Quinta da Tojeira, topics such as the state of the agrifood sector at three different levels - regional, national and European - as well as discuss the role of innovation and entrepreneurship in catalysing and promoting the resilience of the sector were discussed.
This event has been the starting point for repositioning the municipality of Arruda dos Vinhos known for its traditional gastronomic flavours and its wine area, in the context of agrifood innovation. "Arruda dos Vinhos offers a symbiosis between rural and urban, between tradition and tradition and innovation. This is the ideal environment to host the main EIT Food event in Portugal." - said Diogo Ramalho,
Food Project Manager at BGI and responsible for the Portuguese hub of EIT Food. As EIT Food representative, Elvira Domingo, RIS Programme Manager also attended the event.
With the aim to create a debate on food system innovation, the Agrifood Open Day have had a moment reserved for the presentation of a new report on innovation and entrepreneurship in the agrifood area, developed by BGI and EIT Food. This report identified the TOP 10 most promising Portuguese startups, based on capital raised, revenue generated, number of employees, time in the market and the ratio capital/income ratio. The companies occupying the first three places of the list were presented and awarded during the event.
The day was also dedicated to fostering potential synergies between various players in the sector, such as startups, SMEs, scientific institutions, public entities and other parties interested in explore new forms of collaboration, with a view to contributing to a more sustainable, reliable and agrifood value chain that is more sustainable, reliable and resilient.
More than 100 participants attended and 26 speakers were on hand, including André Rijo, Mayor of Arruda dos Vinhos, Laura Rodruigues, Mayor of Torres Vedras, Armindo Jacinto, Mayor of Idanha-a-Nova, Pedro Neto, Councillor of Fundão, Kristina Sermuksnyte-Alesiuniene, Director at Agrifood Lithuania, Luis Suarez-Llanos, Reforestation Project Manager at Life Terra Foundation, Esther Dalkmann, CMO at Climate Farmers and Gonçalo Amorim, CEO at BGI.
A major event were agrifood stakeholders got together and had the opportunity to network and discuss about how to improve the sector through innovation.
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