RIS PD - Regional Innovation Scheme Professional Development
The RIS* PD (Regional Innovation Scheme Professional Development) is a multidimensional educational program run by EIT Food, created to up-skill as well as to re-skill the farmers, SMEs employees, and young professionals, considered to be the game changers of the food sector in their regions.
2021
2022
The main purpose of this program is to invite career progressors from the agri-food world, men and equally treated women, to turn their innovative ideas into action, to become entrepreneurs in their business and lead sustainability challenges in their geographical areas.
Fully integrated and interactive workshops are designed to provide participants with mainstream tools, best real-time NPD techniques and management practices from the extended network of EIT Food partner companies and Rising Food Stars.
Not to miss, the opportunity to apply the acquired knowledge in a computer-simulated environment and to dive into innovative farming techniques, always in the frame of the agriculture digitalization ambitious project.
*Citizens from the following countries are eligible to take part in the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS) 2021-2024:
EU Member States: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain.
Horizon Europe Associated Countries**: Montenegro, Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine.
Outermost Regions: Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Réunion, Martinique, Mayotte and Saint-Martin (France), the Azores and Madeira (Portugal), and the Canary Islands
**These third countries, which are all listed in the European Innovation Scoreboard, will be fully eligible for the EIT RIS, following the successful conclusion of individual Horizon Europe Association Agreements.
NPD Skills: learn through experience
Leveraging skills of researchers and employees in the food industry
The NPD Skills workshop brings together food professionals from different backgrounds and countries. It offers a professional blended-learning training aimed to encourage the development of pioneering product ideas in the food industry in RIS countries. The workshop is designed to teach the tools, techniques and best practices developed to support the NPD process and enable participants to learn through experience.
The workshop addresses contemporary challenges related to new product development in the food industry. It is based on innovative approaches to teaching and learning and is prepared and delivered by experts from industry, universities and research institutes, namely University of Warsaw, PepsiCo, Aarhus University, Technion, BeYou, Elea, Cambden BRI, CSIC supported by EIT Food CLC North-East. Participants can expect to develop their skills thanks to live food processing sessions, sensory evaluations, video case studies, virtual tours, teamwork, simulation-based exercises, and insights from real case studies of various global companies and startups. On the top of this, NPD Skills offers room to network and present research results.
The workshop will be held this year as a blended-learning course with short online meetings in April or May and a final two-day session in Warsaw at the end of June 2022 (also streamed-online for participants, who can’t attend in-person).
Creating new leaders of the digital transformation in the European agri-food sector
Today’s agricultural industry is data-centered, precise and smart. Internet of Things technologies have created friendly tools that are shaking old methods and create new opportunities to create added value.
To be successful you need a digital GAME PLAN
SMASCH will be proposing business models and demonstrating technologies to provide an opportunity to help participants explore and develop their digital skills, and devise a plan to achieve it.
Each participant will have access to practical examples to how this technology helps growers throughout the crop stages, from sowing until harvesting, packing and transportation, and how can bring the consumer closer to the source of their food. Participants will have a chance to plan their new venture, and with the help of peers, industry, professionals bring it to a reality, within few weeks.
A one day regional workshop will be followed by 16 weeks of experience followed by mentors and a final event will be held to celebrate and share experiences.
Hybrid learning programs will take place in Italy, Hungary, Spain, in English and local language.
Spain, 7th June, Valladolid
Hungary, 9th June, Szentes, DélKerTÉSZ
Italy, 30th June, Torino
Italy, 4th July, Catania
ONLINE Webinar Live event, 18th November
"What is your digital plan": Knowledge sharing towards a digital transformation in the European Agri-food sector.
WE LEAD FOOD: Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership in Food
Fuel women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership in food system
WE Lead Food is a professional development programme for women leaders, aimed primarily at engaging, educating and equipping the leaders of the food system to enable them to lead entrepreneurially to challenge current practices and deliver a sustainable, diverse and equitable food sector.
The programme also aims to connect RIS leaders across the sector and fuel their entrepreneurial leadership mindset for the development of regional innovation ecosystems and contributing to building entrepreneurial cultures within existing companies, academic and research institutions, public offices or starting new, innovation-driven businesses across Europe.
Would you like to know more? Join one of our Webinars!
These are 30mins online, live sessions that aim to inform and engage around leadership issues that are of particular relevance to women who are in, or aspire to be in, leadership positions. Please sign up for the webinars by clicking the link for the webinar you wish to attend:
a. Why WE Lead Food on 5th April
In this webinar, you will hear from a diverse group of women how and why the lead the way that they do, how being part of the WE Lead community contributes to what they do, who they do it with, and their access to resources and information.
b. How to Choose a Leadership programme fit for YOU on 19th April
In this webinar you will learn what to look out for when choosing a Leadership programme and how to match that to your ambitions and circumstance as well as how to get the best out of any programme you choose.
WE Lead Locals 1-day Workshops: in Spain, Poland and Italy
Spain, Madrid on 10th May
Poland, online on 14th June.
Italy, Bari on 23rd June.
WE Lead Full Programme starting on 18th October:
This is a 7 week, part-time programme for mid-career professional women from across the food system, who come together two afternoons each week.
FEEL LOCAL: Boosting primary production by improving farmers metaskills
Add value to local farmers
The modern consumer is increasingly attentive and sensitive to the qualitative aspects of agri-food products, that can be linked to a sustainable production and consumption model related to local production, high animal welfare standards and the transparency of supply chains. At the same time, based on previous results from the EIT FOOD 2020/2021 projects, consumers feel that local products are not adequately promoted and/or available on the market, especially in urban areas. In addition, many producers find it difficult to communicate the added value of their products (local, typical and with unambiguous organoleptic and nutritional characteristics).
Join this contemporary workshop aiming to develop and strengthen the communication between producers and consumers (short supply chain). Farmers and breeders will be supplied with the best sustainable practices to use in their farms, through knowledge-exchange activities and digital tools.
Focus will be given to the new technology, to the waste management, to the circular economy, to the animal welfare, to the by-product valorisation, to the alternative proteins and to the green marketing strategies of the production process.
Empowering the farmers and developing the short supply chain will also be supported by the creation of a "multi-stakeholders" platform, that will join producers, retailers and final consumers living mainly in urban areas, allowing to properly communicate and promote the products locally.
In the future, this platform will remain open and available to use by local producers, mainly activated in animal, horticultural/fruit and vegetables production.
The chosen supply chains refer to animal and horticultural production.
Hybrid learning workshops will take place in Italy, Portugal and Spain, in English and local language.
The "FEEL LOCAL" workshop participants will also have access to the useful results of quantitative surveys carried out among farmers, producers and consumers in three European countries: Italy, Portugal and Spain. The surveys are dealing with the preferences and perceptions of consumers and farmers towards local production.
Portugal, Monsanto, 5th November
Italy, Turin, 16th November (ONLINE and in site)
Spain, Navarra, 17th November
AQUAENT: Transform fish business following the circular economy
Sustainability, zero-waste approach, environment friendly business
This innovative workshop is calling early starters or mid career professionals and entrepreneurs working in the field of aquaculture, who wish to evolve and to improve their existing business, reaching more sustainable and environment friendly solutions.
We wish to inspire young food producers to broaden their knowledge in the circular economy and to adopt all the possibilities it offers, to get educated on the zero-waste approach and the sustainable use of natural resources.
All participants will have the opportunity to develop and acquire new skills, as well as to trace and manage the entrepreneurial possibilities in the fish business.
The one day workshops will take place in Poland and Italy, in local languages.
