4 Mar 2010 --- CIAA, the Confederation of the food and drink industries of the EU, hosted a stakeholder event in Brussels to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the European Technology Platform (ETP) Food for Life entitled, “Boosting research for competitiveness: A vision for Europe 2020”.

The European Technology Platforms (ETPs) are industry-led, public/private partnerships encouraged by the European Commission to drive innovation and unite stakeholder communities in reaching strategic research objectives of key European industry sectors.

The anniversary event brought together a wide group of key stakeholders (over 170 in total), including representatives from the European Commission, academics and industrialists, members of the research community and company representatives both large and small.  Guest speakers included Dirk Pottier (DG Research, Innovation and Science), Michael Coomans (DG Enterprise and Industry), and Peter van Bladeren (Nestlé, Head of Research and Chairman of the ETP Food for Life), who outlined the important progress of the ETP Food for Life, most notably:

• Its contribution to the setting of research priorities under the Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology theme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) Cooperation pillar (90% of strategic research priorities have been included in the FP7 Work Programme for 2009 and 2010);
• Recognition of the importance of the ETP within the work of the EU High Level Group for the competitiveness of the agri-food industry;
• Acknowledgement of Joint Programming initiatives and specific Food for Life priorities such as ‘Food health and well-being’ and ‘Sustainable food production’;
• Generating further levels of interest in agri-food research across the stakeholder community; and
• Establishment of 35 National Food Technology Platforms.

Since its creation in 2005 under the auspices of the CIAA, the ETP has forged strong links with European industry, universities and research institutions, funding bodies in individual Member States, the European Commission and consumer groups. It has prioritised major research needs resulting in public/private partnerships, among others, to ensure a successful and dynamic agri-food industry and has indicated what resources might be needed, possible funding sources and other non-research issues warranting attention. These are key elements of the ETP Work Programme to ensure the European Research Area for the food and drink sector becomes a reality.