Who we are

FOODforce began in July 2001 as a one-off meeting of research directors from leading European food research centres who met with the intention of identifying areas of common interest and activity in the context of the European Research Area. It was realised that this forum provided an opportunity to discuss broader issues of policy, strategy, research practice and management, training and foresight.

It must be emphasised that FOODforce is not a club; its members have been selected as leading publicly funded research organisations in the agri-food sector. Its activities will be developed with additional partners and relevant stakeholders.

What we do

Co-operations between the participating organisations and others have resulted in a number of Expressions of Interest being developed in areas subsequently prioritised by the Commission and forming part of its 2003,4 Work programmes.

FOODforce, together with EFFoST and FECS, organised a Participants' Forum at the FP6 Launch Conference [Brussels, November 2002] - Optimising the Impact of European Agri-food Research Projects - with speakers from UK, Austria, Norway, Sweden and the European Commission. Effective project management and administration was identified as a key factor and plans are underway for a workshop on this topic to be held in early February 2003.

In response to the European Commission's call for Expressions of Interest [March 2002], FOODforce submitted a proposal for a network aimed at maximising the impact of European agri-food research. Whilst this did not readily fall within the Thematic Priorities, subsequent discussion with the European Commission has identified an opportunity to develop elements within the ERA-NET scheme, the ultimate aim of which is to open up nationally-funded research activities and facilitate trans-national co-operation.

Further details about FOODforce can be obtained from roger.fenwick@bbsrc.ac.uk