agroBRIDGES aims to build bridges between producers and consumers, rebalancing farmers market position by empowering them with knowledge about new business and marketing models. The proposal will mobilise local farmers through Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs), focussing on decreasing intermediaries and their margin. Precisely, agroBRIDGES will follow a knowledge-based, holistic, systemic approach built on two pillars: (1) a multi-actor framework pursuing demand-driven innovation; (2) a combination of communication materials, training programs, events organisation and IT tools gathered in the agroBRIDGES Toolbox as the ultimate instrument that will provide practical support to producers, consumers, contracting authorities, distributors, academia, etc, improving farmers position in the value chain. Both regional and pan-European approaches will be considered along with the project, where 12 Beacon regions will be involved in the creation of this multi-actor framework, directly involving ca. 400 people in information collection, knowledge exchange, co-creation, co-development and validation of project outputs. Full EU roll-out, replication and training will be conducted, supported by a strong dissemination campaign and coordination with other EU projects and initiatives as SCAR-AKIS and EIP AGRI through a clustering plan. Main impact in the short term will be ca. 150 persons trained on topics related to food procurement and how to mobilise innovative agri-food supply chains and support local producers, while in the medium-, long-term it is expected a 5-8% increase of farms totally or partially involved in direct sales to consumers and an increase in farmers income for the value of the output ca. 35% average thanks the developed new SFSCs models. This way, agroBRIDGES will make an ambitious contribution to the Common Agricultural Policy unlocking the full potential of Europe’s inner wealth by placing producers as a cornerstone for boosting European agri-food sector.

Maintaining a healthy diet requires sufficient consumption of fruits and vegetables. However, nowadays, the fast pace of modern lifestyle discourages individuals from reaching their optimal daily intake via consumption of fresh fruits/vegetables, ultimately creating an increasing demand for natural, nutritive, healthy and personalized ready-to-eat snacks. It is also an accepted actuality that there is a lack of healthy food snacks for personalized nutrition in the market. Hence, the development of such products, which can also be tailor-made to the needs of specific groups (young children, elderly, diabetic, sportive etc.), is a long-awaiting innovation. FRIETS project aims in training crossdisciplinary scientists from 5 European countries, in collaboration with international SMEs, for the development and marketization of personalized, nutritious and innovative, soft fruit smart snacks that contain no added sugar, sodium or chemical preservatives, as a palatable way to increase daily fruit consumption. FRIETS smart snacks will include novel processed berries (strawberry, raspberry and blackberry) with superior quality and nutritional characteristics, as well as extended shelf-life. Pre-harvest management practices will be optimized for cultivating high-quality berries. Low impact post-harvest technologies will be developed and optimised including (1) mild and energy efficient drying techniques (e.g. osmotic dehydration, freeze drying, microwave vacuum drying or their combination) using limited or no sugar or salt, and low temperatures, (2) composite or multi-layered edible coatings, based on micro- and macro-algae components, including encapsulated or non-encapsulated natural functional ingredients. Life Cycle Analysis and socio-techno-economic analysis will be implemented for the sustainable development of new products. FRIETS implementation will be based on staff secondments, strengthening collaborative research among different countries and sectors.

BOOST aims to boost agribusiness acceleration and digital hub networking by providing a sophisticated business training programme for the application of sustainable Precision Agriculture (PA) methodologies on management, entrepreneurship & marketing, networking, and digital transformation through new organizational models (agribusiness incubators/accelerators, access to digital hubs for extraversion and knowledge dissemination), by linking Higher Education (HE), Vocational Education and Training (VET), Research and Technological Development (RTD), Farmers and Associations in a common framework based on their real training needs in PA. The main advantages of BOOST are: a) the innovative approach of networking among HE, VET, RTD, Farmers and Students with real business incubators/accelerators and Agriculture 4.0 experts, b) the introduction to World Trade and Digital Information through EU Digital Hubs for the digital transformation of the primary sector & c) the PA profitability. BOOST aims to identify the training needs in PA, Digitalization and Business development, to fill the gap among research and practice and to build bridges between the traditional productive model and an innovative, sustainable, and entrepreneurial one. Students and young farmers will be trained as future agripreneurs and Agriculture 4.0 PA adopters, challenged by real experiences with Technological and Business development ecosystems and will interact with enterprises and farmers to identify the sector's problems and opportunities and to develop new business ideas and technologies. In the long run, the project outputs will create solid synergies between HE, VET and innovative agricultural enterprises and will eventually contribute to the efficient implementation of EU policies in agriculture, like boosting agricultural business development using Agriculture 4.0.

<< Background >>The reason that we have applied for this project is the common vision of our partners and the concern for the future of Europe. We aim to provide training, promote green skills and practices in the new generation of Entrepreneurs, while promoting the EU Green Deal. The policies and goals of the Green Deal are of common concern and we need to empower the future generation of entrepreneurs to apply green practices in their business practice, professional life and in daily work. The partners have the necessary means, knowledge and capacity to work in this direction and provide educational and training opportunities for new entrepreneurs, Startups and SMEs. The partnership is in the best position to encourage and motivate new entrepreneurs and startups to change daily attitudes and behavior, adopting a more environmental friendly policies in their business projects. Our results are a powerful tool in this direction, with innovative elements, such as the Green Business Plan that can help New and to become entrepreneurs to focus on the Green Dimension of Business. The needs that we are addressing is environmental protections and green practices based on the EU Green Deal policies, which include a great deal of economy related policies. There is a current trend worldwide on lowering emissions and turn to renewable energy resources and to climate neutral practices. Those practices are not only benefiting the environment, but they are cost saving and give enterprises a positive image among customers. There is a need to change mindset among entrepreneurs who believe that green practices are more costly, and demonstrate that green practices are cost effective. The new generation of entrepreneurs should also gain the skill to foresee the developments and apply business practices that have a long term vision and be able to adapt to upcoming future in transportation, energy efficiency, circular economy and other practices. There is a great need for a shift of entrepreneurship towards Green practices, and our partnership is in the best position to achieve this goal.<< Objectives >>Most partners have experiences in the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs program and motivated to change mindsets in business practices. They are in a key position to encourage and promote the adoption of Green practices in new entrepreneurs. A common vision of the partnership is to develop a Green Business mindset among the next generation of Entrepreneurs.A key objective of our partnership is to cultivate through our training activities and courses the Green Entrepreneurship spirit. This will be applicable a significant number of New and To Become entrepreneurs, new Start Ups, and SMEs, shaping the Green Future of Entrepreneurship. The desired goal on individual entrepreneurs and their companies is to develop skills which could combine traditional business practices with green methods.Another Objective is to incorporate Green practices in standard business concepts such as business plans, by designing an environmentally friendly “Green Business Plan” template. For this reason, we aim to train online and face to face a large number of New and future entrepreneurs, startups and other SMEs interested in our concept.The partnership aims to devise an inspiring training course with innovative practices, motivational methodologies based on Green Entrepreneurship and give new and to become entrepreneurs, Green Skills, Green Knowledge and motivation to incorporate green practices during their Start Up operation.The activities in general aim to bring together traditional business concepts with environmental ethics and practices, based on the policy areas of the EU Green Deal plan which aims to make European Union climate neutral by the year of 2050. For this reason, it would be of paramount importance to disseminate and promote our project results to key stakeholders at EU, National and Regional level.<< Implementation >>We aim to develop a “Green Entrepreneurship Guide” for new entrepreneurs and start ups, which will be focused on Green skills and sustainability, based on the EU Green Deal policies. All partners will offer their experience and perspective in creating the guide, while they assure that they comply with Environmental Conformity practices. The course will include motivational methodologies to inspire and encourage new entrepreneurs and the next generation of entrepreneurs to adapt to green practices and gain green skills. For this reason, it will be implemented locally, targeting new, to become entrepreneurs and startups, in a way to achieve multiplier effect. The pilot testing aims to have the “Train the Trainer effect” and to be engaging in nature, to encourage entrepreneurs to adapt to green practices and gain useful experience. We believe that, in order to achieve a “Green Business” mindset the knowledge should not only be theoretical but should be reinforced through practical applications. For this reason, we will not only include motivational methodologies, but practical examples or applications from the participants. We expect all partners to demonstrate the best example in each category of the course, such as the best “Green Business Plan”, the best Environmental friendly product and so on.The multiplier effect will be an important parameter of our project since we aim to have maximum impact on promotion and dissemination. We will invite local, national media and regional stakeholders, in order to achieve maximum coverage by the media. We value the role of media in promotion for green practices to achieve maximum impact. The partners will develop an online platform where material for inspirational green practices will be provided and will also serve as a dissemination platform. The platform will be linked to Facebook Instagram, tweeter and all major social media in order to achieve higher exposure for our project results.Our online platform, where our project information, material and results will be hosted, will include ta series of inspirational videos, interviews of best practices from each partner will be hosted. Our IT partner will ensure that the Green Entrepreneurship Guide and the Green Entrepreneurship e-course will be uploaded and widely disseminated in the internet. All partners will add together the training material on the online platform and the videos for the Environmental Creativity Hub. All material together, combined with the multiplier Event and the dissemination effort at the end of the project, will serve as a powerful for to generate a “Green Business” mindset among future generations.<< Results >>The main results of the project are three; the “Green Entrepreneurship Guide” the digital “Green Entrepreneurship e-course” and finally the free online platform where all project results and material will be uploaded. The “Green Entrepreneurship Guide” will be an inspirational document that partners will draft together and they will pilot test it among new entrepreneurs, Startups, SMEs and any other business stakeholder. The aim of the training course will be to achieve multiplier effect through maximum reach of the future entrepreneurs and encourage them to include environmental protection and green practices in their future projects. The Green Entrepreneurship Guide will include information on EU Green Deal policies, Circular economy, Green Skills, and the innovative Green Business Plan. We will develop a Green Business Plan model with specifications and standards regarding environmental protection and sustainability, which aspires to set the standard and become the new trend for entrepreneurs in the EU.The partnership aims to develop inspiring audiovisual material and interviews on Green and sustainable Business practices in order to encourage new entrepreneurs and Start Ups to apply green practices in their future business ventures. The material, interviews, and parts of the guide will become the “Green Entrepreneurship e-course” which will be a useful training tool for entrepreneurs. By incorporating green practices, and by targeting new entrepreneurs, startups and SMEs, we strive to develop a Green Mindset in the future world of Entrepreneurship. Based on the online course, on Green Entrepreneurship, all partners will provide material and inspiring green practices which will later apply in training courses. The course will include material on Circular economy, concepts of sustainability and other information linked to the EU Green Deal which are relevant to entrepreneurship. At the end, all partners will do a pilot testing with an indicating amount of people in order to test and possibly improve the course if need. The final output of the project will be the online platform which will be open and free to everyone interested in Green Entrepreneurship and best green practices. All project material, the guide and the e-course will be available online and remain available for the next 5 years. The best Green Business Plan from each partner country will be presented in the platform as inspirational material, where environmental friendly business ideas will be presented. This will be the main online platform of the project, where all activities, training course material will be online and available to the general public.

Food allergy is a growing food safety and public health concern and is extremely important due to the incidence in humans; it has been an issue which is needed to be focused on. The frequency of food allergy has increased over the past 30 years, particularly in industrialized societies. The overall objective of this project is to develop skills of food control officers, to increase the level of compliance of food control officers and food businesses with EU directives in food safety monitoring and control strategies and to enhance knowledge about food allergens. Food control officers who are equipped with monitoring and control skills on food allergens will be much more beneficial to business life, and they will contribute to the development of the food premises about allergens. In order to achieve this goal, the specific objectives of the project are -to conduct a strategic road map and action plan, -to prepare an allergen management guideline and an allergen control checklist, -to develop a digital food allergy training website for food control officers and food businesses for easy access to information. -to prepare sample menus for food businesses to facilitate the use of informing allergens.-to provide trainings for food control officers on issues such as food allergy and its importance, food allergens, relevant legislation in Europe, allergen risk management in food businesses. Target groups of the project are food control officers, food producer businesses and collective consumption businesses (caterers, restaurants, canteens, cafes, etc.). Since all the outputs will be prepared for utilization and benefiting of food control officers, employees and employers of businesses, they are among target groups. Furthermore, they will be able to enhance their skills through benefitting from these intellectual outputs. Because they will gain very crucial information about food allergens in addition to their sectorial know-how.The final beneficiaries are people with allergies, students in primary and secondary schools, students in universities who aim to be a food control officer or an employee in a food business as a profession, learners studying in VET in areas such as cooking, gastronomy and tourism. Because the obtained intellectual outputs will make these groups get information about allergens, raise awareness of them, and contribute to their life and occupational experience.The expected results are as follows;1.The strategic road map and action plan for food allergens management will be conducted. (Output 1)2.The allergen risk management guideline, that will be used by food businesses, and the allergen control checklist, that will be used by food control officers, will be prepared. (Output 2)3.The digital food allergy training website for food control officers and food businesses will be developed for easy access to information. The food control officers, and employees and employers of food producer businesses and collective consumption businesses (caterers, restaurants, canteens, cafes, etc.) can get trainings, access to much more information, and use the documents (guideline and checklist) and related regulations needed in the food safety monitoring and control process. (Output 3)4.Open access to guideline, checklist and flexible learning website will be ensured by developing these intellectual outputs.5.A sampling of menus will be prepared for food businesses to facilitate the use of informing allergens in foods. (Output 4)6.Multiplier Events will be organized in each partner country in order to ensure that the project and it outputs will be disseminated to and will reach the target groups.There are 4 partners from 4 countries. The partnership includes different types of organizations; applicant is a local public body, Italian partners is Research Institute/Centre, Slovenian partner is a public-school center of biotechnic, and Greek partner is an agri-food SME. As seen, it is a mutually complementary partnership. Each partner can contribute to the project with its vast experience on food sector. Except applicant and Italian partner, the other 2 partners have experience in Strategic Partnership projects. Italian partner has experience in EU programmes such as Horizon 2020. Besides, applicant managed many projects granted from Regional Development Agency, and one of its staff has a vast working experience on project management and monitoring in Regional Development Agency and CFCU.It is planned to make a transnational project meeting (TPM) in each partner country. The meetings will be carried out per nearly 5 months. Partners’ staffs should participate in these meetings. The delegation of each partner will be constituted of 3-4 staffs. These participants will be the responsible people for the related intellectual outputs.