SEAFOODplus: ITD 4 Partnering in Tromsø

ITD news

SEAFOODplus brings science closer to the industry

One of the aims with the Industry, Training and Dissemination (ITD) activities of SEAFOODplus is to identify innovative research results within the SEAFOODplus consortium, and to use these to stimulate the creation of new and pioneering business activities. In that context a first partnering event was organised at the Third Open SEAFOODplus Conference in May 2006 in Tromsø (Norway). This event was planned by the Inter Relay Centres (IRCs) from Iceland (Impra Iceland) and Norway (NORUT) in cooperation with IFL being responsible for the ITD area of ‘Creating new business activities’.

Author: Heiða Pálmadóttir. Icelandic Fisheries Laboratories (IFL), Reykjavik, Iceland

In the first step a Technology Profile Registration form was made. The IRC-offices in the home countries of the participants were contacted in advance to make technology profiles for those who would be interested in participating in the partnering event. The questions were put into the IRC database in Europe. A special attention was made to a “theme group” in the fish industry of Europe. The outcome was that 14 company profiles were registered for the first partnering event within SEAFOODplus.

The registered companies were all SME companies working in Fishing Technology, offering technology solutions asking for various types of collaboration such as commercial agreement with technical assistance.

The main themes at the Third Open SEAFOODplus conference were consumer-oriented seafood product development, seafood and lowering the risk of chronic diseases, new developments to manage microbial seafood safety, aquaculture and possible loss of nutrients by industrial processing.

Many of the participants at the Conference showed interest in the profiles of the companies and discussed with the IRC officers present at the Conference the possibilities of transferring of research results to the seafood industry. The partnering event has proven to be of great assistance and has encouraged the participants to identify, approach and develop new partnering and business opportunities with other European researchers and companies in a cost- and time efficient way.

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