Food and drink represents the largest manufacturing sector in the EU and encouragingly has sustained positive growth. Even during the economic downturn, levels of employment in the food and drink industry remained quite stable. The majority of the 287,000 EU food companies employing employ 4.25 million people are SMEs or micro-enterprises. While the sector has excellent potential for artisan and specialty producers to establish, the lack of access to food grade workspace is a serious and inhibiting barrier to entry (40% of emerging food producers found the lack of production space an inhibiting factor to business growth and of concern in terms of business effectiveness). Artisan food producers struggle to support the capital requirements of setting up a production facility (investing in a food production unit is second only to the establishment costs of a pharma clean room!). On the other hand, there is an abundance of underutilized properties in public and private ownership which could be re-imagined as vibrant Food Incubators but the promoters of same lack the skills and practical strategies to develop them. Food incubators have the unique potential to spur productive, inclusive & sustainable economic development. They provide a strong foundation for the creation and expansion of food businesses and jobs by helping communities, VET bodies, development agencies to revitalise underutilised buildings into powerhouses of food sector learning, innovation and production. At a time of rising social inequality, Food Incubators also offer the prospect of expanding employment in the growing food sector through educational opportunities for disadvantaged populations. Food Incubators Transforming Regions (FITR) seeks to forge an effective & replicable model to provide the learning and strategic structure to develop food kitchens &incubators as enterprise, training and support drivers at regional level. The partnership involves 7 partners across 4 counties - UK, Ireland, Netherlands and Slovakia and will run for 24 months. Its rationale is clear .. while there are many VET responses for food entrepreneurs and SMEs, there is no VET in the theme of training tools for developing regional infrastructure and support structures that will stimulate food economies. FITR will comprise unique training curriculum and course materials to successfully establish and manage food incubator hubs to cater for the growing numbers of emerging food entrepreneurs who are in urgent need of a place to produce, learn and grow. It will target community drivers, development agencies and VET bodies. Developed by a compelling mix of academics & industry specialists, it epitomizes quality VET provision. Our efforts are focused on three clear target groups: a) Community leaders, Chambers of Commerce , SMEs and agri food groups who need VET resources & tools and strategic support from FITR Regional Partnerships to help them develop food incubators b) HEIs and business development organizations that provide VET for the food sector. c) Local authorities and public sector agencies that can support food incubators (financially and logistically in terms of providing land, buildings and other resources) to drive regional economic and growth. The project will work to fulfill the following objectives: a) Establish 4 sustainable, sector focused 4 Regional Partnerships to study and capture best practice in the development of Food incubators and through a Triple Helix leadership network (involving industry, universities, and regional development bodies) develop 4 Action Plans as the ultimate blueprint to develop physical food incubator hubs at regional level b) Create and publish a “The Essential Toolkit to developing a Regional Food Incubator” to facilitate the replication of both the Regional Partnership and the Food Incubator across Europe. This will focus on "how-to” strategies for food hub establishment and operation that are based on successful models operating in other regions and new concepts from the US (the market leaders in food incubators) c) Create and publish a course curriculum, guiding VET practitioners on the topics and skills most needed to establish and manage a Food incubator. d) Develop an intensive blended learning “The Essential Toolkit to develop a successful Food Incubator” course based on open education resources, targeting regional changemakers in local government, development agencies, communities, businesses, not-for profits and others interested in establishing food hubs There is a clear argument for providing timely, tailored training to a food sector Triple Helix leadership network (involving industry, universities, and regional development bodies), building on their experience and enabling them to overcome the strategic and operational challenges of food facilities deficits. There is no such course available anywhere in the world despite the potential of the food sector.
CONTEXT /BACKGROUND Across Europe, boosting the growth of food SMEs is a key part of entrepreneurship and agri diversification policy. On closer inspection, the UK government strategy Food 2030 establishes the need for “new enterprises to enter the market stimulating diversity and competition" while the Irish government forecasts 40% growth in this market between 2008-20 (Food Harvest 2020). The Netherlands takes its food sector very seriously, it is the second-largest exporter of agri-food products in the world, after the US. Slovakia's food sector is still developing as the investment required to bring establishments up to EU standards after Slovakia’s accession to the EU (2004) was detrimental to many and they went out of business. Partners identified that there is a recognized mismatch in the demand for and the supply of food production and learning facilities across Europe. The lack of access to food grade facilities is a serious barrier to the establishment and growth potential of artisan food producers who struggle to support the capital requirements of setting up a production facility (investing in a food production unit is second only to the establishment costs of a pharma clean room!). On the other hand, there is an abundance of underutilized properties in public and private ownership which could be re-imagined as vibrant Food Incubators but the promoters of same lack the skills and practical strategies to develop them. FITR sought to address this need and its online training course is the first of its kind in the world covering the core topics of feasibility analysis, collaborative approaches, facility renovation and equipment, the business model including finances, funding sources, management, value added services and marketing. Further, there is little or no policy approaches to the development of food incubators. Typically, they are included in the theme of incubators, which tend to be technology related. OBJECTIVES/ACTIVITIES Food Incubators Transforming Regions (FITR) sought to "forge an effective and replicable model to provide the learning and strategic structure to develop food kitchens and incubators as enterprise, training and support drivers at regional level’. It has 4 objectives: a) Establish 4 sustainable, sector focused 4 Regional Partnerships to study and capture best practice in the development of Food incubators.develop 4 Action Plans as the ultimate blueprint to develop physical food incubator hubs at regional level b) Create and publish a “The Essential Toolkit to developing a Regional Food Incubator” to facilitate the replication of Regional Partnerships and Food Incubators across Europe. c) Create and publish a course curriculum, guiding VET practitioners on the topics and skills most needed to establish and manage a Food incubator. d) Develop an intensive blended learning “The Essential Toolkit to develop a successful Food Incubators" PARTNERSHIP The FITR combined HEI and VET organizations, economic development agencies, agri food industry champions and an eLearning specialist drawn from profit, non-profit and public sectors spanning operational right through to policy levels. Each project partner has reach and connectivity to the food sector, VET and policy channels in their respective countries. Their connections were vital to support the spread of a food incubation learning culture. RESULTS * In all, 18 meetings of the FITR Regional Partnerships were held with a total attendance of 190 stakeholders leading to the development of 4 robust Action Plans.This has acted as catalyst for change and capacity building in the defined regions Food Incubators sector - 2 new incubators have been developed as a DIRECT result of this project * FITR Guide was used to form 4 Strategic Partnerships (and 5 more in development), it is a best practice, action and resource based planning toolkit. * Intellectual Output 3 Course Curriculum & Content brought together for the first time and in one source, a free training response for those interested in setting up a food incubator. It is available on www.foodincubators.how * Five Multiplier events attracted 381 stakeholders and acted as important dissemination and exploitation platforms. The evaluation of the events show a very high level of satisfaction of same. * Dissemination has been particularly active and partners recorded 163 individual dissemination actions.