The ‘Creating Entrepreneurs in Food’ project addresses the flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 strategy namely ‘Innovation Union’ and ‘An Agenda for New Skills and Jobs’. The overarching objective of the project is to enhance entrepreneurial training in VET, encompassing work-based learning, aimed at those in the short food supply chain.Short food supply chains are defined as having as ‘few links as possible between the food producer and the citizen who eats the food’. They typically involve local producers promoting local food produce and have been highlighted as an area for potential market growth in Europe. The standard education for food producers is based around production with no focus on sales and marketing, processing or other skills that will empower producers to gain value for their products.Though identified as an important and growing industry, currently there are no defined European strategies to develop the short food supply chain. This project will specifically boost innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe by:• Developing a curriculum specific for the short food supply chain incorporating work-based learning to stimulate entrepreneurship • Empowering food producers to gain control of their business models and move up the value chain• Strengthening employability, creativity and new professional paths throughout Europe• Providing a web platform for knowledge exchange between education and enterprisesThe ‘Creating Entrepreneurs in Food’ project aims to use vocational educational training to develop entrepreneurial skill sets in early stage food entrepreneurs and to facilitate innovative thinking that will develop the potential for participants to recognise and critically analyse opportunities within the sector and in turn create employment in their local regions throughout Europe. The proposed outputs of the project include a course curriculum and a web platform with an interactive forum. The main target of the resultant vocational education and training package will be local/regional food producers, the wider agricultural community, rural farmers and food entrepreneurs across Europe. ‘Creating Entrepreneurs in Food’ will facilitate a better experience for food producers, consumers, enterprises, educators and students among the participating programme countries by providing formal, work-based training on how to boost innovation and entrepreneurship in short food supply chains. The consortium consists of four partners; Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), The University of Bedfordshire (UoB), The Polish Beef Association (PBA) and CEJA (the council of young farmers). The partners chosen for this project bring a considerable wealth of expertise in the delivery of vocational work-based training programmes, the development of web based learning resources and access to the target group (those in the short food supply chain) for dissemination of information and project outcomes. All partners have previously been involved in transnational, EU funded programmes and therefore are highly familiar with the requirements of working in a consortium of this nature.The outputs include the Level 4 course curriculum that will increase the development of food entrepreneurs and a web portal to provide a platform for interactive discussion that will also disseminate relevant information and documentation.The purpose of this project is to help create future job creators. By developing an entrepreneurial mind set, participants will be able to see the potential for their own businesses. This project therefore seeks to help develop job opportunities for the participants by developing their own businesses but also anticipates that the participants themselves will eventually provide job opportunities for others. Work-based entrepreneurial training will provide participants with real life experience of the process to developing new businesses. Furthermore, as the consortium has previously identified, a common theme for those in the short food supply chain is that they feel isolated and VET courses of this nature will help to foster new relationships and thus expand networks for participants and ultimately supply support. ‘Creating Entrepreneurs in Food’ is the first project to propose creating bespoke vocational education and training in the area of entrepreneurship aimed at those in the short food supply chain. By collaborating with European partners the training package will benefit from the contribution of a broader range of food entrepreneurs exposing the target group to a wider range of expertise. This training package, specifically developed to create innovation and entrepreneurship in the short food chain supply, does not currently exist. This project will therefore facilitate the development of a unique, new vocational education and training opportunity to be rolled out in programme countries.
Short food supply chains are defined as having as ‘few links as possible between the food producer and the citizen who eats the food’. They typically involve local producers promoting local food produce and have continuously been highlighted as an area for potential market growth in Europe. The standard education for food producers has traditionally been based around production with no focus on sales and marketing, processing or other entrepreneurial-like skills that will empower producers to gain value for their products. Though identified as an important and growing industry, at the time of the project proposal there were no defined European strategies to develop the short food supply chain, though this is now becoming an area of increased research and priority across a variety of European initiatives. The overarching aim of the project was to enhance entrepreneurial training in VET, encompassing work-based learning, aimed at those in the short food supply chain. The specific objectives of the project were to boost innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe by: •Developing a curriculum specific for the short food supply chain incorporating work-based learning to stimulate entrepreneurship •Empowering food producers to gain control of their business models and move up the value chain through engaging in training and networking •Providing a web platform for knowledge exchange between education and enterprises The consortium comprised of four partners; Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT, Ireland), The University of Bedfordshire (UoB, UK), The Polish Beef Association (PBA, Poland) and the European Council of Young Farmers (CEJA, Brussels). The partners were chosen for this project as they were all able to bring a wealth of expertise in the delivery of vocational work-based training programmes, the development of web based learning resources and access to the target group (those in the short food supply chain) for dissemination of information and project outcomes. All partners had previously been involved in transnational, EU funded programmes and therefore were highly familiar with the requirements of working in a consortium of this nature. The success of the partnership was such that the majority of partners are still working together across a number of different projects and project proposals. Prior to commencement of the project a needs analysis of the target group was undertaken which was updated during the project. The consortium developed a communication plan and a dissemination plan as well as a timeline of activities to ensure that the project stayed on track. Five transnational meetings took place in Ireland (3), Poland (1) and the UK (1). Three multiplier events were organised by the consortium in the UK (1), Poland (1) and the final conference in Ireland to distribute the projects outputs to the wider European community. To ensure that the outputs were meeting the needs of the target audience, two Learning, Teaching and Training Activities (LTTAs) were orgainsed; the first a short-term joint staff training event focused on the required content and delivery techniques for output 1 (the curriculum) and the second a blended mobility of learners aimed at testing the developed curriculum with the target audience as well as brainstorming the requirements for output 2 (the web portal). Though CEJA were the main dissemination partner, all partners took an active role in the dissemination of the project outputs and continue to do so. The outputs of the project included a Level 5 (EQF) course curriculum (designed to increase the development of food entrepreneurs) and a web portal to provide a platform for interactive discussion and networking as well as to disseminate relevant information and documentation. The main purpose of this project was to help create future job creators. By developing an entrepreneurial mind set, the project helped to empower participants to see the potential for their own businesses. It is anticipated that as the outputs of the project continue to gain traction that more food producers will go on to become entrepreneurs and develop jobs not only for themselves but also provide job opportunities for others. The impacts of this project are far reaching and outputs are translated hence easily transferable. This is the first project to create a bespoke VET curriculum in the area of entrepreneurship aimed at those in the short food supply chain. By collaborating with European partners, the developed outputs benefitted from the contribution of a broader range of food entrepreneurs. GMIT has already integrated the curriculum into its teaching offering and has also successfully applied for further funding to roll the course out in Vietnam. UoB are also implementing the outputs. The web portal is now live and providing a platform for those involved in the short food chain supply to interact and connect. All partners have actively disseminated the project results.