H2020 EUFRUIT Project: EU Fruit Network

A key knowledge network to boost the competitiveness of the European fruit sector Using a multi-stakeholder approach, an EU-funded project is helping the European fruit sector reach its competitive and innovation potential. Twenty-one partners from 12 European countries, including research institutes, universities, industrial partners and associations representing European fruit and vegetable growing regions and the fruit supply chain, are participating in the project www.eufrin.eu/index.php?id=55 (EUFRUIT) (EU Fruit Network).

Its overall objective, as project coordinator Michelle H. Williams explains, was "to increase the competitiveness of the European fruit sector by improving productivity, sustainability, and fruit quality throughout the chain." A focus on achievements: "To achieve our goal, we established four international expert groups for the thematic areas covered: fruit varieties, chemical residue minimization, quality optimization through improved post-harvest handling and storage, and improved sustainability," Williams notes. In addition to this, the project established national and regional groups (NGs) for each of the 21 European consortium partners.

In total, there were 62 NGs. EUFRUIT developed and implemented a systematic approach to scanning and synthesizing existing scientific and practical knowledge. “We established a web-based Knowledge Platform, where cutting-edge knowledge and best-practice approaches existing at the European level within the four thematic areas are publicly available in English,” the coordinator reports. To date, there are approximately 387 industry publications, 101 technical bulletins, and 116 brochures/newsletters on this platform. “This ensures that existing knowledge is extracted from the national/regional levels and made available at the European level (and vice versa) so that all actors in the fruit chain can access and implement it,” adds Williams.

Regarding the project's dissemination activities, Williams confirms: "In addition, 243 seminars and workshops with conferences were delivered, and 1,071 field meetings were held across the EU, including open days, field visits, producer meetings, and meetings with key stakeholders." The project also participated in 470 industry conferences and events/exhibitions aimed at key stakeholders, and organized 108 events aimed at the general public. In short, the project has established a framework and systematic approach for identifying, sharing, and implementing new knowledge. This ensures a direct path for the dissemination and implementation of new knowledge in the future.

Facing Challenges “It was a challenge to keep track of all the dissemination activities and ensure that partners used the correct activity type number and included the necessary reporting information,” Williams recalls. To overcome this, the project dedicated significant effort to creating detailed instructions for its partners. Another challenge was delivering the final conference as originally planned. “The reasons behind this arose from the political situation in Turkey at the time of the scientific conference we had originally planned to align with our final conference, and also from feedback we received from expert reviewers that the project should focus on communicating with end-users rather than a more science-based final conference,” Williams adds.

The project addressed these challenges by presenting an expert conference and an exhibition linked to Interpoma 2018, along with summaries of best practices per work package for a wide range of end-users. The project's next steps will involve maintaining the Knowledge Platform through EUFRIN. EUFRIN's board members will share the costs of maintaining the EUFRIN website and the Knowledge Platform, and its members will continue to upload written documents, such as technical bulletins and industry articles, to the platform.