H2020 ICCEE Project: Improving the Energy Efficiency of the Cold Chain

A toolkit with six standardized analytical tools with tailored analyses applicable to different subsectors within the food and beverage sector and a guidance tool with an indication of the main financial schemes for the targeted Member State (MS) have been published and validated. These are available for download on the project website, in addition to a tutorial available on the project's YouTube channel. The first phase of training, through 18 national workshops, reached around 1,500 participants thanks to the collaboration of the consortium's associations. Meanwhile, the six EU workshops organized trained 121 professionals in the use and application of the developed tools.

In addition, ICCEE launched an e-learning course (trained over 212 people), which will also be available beyond the project. Furthermore, during the second reporting period, all partners organized several webinars/workshops in different formats (in-person, online, and hybrid) to present the progress of the project's results and the main outputs generated according to the type of event and audience reached: 38 dissemination events were organized (17 online, 11 in-person, and 12 hybrid) for a total of 1,645 participants. Communication, dissemination, and exploitation activities have been tailored to target ICCEE's target groups in all EU Member States. The objective has been to maximize the results of the other working groups by disseminating the results through the latest communication channels available and creating effective communication with relevant internal and external stakeholders.

The project communication package was the first step, including a logo, identity guidelines, templates for Excel, PowerPoint, and Word, brochures in eight languages, and a project poster. A project website was developed and launched, and has since been regularly updated with news, events, and the latest documents and results. It also includes links to access the main project tools (training materials, IIN, etc.). A Twitter account was created, reaching 311 followers and 345 project tweets by the end of the project. Partners have also referred to the project as their own tools (social media, as well as newsletters, websites, and articles). Scientific papers were written by partners, newsletters were sent, and additional emails were sent for events. ICCEE joined a group of sister projects, allowing the project to expand its reach and gain insights from projects working on similar topics/towards similar goals. The projects shared social media posts, included each other's news in their newsletters, and held regular calls to plan joint activities. A collaboration event was organized at EUSEW 2021, and the ICCEE final event also included the sister projects' outputs. This final event was a success and generated significant interest in the final months of the project.

The event material (presentations and recordings) was shared on the project website and added to the latest newsletter. An event briefing was also developed, compiling the main opinions of each speaker, and a final briefing with key policy recommendations was prepared. Furthermore, within the framework of the project, an online networking platform was created to facilitate and foster dialogue among agri-food cold chain stakeholders, with an exchange of good practices and requests for contributions/advice: for example, the Industrial Information Network (IIN). Partners identified potential users from companies, warehouses, cold storage facilities, and logistics operators and disseminated the IIN procedures to all of them. Furthermore, the IIN was also promoted through official partner newsletters, ad-hoc landing pages on partner websites, and official ICCEE and partner social media channels. The IIN's promotion aimed to draw attention to the real benefits of this interactive and international space for cold chain operators, particularly with regard to the real opportunity to share best practices and increase the implementation of sustainable approaches. Indeed, members and collaborators can also interact with each other within the platform's reserved area.

According to the results obtained, stakeholders were more willing to share good practices than to share questions, as we reached more than 65 contributions. The IIN content was also "bounced" on the project's LinkedIn account. In order to leverage the project results and the toolbox for additional supply chains in the Food and Beverage sector, the ICCEE project partners identified a group of stakeholders potentially interested in belonging to their national association network, considering the sectors and supply chains already included in the tool. They could present the tool, demonstrate the benefits of its use, and solicit feedback, particularly regarding improvements that could be made to facilitate its use in their respective sectors. To carry out the activity as efficiently as possible, the ICCEE partners contacted and organized visits to the selected companies, during which the toolbox was illustrated, showing the benefits obtained in the pilot cases following the use of the tool. Based on the data collected from all the interviews, the "Report on the Use of the Tool for Additional Supply Chains" has been published.