On December 13, Green Knowledge Portal Twente organized a stakeholders meeting for the European project RUMORE. A group of policymakers from municipalities of Twente, educational institutions, and other relevant stakeholders were present on behalf of Green Metropolis Twente. RUMORE is an European project with six partners from Germany, Italy, Bulgari, and Holland.
The participants got a presentation of the project RUMORE. They were given an outline of the project, the overall goal and received information of the good practices in the other regions. One of the examples was Greece, region Macedonia. They have a corporation with agro & food partners to realise short chains. The corporation also aims at reducing the bureaucracy. A practical project of the region is de American Farming School, which is a training and demonstration facility in the city. Educational institutions are welcome to make use of the facility.
Another good example that was highlighted in the presentation was Milan, Iltaly. This region works on a multilevel corporation to focus on ago & food in the city. They also build on a high technology cluster. Moreover, they want a certificate for rice so it is clear that it is a product typical for the region of Milan.
Both projects are good examples for Twente to learn from and to use in the own projects regarding RUMORE. Twente aims at innovation in the agro & food sector, stimulate more regional economy and creating more jobs in the region. She wants to establish that by connecting innovative questions from the region of Twente to the relevant educational institutes. The knowledge and researches are relevant for the region and can be directly implemented in Twente. One of the projects is Green and Edible City in Goor. This project aims at making all cities and villages more green, heat resistant and make people more aware of the products their eating en were it comes from.
After the presentation, participants were asked to participate in a discussion about the agro & food sector in Twente. They were asked how they perceive regional innovation or development and what the current situation is. There was a constructive discussion with information that The Green Knowledge Portal will use for the future projects.
Stakeholders believe that the bottom-up approach is the strength of the Green Knowledge Portal. She receives knowledge questions directly from the field. Results of the projects can be used to change policy instruments. This can be done through Green Metropolis Twente, where different important stakeholders are present. Moreover, the stakeholders pointed out that there are many individual projects and that the challenge is to connect the projects and work together to innovate the agro & food sector within Twente. With the connection of all the stakeholders, in combination with new knowledge and the policy instruments, we can work on innovating the agro & food sector in Twente. According to the municipality of Enschede “A good way to connect the local projects and the policymakers is through an agro and food event, organized by Green Knowledge Portal”. Besides this bigger event, the Green Knowledge Portal will also start with organizing Living Labs with students to start up processes and to share knowledge. The results of the discussion will be implemented in de activity plan of Green Knowledge Portal.