F²C Innovation: French Food Cluster with an international ambition

May 18, 2009 Three French clusters, Agrimip Innovation, Valorial and Vitagora have created a French Food Cluster, or F²C Innovation. Covering together food and non-food agricultural production, functional ingredients, new product development and innovative technologies adapted to the taste and nutrition needs of tomorrow’s consumers, the 3 clusters aim to pool their expertise and resources in particular concerning their international development.

The objectives of F²C Innovation are the following:
 Identify and cooperate with centers of scientific excellence throughout the world in order to overcome technological industry obstacles
 Identify and cooperate with clusters for the development of joint projects aiming at economic growth for cluster members.
 Promote the expertise within the F²C Innovation network throughout the world

The first official presentation of F²C Innovation will be during the IFT Food Expo (Institute of Food Technologists) that takes place June 6th-9th 2009 in Anaheim California.

Like most clusters, the networks of Agrimip Innovation, Valorial and Vitagora are coordinated by small teams whose numerous activities include ensuring the preparation and selection of innovation projects under development, supervision of projects already underway, communication and promotion, carrying out market intelligence, prospecting on an international level… It is in this context that the interest of the 3 clusters to find a way of stretching their resources was born. In addition, the respective areas of expertise of the clusters were found to be entirely complementary. “By pooling our expertise and resources, while maintaining our respective areas of interest according to the scientific activities of our home regions, we are able to be much more efficient in our activities, more ambitious in terms of projects and more attractive for partners on an international scale,” explains Michel Pinel, Director of Valorial.

By communicating more often between themselves, favoring exchanges and discussions, working together on specific studies, developing innovation projects together, setting up partnerships with clusters outside of France, taking part in trade shows under a joint banner, and even co-organizing international fact-finding missions – these are the intentions of the 3 partners of F²C Innovation. “By adopting this strategy, which aims to mutually enrich our knowledge base and contacts, we are progressing faster and avoiding finding ourselves in a closed off environment,” underlines Patrice Roché, Director of Agrimip Innovation.

As such, from next June, Christophe Breuillet, Director of Vitagora, and his team will represent F²C Innovation during the IFT Food Expo 2009 in Anaheim, California. “We will also be present together later in June at a French trade show in Lille, NutrEvent, where we can make contacts with European clusters and scientific research centers. On an international level, we are all interested in presenting ourselves as one entity, one that has the necessary size and scientific excellence to be a serious player in the food industry on an international level,” concludes Christophe Breuillet.

Contact:
Marthe Jewell
Communication Manager
Vitagora Taste-Nutrition-Health
Tél.: +33 3 80 78 97 92
Email: marthe.jewell@vitagora.com

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