The Centre for Biotechnology and Fine Chemistry (CBQF) participates in another big step in promoting food innovation with the creation of the Forum for Designing Sustainable & Healthy Foods (FDF), a stakeholder platform established as part of the ERA Chair THRIVE.
The initiative aims to bring together researchers, companies and entities responsible for shaping public policy, with the goal of accelerating the development of more sustainable and healthier foods, with a particular focus on food structure.
The inaugural FDF meeting, that happened on April 20th, also marked the formal launch of a collaborative network that includes, in addition to CBQF, Casa Mendes Gonçalves, Decorgel, GERMEN, Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ULisboa), Lactogal, SenseTest, and MC Sonae.
The FDF was created to support the development of a national agenda in this field, build competences guide research activities, and disseminate potential scientific results relevant to the sector.
The platform is expected to play a central role in driving the THRIVE project, acting as a space for coordination among different stakeholders with a shared interest in the future of healthy and sustainable food.
According to Professor Lília Ahrné, THRIVE’s ERA Chair Holder, “the FDF stems from the conviction that only through genuine collaboration between researchers, companies and policymakers will we be able to accelerate the transition towards a more sustainable and healthier diet”.
“This platform is the ideal space to align efforts, build a national agenda and turn scientific results into real impact for the food sector”, concluded Lília Ahrné.
To strengthen networking and interaction among participants, are planned in-person biannual meetings at CBQF, reinforcing the practical and ongoing nature of this collaboration.
