THE CHALLENGE: MOVING BEYOND THE “RESEARCH BUBBLE”

One of the most frequent criticisms of EU-funded research is the “innovation gap”—the tendency for brilliant scientific breakthroughs to remain confined within academic circles, failing to reach industrial application or consumer acceptance. Successful stakeholder engagement is not merely about curating public communication; it is about creating a dynamic feedback loop between researchers, industry leaders, regulatory bodies, and the end consumer. Without this grounded perspective, projects risk developing solutions that are technically impressive but economically unviable or socially rejected.

OUR APPROACH: BRIDGING THE GAP THROUGH TARGETED ENGAGEMENT

Leveraging our deep roots in the agrifood industry, we bridge the gap between research activities and the practical realities of the European market. We facilitate targeted engagement by connecting project partners with key stakeholders, ensuring that project developments are grounded in real-world needs and informed by the latest institutional priorities at the local and national levels.

Our approach focuses on identifying “Primary Movers”—the SMEs, policy influencers, and large-scale producers who have the power to adopt and scale project results. By involving these actors from the earliest stages of development, we transform stakeholders from passive observers into active co-creators.

PROVEN IMPACT: STAKEHOLDER SYNERGY IN ACTION

Our work in flagship projects demonstrates our capacity to mobilize the entire value chain:

Cross-Mediterranean Integration

In the CAMELMILK project, we bridged the gap between non-EU production systems and European market requirements. By engaging with both Mediterranean smallholders and EU regulatory authorities, we ensured that the technical improvements made in Algeria and Turkey were aligned with the safety standards necessary for European import and consumption.

The Blue Economy Network

Within the vast 40-partner consortiumof the EcoeFISHent, we facilitated the connection between fishing industry actors and high-value extraction innovators. Our role is to ensure that the “Circular Cluster” isn’t just a theoretical model but a functioning network where side-streams move effectively from the canning industry to cosmetic and nutraceutical manufacturers.

Building Consensus for “Future Foods”

Microalgae innovation, for instance, faces significant consumer and industrial hurdles. In the ProFuture project, we spearheaded engagement within the Horizon4Proteins cluster, bringing together four major EU projects to speak with a unified voice to policymakers. This ensured that the “dietary shift” was not just a top-down mandate, but a move supported by evidence-based dialogue between industry and the European Commission.

Institutional Alignment

For the WASTELESS project, we focused on the critical interface between commercial logistics and institutional bodies like the JRC (Joint Research Centre) and Eurostat. By ensuring that digital quantification tools meet the reporting needs of these stakeholders, we worked toward the possibility for project’s data to become a trusted asset for future European policy.