RECAPT · Retailer and Consumer Acceptance of Promising Novel Technologies and Collaborative Innovation Management

There is an increasing recognition that innovation is a task for all actors in the food chain, since innovation should add value to the food chain as a whole and lead to sustainable novel applications.RECAPT aims at supporting a process that leads to closer collaborative management of innovations along the food supply chain. The overall objective of this action is to build a platform that strengthens collaboration between food scientists, food industry and the retailing and catering sectors, such that research findings can be effectively integrated into the development of innovative and sustainable products that meet consumer acceptance, thereby contributing to global competitiveness of the European food sector. More specifically, RECAPT has the following strategic objectives:1. To promote information exchange and facilitate trust building in order to enhance innovation-oriented cooperation among the actors in the food supply chain.2. To analyze all parameters and provide all necessary inputs for the realization and viability of those collaborations.In order to promote information exchange, facilitate trust building and enhance cooperation among actors in the food chain, a Collaborative Food Innovation Forum (CFIF) for effective dialog and collaboration between the food chain actors will be created. The CFIF will be a unique meeting place that will bring together actors from science, food manufacturing, retailing, catering and consumer organisations. Based on input from the different work packages, the CFIF will discuss issues related to promising novel technologies, consumer acceptance of new products based on novel technologies, retailer and caterer adoption of new products as well as innovation management processes in the food chain based on input from the RECAPT partners. In this way, a comprehensive view of the parameters and inputs necessary for increasing collaborative innovation activities in the European food sector will be developed.