EIT Food Government Executive Academy

The event will bring together experts in the field of agri-food innovations 

EIT Food Government Executive Academy (GEA) will bring together 39 government representatives from 13 RIS countries with experts working in the field of agri-food innovations from industry, academia and European institutions.

EIT Food GEA is a week-long training programme that offers insights into challenges related to food system innovations and regulations. It is also an opportunity to exchange best practices that will contribute to further improvements of Research & Innovation Smart Specialisation Strategies and inspire the future development of operational programs based on the EU Structural and Investment Funds.

Key features of the Academy

• workshops focused on real-life challenges experienced by global food industry players and actual needs of industry and customers
• lectures offering insights into the complexity of food system, state-of-the-art technologies and innovations developed by the agri-food industry
• highly interactive learning programme based on case-studies and real-life examples
• working with European experts in agri-food industry and innovation management
• participants do not pay tuition fee and have travel and personal costs reimbursed (up to the level of EUR 1 000 gross refunded in accordance with EIT/Horizon 2020 rules)
• excellent opportunities to build an international network of policy‐makers working on the agri-food related Smart Specialisation Strategies (RIS3), exchanging experiences to continuously improve the national and regional policies.

You will meet

You will be part of a cohort of 39 government representatives from 13 RIS countries (Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey) involved in the design, implementation and/or monitoring of Research & Innovation Smart Specialisation Strategies (RIS3) related to agri-food industry or in defining regulatory policies related to agri-food industry. During the Academy, you will meet government executives, directors, managers, scientists and other experts working in the agri-food industry, non-governmental sector, European institutions and media.

You can expect

The Academy will supply you with expert knowledge on challenges faced by the global agri-food industry, state-of-the-art technologies relevant to the contemporary food system and best practices in innovation management. With our guests and experts from the field, you can expect to strengthen the innovation eco-systems in your country, increase the internationalisation of your country’s agri-food companies, and increase success rates of new product launches to leverage the benefits of public funding distributed for Research & Innovations. You will also have an opportunity to share good practices, benefit from lessons learned from other countries and participate in an international network of policy experts involved in the updates of RIS3 and in the development of the future operational programmes, based on European Structural and Investment Funds 2021–2027. 

Admissions

The organisers aim at outstanding employees of national or regional governments (including ministries, agencies and regulatory bodies) from13 RIS countries (Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey).

The ideal applicant should:

• Be involved in the design, implementation and/or monitoring of Research & Innovation Smart Specialisation Strategies (RIS3) related to agri-food industry or in defining regulatory policies related to agri-food industry in her or his country
• Have relevant knowledge and experience in public policy development on a regional or national level
• Have a leadership potential which means she or he has a track record in coordinating projects or contributing to new initiatives in RIS3
• Have an entrepreneurial approach to problem solving and willingness to share her or his knowledge with other participants of the EIT Food GEA
• Bring diversity. We strongly encourage applications from various geographical regions submitted by specialists in multiple fields.

All workshops will be held in English. Therefore at least a working knowledge of this language is required.

The application deadline is 20 September 2018.

The Academy is delivered by University of Warsaw, EIT Food CLC North-East and EIT Food CLC South with a group of industrial partners: Colruyt, Givaudan, Maspex, PepsiCo and Siemens.

EIT Regional Innovation Scheme

The EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (EIT RIS) is the EIT Community’s outreach scheme. The scheme enables the transfer of good practices and know-how from the EIT’s unique approach to boosting innovation. The EIT RIS was introduced in 2014 to share good practices and experience emerging from EIT Community activities and to widen participation in our activities across Europe