Value4Pack

Call for project ideas

Wil je bijdragen aan de toekomst van voedselverpakkingen? Binnen het project zijn we op zoek naar ideeën die de uitdagingen van duurzame voedselverpakkingen aanpakken rondom Refuse, Reduce, Reuse en Recycle, zonder dat dit leidt tot meer voedselverlies of -verspilling. Je kan je idee aanmelden via het Value4Pack B2Match platform:

Idee aanmelden

Deadline: 16 september 2024

Lees meer over deze oproep in onze nieuwsbrief: Oproep voor projectideeën voor duurzame voedselverpakkingsoplossingen! - Flanders' FOOD (flandersfood.com)

Why this project?

Packaging has a crucial role in the food supply chain as it is an essential element to address the challenges of sustainable food consumption. Food packaging has the ability to reduce food waste by protecting and preserving the quality and safety of food products throughout the desired shelf-life.  

​The EU Green Deal sets important goals to further advance the sustainable transition of the food packaging value chain, encompassing:  

• ​Ensuring that all packaging in the EU market is reusable or recyclable in an economically viable manner by 2030;  
• Defining measures to reduce packaging waste;  
• Promoting the incorporating of recycled content in packaging materials. 

​While the proposed European targets and measures are still under debate, the focus is clear. The European food packaging value chain needs to transition to a resilient circular economy centred on prevention (refuse), reduce, recycling and reuse of food packaging materials. To achieve this transition, investments and collaborative efforts among industrial stakeholders in the food packaging value chain, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), are essential! 

Research approach and expected results

Core activities 

• ​Connect and align the actors along the European food packaging value chain, inducing a harmonized understanding and vision of food packaging. To create awareness among stakeholders about each other’s needs, and to translate their needs to challenges for their industry. 
• ​Perform an interregional value chain analysis to identify the innovation gaps in the entire food packaging value chain and the food packaging innovators. Facilitating cross-fertilization of food packaging innovations, know-how and best practices between regions through matchmaking and networking events, to close the innovation gaps. 
• ​Support regional stakeholders, in particular SMEs, and facilitate the further elaboration of interregional investment projects via interregional matchmaking and knowledge exchange, workshops for stakeholders, etc. 
• ​Development of regional roadmaps indicating short, medium and long-term innovation/investment trajectories for the food packaging value chain. 
• ​Development of a joint-action plan for interregional investments in the food packaging value chain, engaging stakeholders (in particular SMEs). 

​Moreover, through its bottom-up approach, Value4Pack will also support regional authorities in the entrepreneurial discovery process for the S3 priorities linked to food packaging, to design evidence-based and targeted policy interventions in the long-term. 

Target Group

Collaboration is key

​​By facilitating interregional cooperation, Value4Pack will increase the capacity for companies in the food packaging value chain, to engage in interregional innovation projects and initiatives, develop new business ideas, and make concrete interregional innovation investments for validated solutions that meet their needs.

Project partners

Natureef Association coordinates the project. The other partners are packbridge, Flanders' FOOD, Pack4Food, Valorial, Polymeris, Cluster Alimentario de Galicia, Packaging Cluster, CLIC, LPUF, Smart Food Cluster, Omnipack, Gospodarska zbornica Slovenije and Cluster-ER Agrifood Agroalimentare.

Flanders' FOOD has a supporting role to bridge the gaps in the food packaging value chain and create new business opportunities.