Greenchain NH - Amsterdam Green Campus

12 Feb Greenchain NH

Posted at 15:11h in Ongoing project by AGC general

Project: Greenchain NH

Project description

New opportunities arise when forces are joined, and that is exactly what Greenchain NH strives for in the North Holland region. Greenchain NH is committed to joining forces in the North Holland region, in order to strengthen the innovative power in the agrifood sector and to align education and training provision with these innovations.

Greenchain NH must become the beating heart of innovation and leading ecosystem that is essential for the innovative sustainability of the agrifood sector. The goal is clear: Greenchain strives for a sustainable future, in which a multi-year program is used to connect the labor market, innovation and education. We do this by stimulating active collaboration within the region and looking beyond the boundaries of individual organizations.

Cluster Food – “With an innovative knowledge and education offering, we develop new talent for the food transitions of the future”

Greenchain is divided into four theme clusters: Food, Sustainable, Tech & Digi and talent development, each of which is managed by a cluster coordinator. Sjoerd Smit fulfills this role on behalf of Amsterdam Green Campus within the cluster food. Asked about his role as cluster coordinator and what he envisions within this project, Sjoerd says the following:

'As the Food cluster, we want to stimulate transitions in the food system that are based on alternative protein sources, short chains and a tasty, healthy diet. These
We want to support transitions through a coherent knowledge and education offering in North Holland and the MRA that attracts new talent and
develops.

To this end, we work on strategies for the entire food chain: from production, processing and valorisation to marketing and consumer behaviour. This translates into projects in the field of alternative crops and residual flow valorisation, innovative processing techniques and food applications, and behavioural change among consumers. In order to ensure that developments are well-received in society, we attach great importance to closely involving end users, companies and policymakers.'

The Food cluster includes the Bean me up 2.0! project, the innovations in the sustainable food chain research group at Vonk, the Food, Health & Technology research group at InHolland and the urban food issues research group at Aeres.

Strengths

Strong and broadly represented network
Extensive experience with project-based collaboration
The entire chain is represented; 'from farm to fork'
An active collaboration between the agrifood and technology sectors
Broad representation of research institutions and education
Leading companies work together on innovations
Agriculture, horticulture and food processing work together on innovations throughout the chain
Strong Human Capital agenda

Challenges

Fragmentation of the sector, which means that a lot of knowledge is not shared widely enough
Energy issues, from assignment to sustainability to grid congestion
Student and labor inflow lags behind increasing demand
Digitalization is happening faster than we can keep up with