The purpose of the RIS Professional development project is to inspire Career Progressors giving them Technical and Entrepreneurial capabilities in Food systems
and Technology management to co-create sustainable solutions directed to three different targets and complementary agro-food sectors and addressing gender
equality with entrepreneurial woman constituent:
1) Professional blended-learning training aimed to encourage the development of pioneering product ideas in the food industry in RIS countries. It supports
companies through dedicated professional workshops to address contemporary challenges related to new product development (NPD) in the food industry. These
workshops are aimed at teaching the tools, techniques and best practices developed to support the NPD process, and designed to enable participants to gain
insights from real NPD success and failure case studies from the food industry and to apply their knowledge in a computer-simulated environment.
2) Among dairy farmers and milk processors to become innovators and address sustainability challenges in their RIS areas in line with smart specializations
identified for their regions. Professionals from Lithuania, Greece, Spain and Portugal will be targeted in a series of workshops based on the results of quantitative
surveys carried out in these 4 countries among dairy sector stakeholders, including consumers, dairy farmers and milk processors. One of the important goals of
the project is to improve the entrepreneurship competences of farmers, especially women, from Europe’s convergence regions by providing them with knowledge
and ready-made solutions. The situation of female professionals in farmland RIS regions is particularly disadvantaged, therefore our training activities will be also
designed to inspire women in agriculture to recognise, develop and act on entrepreneurial opportunities.
3) Educational activities directed to fill the existing know-how gap (at technical, business and logistic level) between mainstream agricultural entrepreneurship,
typical of large intensive production flatland areas, and rural areas agriculture characterized by fractionated small-cultivated areas, oen in mid-mountains or
hillside slopes, with niche production of local varieties. The activities aims also at bringing knowledge about sustainable innovative farming techniques, as well as
on innovative tools and machinery for agriculture digitalization and production yield increase, from EIT Food partners companies and Rising Food Stars to agri-food
sector professionals in RIS countries.
4) A programme for woman aiming primarily at engaging, educating and equipping the current and future woman-leaders of the food industry to enable them to
lead entrepreneurially to challenge current practices and deliver a sustainable, diverse and equitable food sector.