The TRADEIT Kick-off Meeting was held on 6th of November 2013 at the Institute of Technology Tralee (ITT), the coordinating partner of TRADEIT. After a welcome address from the project coordinator Dr. Helena McMahon (ITT) Dr. Oliver Murphy, President of the Institute of Technology Tralee, officially opened the TRADEIT project. In his speech, Dr. Murphy highlighted the importance of this project for the Traditional, Craft and Artisan Food producing SMEs.

Marian Byrne from the Irish Government Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, provided the keynote address a wonderful insight in to the need for this type of project and its potential impact on regional development across European which is of particular relevance for SMEs in the traditional food sector whom are typically located in rural locations.

Dr. Helena McMahon outlined the mandate and aims of the project, participants introduced themselves, and outlined their role in the TRADEIT Project. Input was given from the Traditional Food Producers at the meeting in terms of typical problems encountered in their business or sector, and the benefit of the TRADEIT Project. Mr Reiner Erich Stolzenberger from Stolzenberger Bakery, a family owned bakery with 25 employees in the South of German, highlighted the need of support through networks.  One of his greatest challenges in running a traditional food company is that his bread has a relatively short shelf life compared with other types of bread as he uses sour dough and does not use chemical ingredients. This project will be a great help to him to increase the knowhow in his business.  

Kate Carmody from Beal Organic Cheese outlined the barriers for traditional and artisan food producers in the dairy sector. One issue highlighted was the expectations and requests of the large multiples, an example of an issue encountered was a request for Beal Chees products to conform to a more standardised size and presentation in line with the merchandising requirements. This homogeneity in product size is extremely difficult with achieve with this particular hand cut cheese   Kate also highlighted the challenges presented by requests for below cost selling and  ‘special offer’ promotional pricing which presents a challenge for small producers whom do not have the benefit of the economies of scale.


Detailed presentations on each of the TRADEIT work packages, in which the objectives, tasks and deliverables of each work package was outlined.

Detailed constructive discussions took place, effectively initiating the collaborative process, identifying and building links and synergies between work-packages, tasks and activities.  Professor Paul Coughlan and the work package 5 team held a number of break-out sessions applying an action learning approach enabling partners to highlight areas of ambiguity for further discussion and exploration. The final session of the day addressed the financial aspects of the project and with a close out on with key action points per work package. The event was a great success and partners very much departed having in-depth knowledge of the project and the project team.