The first year of the TRADEIT project has been a period of intense activity. The 9 Hubs have been established and the associated sub-networks activated at a regional level creating awareness of the supports and offerings available to traditional food producers and researchers.

Once of the first activities rolled out at each of the Hubs was a need and barriers analysis in which the Hub Advisors engaged with food producers, developed a company profile and discussed in detail their business and technology needs. Over 320 companies participated and the findings varied across the 9 Hubs and sectors. However, overall they key areas identified as requiring support included shelf life, ingredient sourcing, waste management, pricing strategies, labelling, marketing, access to information, a skilled work force and food safety.

In response, workshops addressing identified topics have been hosted at regional level (labeling, food safety, pricing strategies) using the case study approach with presentations from local food companies (success and failures). These have been really well received and this approach that will be continued in the next series of workshops.

A variety of other activities have taken place including a Craft Bakery Brokerage event, which brought bakery SMEs, and technology providers together to network, explore emerging trends and develop partnerships and the 1st Entrepreneurial Summer Academy for food researchers took place in Ireland. There has been extensive dissemination and stakeholder engagement with activities including  4 newsletters, conference participation, research agenda workshops and development of a new SME magazine for food producers, which will be launched in the coming weeks.  The TRADEIT Marketplace is actively sourcing and promoting technologies, experts and partnership opportunities.

Year 2 of the project will be event and activity rich with 5 Brokerage Events across Europe, an extensive program of workshops and the 2^nd Entrepreneurial Summer Academy (call to launch in Dec 2014).  Local Hub Advisors are available to discuss supports and forthcoming events. Please get in contact as the project teams and experts are available to support your business.