Inno-FoodSEE_Deliverable D3.2a_ Profiling of regional food research entities

The Apulian agro-food research system is mainly made of public entities, very few are the private RTDs active in the considered field. The profiling analysis reveal that Apulian RTDs system is at the same time internationally linked from an academic and project activity points of view and territorially embedded with knowledge services offered to third parties also at local level. The profiled Apulian Agro-food RTDs registered 45 patents in the past 5 years. The National Institute for Nanotechnology (CNR-Nano ) based in Lecce accounts for more than 50% of the patents total amount. Even tough not always directly related to it, the high number of nanotechnologies patents in the Apulia Region constitutes a critical mass of knowledge in a sector considered high potentially important for the improvement of the agro-food sector. Nanotechnology is predicted to transform the entire food industry, changing the way food is produced, processed, packaged, transported, and consumed1. Even tough the future of "nanofood" will depend strongly on whether the traditional food sector and consumers will endorse it. Nonetheless the presence of an important nanotechnology scientific and academic hub at regional level2, could represents a potential smart ability for the Apulian territory as a whole and an important atout also for the agro-food sector (cross clustering). The Institute of Science of Food Production (CNR-Ispa) registered 10 patents in the considered period (15 including the year 2006) followed by the CNR-Issia with 6 registered patents. As easily predictable the Institute of Science of Food Production patents are the most significant for the agro-food sector, less predictable is the fact that those findings are really relevant for the Apulian territory, giving tools and methodologies to improve the food safety of cereals (important commodity in the local economy) and also input to develop new "functional" foods by processing typical products, such as olives and artichokes (innovation based on analytic knowledge) Those links represent an example of territorially embedded regional innovation with R&D institute providing target innovation support aligned to the needs of local industry. An interesting case is the probiotic product line "Vivium" a result of scientific cooperation between (CNR-Ispa) and two companies specialised in processing of vegetable products. Vivium is the result of a technology transfer activity from research to business, funded by the MIUR for the project "Ortobiotici Pugliesi, and it's innovativeness is based on scientific studies and on patents worldwide exclusively licensed by the CRN to the food company group and nationalised in many countries. The spin-off companies created in last 5 years in the agro-food sector are 8 which correspond to 19% of profiled RTDs. The Polytechnic University of Bari accounts for 50% of the spin-off registered including only one spin-off really operating in agro-food sector, followed by the Department of Agro-Environment and Territorial science of Bari University with 2 spin-off companies. In Apulia the Agro-food Research system seems to be well integrated with territory also thanks to the Regional policies enforcing the cooperation among players (Districts, SMEs, RTDs, Associations,..). In this wisdom the Region granted 26 networks of research labs to provide services to local companies by using advanced equipments, integrated methodologies and technologies and promoting joint projects, according to a massive approach. The starting "BIO-NET PTP Apulian network of Research labs" (2012) represents an example of a cluster based services offered to the Agro-food sector (Biodiversity for the valorisation and safety of Apulian typical food products). In the past 5 years many big projects proposed by Apulian RTD jointly with SMEs have been awarded under the National Operating Program Research and Competitiveness 2007-2013 for more than 40 million EUR. The rationale of the NOP is economic catch-up of several southern regions of Italy lagging behind. The purpose of the Operating Programs is to promote the competitiveness of the economic system of these regions, and improve the scientific, technological and economical position of the whole country in the international context. The projects were founded according a cluster theme approach in order to avoid waste of economic resources and to create critical mass of money and human capital around a specific theme considered strategic for the territory. The main agro-food chains present in Apulia (diary products; wheat and bakery; meat products; olive oil; grapes and wine) were included in the NOP awarded projects together with specific training programmes entitled to create high specialised profiles in the research sectors related to agro-food and to life-sciences in general. In conclusion, the Apulia RTD system seems to develop according to the Italian policies and national trends, trying to create valorisation of local products and boost enterprises innovativeness through product development programs, targeted innovation projects and human capital enforcement . An important role is playing the regional policies, coherent with that national framework, which are creating the precondition to facilitate innovation by sustaining the development of the Apulia agro-food sector based on a cluster approach, gathering together all the actors involved (Districts, SMEs, RTDs, Universities, Education and training centres, Associations, consultancy firms, etc..). The Apulian Agro-food Research System registers some excellence points in the applied research well known at international level (i.e. mycotoxins, food safety, post-harvest technologies, dairy products technologies) nonetheless difficulties in project deployment with SMEs emerged and low seems to be the financial resources allocated for R&D.