Our EU-funded project EXCEL4MED 4-year-long journey has officially launched!The excellence hub EXCEL4MED is an initiative to strengthen Mediterranean excellence in innovation ecosystems focusing on the production of nutritious food products and the valorisation of food industrial side-streams.
Most agricultural activities depend on the season and weather, and therefore, activities need to follow a fine-tuned schedule with flexibility/adaptability so that immediate action can be taken when needed. Furthermore, Agrifood Supply Chains are affected by operational, logistical, financial, and socio-economic repercussions, threatening their enterprises as well as global food resilience. Since all processes and stages in a supply chain are strongly connected, a slight delay or glitch can trigger a butterfly effect resulting in a big loss in the yield and output. The Mediterranean Agrifood Supply Chains, dealing with small-scale farmers producing perishable items, are suffering the most because of climate change and a lack of technological innovations, linkages between sciences and business, knowledge transfer, and business models.
EXCEL4MED Excellence Hub will facilitate the production of nutritious food products and the valorisation of food industrial side-streams, strengthening the Mediterranean food added-value chains and innovation ecosystems. EXCEL4MED will be interconnected with umbrella company organizations, research institutions, governmental bodies, 
and social partners that will mutually reinforcing each other within a Mediterranean context. EXCEL4MED will be contributing to the Farm to Fork Strategy and the European Green Deal by aiming to make the Mediterranean fruit supply chains resilient, ensuring sustainability.
The consortium is made up of 6 organisations from Greece [National and Kapodistrian the University of Athens (NKUA), HELLENIC AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION DIMITRA (ΕΛΓΟ Δήμητρα – ELGO Dimitra), Federation of Hellenic Food Industries (SEVT), Region of Attica (PATT), Consumers’ Association “The Quality of Life” (E.K.PI.ZO Ε.Κ.ΠΟΙ.ΖΩ.), Smart Agro Hub S.A. (SAH) and ASPIS S.A. Hellenic Juice Industry (ASPIS AE)], 6 organisations from Malta University of Malta (UM), Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights (MAFA), Malta Life Science Centre, MaltaInnovationHub, (MLSC), Mgarr Farming Co Ltd. (MGARR), The Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise Association (TMC) and Koperattivi Malta (KOP), as well as the International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) from France, all working together to generate new opportunities for inclusion in the Mediterranean fruit value chain.
With special thanks to the project co-ordinator Professor Vasilis Valdramidis from the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens as well as to Minna Wilkki and Ioanna Stavridou representatives from the European Research Executive Agency (REA) for joining the EXCEL4MED kick-off event held earlier this month in Greece, Koperattivi Malta looks forward to the journey with its esteemed partners in this fantastic and incredibly important project!
