AURORA journey final step in The Netherlands
What a week!
The Aurora Roadshow on Personalised Nutrition, Food & Health took place in and around Wageningen. For three days, a group of over 40 people from eight countries, representing 30 different organisations, explored Foodvalley‘s ecosystem on this topic.
On the first day, the international participants visited FoodX Netherlands and the World Food Center for an introduction of the rich agrifood innovation ecosystem in the Netherlands with tours, demonstrations and with a unique VR experience. We were also introduced to startups and scaleups, namely:
- Elietsa: Zero waste and regenerative cultivation methods for olives
- GOA Ventures: Development of a breakthrough technology in macroalgae (seaweed) valorisation
- Corvus Drones: Autonomous flying greenhouse drones for crop monitoring
In the morning of day 2, we visited OnePlanet Research Center to see various demonstrations of the technologies they are working on for a healthier and more sustainable food system. In addition, Alliantie Voeding in de Zorg explained how they apply scientific knowledge about nutrition and physical activity in healthcare settings and how they interact with the ecosystem. After lunch at the Unilever Foods Innovation Centre ‘Hive’, participants attended a session organised by Foodvalley’s Personalised Nutrition Community, hosted by Elise de Jong and Judith van der Horst-Graat van der Horst, consisting of insights, interactive discussions and presentations from:
- Edamam: Accurate, real-time nutritional data services for food, health and wellness companies
- Verdify: Foodtech company developing innovative software for personalising online meal inspiration
- We then went on a field trip to NIZO to learn about their expertise in nutrition and health, and had a look at their world-class innovation facilities.
Day 3 started at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour where we enjoyed two fantastic and insightful presentations on the Healthy Brain Study, the gut-brain axis and microbiota and development. After a tour of the lab facilities, including a live demonstration of an MRI scanner used for brain research, we moved on to Papendal for a tour of the Olympic sports training facilities and a final presentation by Jeroen Wouters on sports and personalised nutrition, concluding with networking drinks and a final farewell!
About AURORA
Launched in 2022, AURORA is a pioneering and interdisciplinary programme aimed at strengthening cluster management excellence, facilitate exchanges and strategic partnering between clusters and specialised eco-systems and cities across Europe by fostering the development of European Strategic Cluster Partnership for Cluster Excellence Activities. It is co-funded from the European Union’s COSME Programme.
Project Duration: 01.02.2022 – 31.01.2024
Project partners: