Governorship is the highest level of local public authority in the province and there are valuable local partners within its network as regards to entrepreneurship, education and agricultural services. In line with the objectives of this project, the Bureau for EU and Foreign Affairs (BEUFA) is responsible for the LOFT project on behalf of the Governorship. The Governorship has both the capacity to coordinate the general flow of the project and the official “power” to establish and activate a local network in order to accomplish the allocated tasks successfully with key local stakeholders namely:

- Provincial Directorate for Agriculture and Forestry

- Chambers of Agriculture (5 chambers in the province)

- Kocaeli University

- East Marmara Development Agency

- Kocaeli Chamber of Commerce

- Kocaeli Chamber of Industry

- NGOs and SMEs working in the agro-food sectors.

 

As the applicant, BEUFA is taking the lead in the overall coordination of the project. In addition to its expertise and experiences in project management and methodology development, BEUFA will benefit from the expertise of these key local partners implementing the project. While bringing together all the local/regional stakeholders (academia, businesses, public bodies and agro-food entrepreneurs), BEUFA consults the other partners in overall project management. BEUFA also leads the communication and dissemination activities under WP6.

CDE Petra Patrimonia (CDE PP) is a cooperative company, acting as a social incubator and supporting the economic and social development of the territories in which it is established. Created in 2011, the cooperative has its legal office in Forcalquier (Alpes de Haute Provence), and the main office is in Marseille (Bouche du Rhône). It has also 2 secondary offices in Toulon (Var) and in French Guadalupe.

 

The cooperative brings together a permanent team of around fifteen people in its various establishments, and can mobilize around twenty trainers and thematic contributors among its entrepreneurs or associated experts.

It implements actions for:

- supporting activity projects and business creation,

- supporting social inclusion towards entrepreneurship,

- managing works and studies, establishing training activities and integration projects.

CDE PP supports economic activities in rural areas facing rapid changes and uncertainties in the agricultural, forestry and
landscape services that affect their future; it is proposing solutions to adapt to changing external circumstances in such a
way that a satisfactory standard of living is maintained.
As a cooperative company and social incubator, CDE PP leads an entrepreneurial project driven by the values of the
collaborative and sustainable economy.
CDE PP is part of a social and solidarity economy approach in particular through:
• the direct beneficiaries of our activities, who are mostly people looking for a job or having difficulty in economic and social integration;
• the nature of its activities and the economic sectors it supports;
• its mode of governance;
• the services offered: lifelong training, solidarity between entrepreneurs, promotion of the circular economy.

Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna (UNIBO) was founded in 1088 and is considered to be the oldest university in the western world. Its 32 Departments and 11 Schools, over 5 campuses, cover all academic disciplines. Currently the University has about 85.000 students attending to its more than 200 bachelor and master courses (59 of them international degree programmes), as well as about 1.500 PhD candidates enrolled in its 43 PhD programmes and a permanent staff of approximately 6,000 (including teaching, research and service staff).

The University of Bologna is strongly committed to research and innovation and it is one of the most active Italian universities in European and international R&I projects, with more than 400 EU funded projects (FP7&H2020). In Horizon 2020, UNIBO is so far involved in 185 funded projects (46 as coordinator) with more than 73 million Euro. In the framework of the Societal Challenge II – BioEconomy and related- initiatives, University of Bologna is coordinating 4 projects (OLEUM, PROVIDE, TROPICSAFE, CIRCLES), and committed as a partner in 32 bioeconomy projects (of which 4 under BBI JTI) with a total EU contribution of over 10 M€.

The Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences (DISTAL) provides state wide leadership in research, teaching and extension in the subjects of horticulture, crop production, sustainable agricultural systems and environment and applied plant ecology, urban agriculture and urban food systems. Its general mission is to develop and deliver educational and research programmes enabling students to become highly skilled and creative graduates, and fostering the adoption of profitable, environmentally sound, and socially responsive agricultural systems. Researchers and professors involved in the project are expert in the field of horticultural production and urban agriculture. They also have a strong background in curriculum development, thanks to the participation and coordination of several Erasmus + projects..

The University of Zaragoza is a public teaching and research institution which combines almost five centuries of history (since 1542) with a constantly updated range of courses. The University of Zaragoza has more than 33,000 students; 5,100 teaching and research staff and over 1,800 administration and service staff.
It offers courses in all areas: Arts and Humanities, Engineering and Architecture, Experimental Sciences, Health Sciences, Social Sciences and Law. Students can choose between 54 Bachelor’s degrees and, in terms of graduate studies, 55 master degrees and 45 doctoral programmes, in addition to 90 specific courses (postgraduate degrees and specialist diplomas) corresponding to UNIZAR lifelong learning strategy.
The University of Zaragoza has consolidated its position in international rankings and it is now among the top 2% of the most prestigious universities worldwide. It is one of the 10 best out of the 84 throughout Spain. We are among the highestrated 25 best worldwide in sports science (the first in Spain), among the top 100 in chemistry (also the first in Spain) and among the best 200 in Computer Science (the fourth in Spain).

The University of Zaragoza, through researchers from the Agrifood Research Institute of Aragón (IA2), has been teaching Food Science and Technology for 50 years, first, as part of the Veterinary Medicine degree, and for the last 25 years as a bachelor's degree and master's degree in Food Science and Technology. In the course 2021-2022, there 150 students of the Veterinary Degree taking classes of Food Technology and Food Hygiene, 240 students at the Food Science and Technology Bachelor Degree and 23 students at the Food Quality, Safety and Technology Master Degree. For that purpose, there are 100 lectures, with teaching experience in food science, food biochemistry, food microbiology, food analysis, food quality, food hygiene, food safety, nutrition and health, food engineering, food technology (milk products, meat products, fish, eggs, honey) and vegetables (fruits, vegetables, cereals, oil, wine, beer, etc.), food biotechnology, etc.

Gebze Technical University (GTU) was established upon the foundations and experience of Gebze Institute of Technology (GIT) with the decree dated November 4, 2014 of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, inheriting and embracing GIT's 22-year heritage. With its infrastructure, capacity, and academic staff, GTU is one of the young but experienced universities of Türkiye, set to become the most prominent scientific hub of the country.

Located at the center of 12 organized industrial zones, GTU has set out on its journey with the aim to become the regional leader of R&D, technology and innovation. The Institute of Biotechnology at GTU also shares this goal and maintains its activities in line with the following mission and vision:

Mission: The Institute of Biotechnology at Gebze Technical University is dedicated to advancing inter- and transdisciplinary research in medical, plant, and industrial biotechnology. Committed to cutting-edge research, the Institute aims to drive biotechnological innovations that transcend the traditional boundaries for the betterment of society and the environment. The Institute is focused on university -industry partnership and devoted to fostering bioentrepreneurship while training the responsible and competitive researchers of the future.

Vision: The Institute of Biotechnology envisions becoming a national and eventually a global hotspot in shaping the future of biotechnology through pioneering research and impactful university-industry collaborations. We aspire to inspire a new generation of researchers and bioentrepreneurs and contribute significantly to the sustainable advancement of the society.