In order-to promote projects contributing to the industrial policies of Turkey and the European Union, “Competitive Sectors Program: Effects and Beyond” Event was held on 15-16 March 2021 with the participation of TÜBİTAK President Prof. Hasan MANDAL and the Acting Director of TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center Food Institute Assoc. Prof. Cesarettin ALAŞALVAR.
The strategic content panel on R&D Projects promoted IPA-INNOFOOD Project and Turkish Food Innovation Platform (TÜGİP). The program that was opened with a thematic speech by TÜBİTAK President Prof. Hasan MANDAL addressed R&D, energy, green deal, creative industries, current status of sectors and prospective strategies. Assoc. Prof. Cesarettin ALAŞALVAR was a panelist in the strategic content panel on R&D.
The IPA-INNOFOOD Project on the “Development of Research and Innovation Facilities for Improving Regional Competitiveness of Food Industry” conducted by TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center Food Institute is an R&D project including a great deal of infrastructure investment for research laboratories and innovation facilities in order to support food and beverage sector SMEs in 12 Level-II regions with high-priority and in Gebze. The project aims to help enhance the product quality and reliability of SMEs operating in food and beverage sectors, and to help SMEs develop R&D-based products/production technologies and improve competitive power in national and international markets.
In line with these purposes, TÜGİP has been formed to serve as a communication network and clustering platform. Besides a Food Innovation Center, which is composed of an advanced food safety laboratory and a pilot plant, it is planned to establish regional laboratories and systems as well.
As regional laboratories and systems, it is planned to establish a pilot-scale, renewable energy-run, innovative hazelnut-drying facility and a food test/analysis laboratory in Giresun and to improve pistachio processing conditions by establishing a state of the art technology-equipped pilot-scale pistachio processing line in Gaziantep. Also, it is projected to establish a food test/analysis laboratory for microbiological and chemical analyses in Şanlıurfa.
