ISEKI_Food 2018: Conference with Holistic View of Food Production

Creating, processing, marketing, or health-related issues – in food production, these are all linked. “The Food System Approach: New Challenges for Education, Research and Industry” is therefore the topic of the 5th ISEKI_Food Conference from 3 to 5 July 2018 at the University of Hohenheim.

The ISEKI-Food Association and the Hohenheim Research Center for Bioeconomy are organizing the event together. Up to 400 participants from around the world are expected.

Networks for the Food of the Future

“We’re very glad that we will host the ISEKI_Food Conference during our anniversary year – and it will even be during the Festive Week,” declared Susanne Braun, Managing Director of the Research Center for Bioeconomy. “After all, the University of Hohenheim was also founded due to a food problem – the famine that resulted from the Tambora eruption in 1815.”

200 years later, networking is the magic word: Representatives from research, industry, and education will meet at the conference to exchange ideas and cooperate more closely. Only with this networking can all aspects related to the production, processing, packaging, sales, further processing, and consumption of food be taken into consideration. “That benefits social security and environmental protection, and it improves access to food and its availability,” stated Susanne Braun.

Speeches and Workshops

To open the ISEKI_Food Conference, speeches will be held by the President of the ISEKI-Food Association Prof. Dr. Paola Pittia, President of the Federal Office for Agricultural and Food Dr. Hanns-Christoph Eiden, Prof. Dr. Jochen Weiss (University of Hohenheim), Dr. Joachim Kreysa (Joint Research Centre of the EU Commission, Belgium), and Prof. Amar Mohanty (University of Guelph, Canada).

There will also be numerous workshops – partners include EIT Food, the Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) for the food sector, and the Strategic Network for Bio-based Economy (BECY).

In the context of the EU H2020 project SciShops, a workshop with regional actors in the short food supply chain will take place. A World Café with the topic “Strengthening direct marketing starting with the farm – From the farmer to the consumer” has the goal of developing ideas to strengthen short regional supply chains for food.

In the framework of the EU project MYPACK, there will be a workshop that introduces and discusses innovative and sustainable technologies for food packaging. The workshop brings together the three packaging projects (MYPACK, YPACK, GLOPACK) funded in Horizon2020 and serves to promote future cooperation and mutual learning.

The Organic Food System Programme (OFSP) will organize a workshop on ecological food systems as a model and living laboratory for sustainable food production. A special focus will thereby be placed on the tools for university education and methodological approaches with a view to the entire food system.

The three topic focuses for the individual conference days are:

• Tuesday (3 July): Education
• Wednesday (4 July): Research
• Thursday (5 July): Industry

The workshops are in part free of charge. Registration is required at: http://www.isekiconferences.com/stuttgart2018/registration

BACKGROUND: ISEKI-Food Association

The ISEKI-Food Association is an independent European non-profit organization that was founded in 2005 by research institutions from around the world. Its goal is to support all areas and stakeholders in the food sector to produce safe and high-quality food. The abbreviation ISEKI stands for “Integrating Food Science and Engineering Knowledge Into the Food Chain”. The University of Hohenheim is the most important ISEKI partner in Germany. The ISEKI Network is coordinated by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) in Vienna.

Every 2-3 years, the network members and other interested parties meet at the international ISEKI_Food Conference. After Porto (2008), Milan (2011), Athens (2014), and Vienna (2016), it will take place at the University of Hohenheim in 2018.

Additional Information
On the homepage www.isekiconferences.com/stuttgart2018
and on Twitter under @ISEKI_Food or #ISEKIfood

BACKGROUND: Bioeconomy – The University of Hohenheim’s Leading Topic

Bioeconomy is the leading research topic at the University of Hohenheim and one of its three research concentrations. It links the Faculties of Agricultural Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Business, Economics and Social Sciences.

Coordinating and implementing this interdisciplinary topic at the University of Hohenheim is the task of the Hohenheim Research Center for Bioeconomy. The objective of bioeconomy is to secure global food, shape sustainable agricultural production, produce healthy and safe food, use sustainable materials industrially, and expand energy sources based on biomass. Among these goals, food security always has priority over other uses of biomass (National Research Strategy for Bioeconomy 2030, BMBF).

Bioeconomy picks up a key concern of politics and society, considering ecological, economic, and social issues equally. Homepage: https://biooekonomie.uni-hohenheim.de/en/researchcenter

BACKGROUND: 200 Years University of Hohenheim

Education and research as the key to survival: This idea was the basis for King William von Württemberg and Queen Catherine founding the “Teaching, Experimental, and Model Institute Hohenheim” in 1818 – the predecessor of today’s University.

The occasion was a climate disaster with failed harvests and famines following the “year without a summer”. It was caused by the eruption of the Indonesian volcano Tambora, which threw tons of ash and dust into the atmosphere in 1815 with the explosive force of 170,000 Hiroshima bombs.

200 years later, the University of Hohenheim is still following the charge given to it at its founding: using research and teaching to help face global challenges. In the anniversary year 2018, it is celebrating this work with 180 events.

Topics such as nutrition and health, climate, water and ecosystems, social inequality, or bioeconomy play a role as well as the cultural aspects of campus life. The program and information can be found on the University homepage, on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter under http://www.uni-hohenheim.de/en/anniversary-2018 and #hohenheim200.

Media Contact

Susanne Braun, Managing Director of the Research Center for Bioeconomy, University of Hohenheim
T +49 711 459 24026, E susanne.braun@uni-hohenheim.de

Text: Elsner