On 28 October 2020, the foresight study on the impact of COVID-19 on the food sector was presented at a launch event.
Full recording of the event is available here.
The CEE Food Foresight and country reports can be downloaded here.
The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the most pressing challenges in our complicated food system.
- What can we do to better prepare for the transformation of the agrifood sector caused by coronavirus?
- How can we grasp the opportunities that come out of the crisis and improve our food?
As the EU Commission stated, Strategic foresights will play a key role in helping future-proof EU policymaking by ensuring that short-term initiatives are grounded in a longer-term perspective. The EIT Food Strategic Foresight Analysis outlines how COVID-19 has affected the agrifood system in Europe, what the possible future scenarios are and how we can use the opportunities that come out of this pandemic.
Key insights from South and Central European countries will be shared in the following areas:
- Primary production
- Food manufacturing and supply chain
- Retail
- HoReCa
- Consumer habits
CEE Foresight Analysis
The CEE Food Foresight was based on the macroeconomic analysis, brainstorming sessions with experts, interviews with academic, business, and research partners from 12 countries in the CEE region: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
The agrifood industry analysis per country includes the influence of various scenarios of pandemic development on each part of the food value chain. While establishing the foresight matrix we took into account economic and public factors.
The aim of the project is two-fold:
- identifying the influence of COVID-19 on specific areas within the agrifood industries of each country. We understand impact here as both: impact that has already occurred, and impact that may continue to arise into 2021.
- providing policy recommendations and specific actions that can be taken either at the EU or national level to best combat this adverse impact and capture potential opportunities in the short and long-term.
The final product of the research is a comprehensive report covering the region as a whole, as well as each analysed country separately. It will serve as a tool:
- to determine, prioritize, and coordinate efforts made by EIT Food as an EU innovation partnership, its partners and other key stakeholders in the countries where we operate.
- to inform EU and national policymakers on the current situation of the agrifood industry in specific countries and the actions that need to be taken to best combat the adverse effects of COVID-19 and capture potential opportunities.
- Download the CEE Food Foresight and country reports HERE