Innovations in the pork sector
Organisations of the pork production sector face increased competition resulting from the open European market and the global market. In order to compete with or to have a lead over competitors, there is a great need for continuous innovation. To cope with this competition scientific research, technological development and innovation are crucial.
Organisations can react to these requirements with diverse kinds of innovations. The changes can differ from incremental improvements to radical changes. In order to discuss the question how innovative companies in the European pork sector are, an explanation of what is meant by “innovation” is needed.
What does the term “innovation” mean?
A definition which is broadly accepted describes innovation as „the implementation of a new or significant improved product (good or services), or process, a new marketing method, or a new organisational method in business practises, workplace organisation or external relations.“ (OECD, 2005).
According to this definition you can classify your own organisation as innovative if you implement new products, processes or forms of organisation economical successfully in your company.
Questions:
- What kind of innovation did you successfully implement in your company over the past years?
- Do you take part in innovation networks? What operating experience did you make with Research & Development (R&D) cooperation?
- What do you assess to be the advantages and disadvantages / the pros and cons of R&D cooperation?
- In what kind of innovation networks are you taking part?
- What support would you require in order to organise and accelerate the innovation process?
- How to integrate latest scientific results in the everyday practice of the pork sector in the most efficient way? (examples)
- What kind of market channels are available for launching pork products on the European or the global market?
- What kind of financial possibilities do you use for R&D and innovations in the pig and pork sector?
General information on Q-PorkChains weblog
The main aim of the weblog is to discuss current issues in an international network.
If you are interested in discussing pork related issues with other stakeholders of the pork sector and from different countries or if you want to address a specific discussion topic you are very welcome to do so. Please send your topics of interest to the Industry Liaison Officer via e-mail with the declaration "my favourite discussion topic".
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I found a nice paper that fits well to the topic of this weblog. The vision paper called “Ten Theses on Food and Drink SMEs and Innovation in Europe – evidence on needs and policy recommendations” aims to incorporate into an overall picture the factors that can positively drive the European Food and Drink industry (F&D), by describing those measures and strategies that can stimulate Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to employ innovation more widely (http://smes-net.ciaa.be/docs/others$/Vision%20Paper%20-%20Ten%20theses%20on%20Food%20and%20Drink%20SMEs%20and%20Innovation%20in%20Europe.pdf).
The innovations at EuroTier 2008 (International Exhibition for Animal Husbandry and Management) focused on:
- Animal Monitoring and Farm Management
- Animal Health
- Hygiene
- Energy and environmental technology
About the awarded innovations you can find out here: www.eurotier.de/fileadmin/eurotier/2004/img/dokumente/08/forum/haeuser.pdf
At the Chinese-European Pig Summit international experts working in the pig industry and representatives from the processing sector as well as breeding companies and feed industry specialists, along with key personnel employed in research, finance and marketing gave speeches about the trends and challenges of the European, Chinese and global pig production.
I guess that these challenges are drivers for new innovations. You can find the presentation here: www.eurotier.de/pig_summit.0.html
Global challenges confronting the livestock industry (Dr. Jimmy Smith, Team leader livestock, The World Bank)
Status quo and perspectives of the Chinese pig production (Zhang Baowen, President, China Animal Agriculture Association (CAAA))
Status quo and perspectives of the European pig production (Knud Buhl, Director, Danish Meat Association Brussels)
Modern Technologies in Chinese Pig Industry (Prof. Wang Aiguo, China Agriculture University (CAU) Technology trends and technologies for China; Sven Häuser, Project Manager Pig Production, DLG Manager of European Pig Producers(EPP))