Objectives
Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA)
This TWG is responsible for developing and updating the thematic Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for Food Systems. This document serves as the roadmap for regional research, aligning macro-regional priorities with national bioeconomy Action Plans.
For the TWG Food Systems, the thematic SRIA (first developed in 2019–2021, currently being updated in 2024–2026 under BOOST4BIOEAST) is structured around four strategic areas guiding food-systems R&I priorities across the 11 BIOEAST countries (production, food chains, research & innovation, consumption & health).
Key activities
The activities of this TWG are centred around the following research and innovation pillars:
- Sustainable and Regenerative Food Production
- Connected and Resilient Food Value Chains
- Research, Innovation and Investment for Food Systems Transformation
- Sustainable Food Consumption, Healthy Diets and Food Citizenship
- Cross-cutting work on the governance of food systems transformation, economic coherence (e.g. True Cost Accounting) and strategic internationalisation
- Development and participatory update of the BIOEAST Food Systems Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA)
- Organisation of national and macro-regional science-policy(-practice) dialogues and thematic workshops
- Contribution of food-systems priorities to national bioeconomy Action Plans, development within the BIOEAST initiative
Highlights and achievements
- 2026 update of the BIOEAST Food Systems SRIA, building on the first thematic SRIA (2019–2021) developed through roundtables and focus groups involving 29 TWG members, two macro-regional conferences, and a final validation workshop with over 109 participants – engaging more than 400 people in total.
- Organisation of two National Science-Policy-Practice Dialogue at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on 19 January and 29 June 2026, using strengths/priorities and barriers mapping, force-field analysis and a three-horizons methodology to define national food-systems priorities for 2034, feeding into both the SRIA and Poland’s National Bioeconomy Action Plan. Organisation of two Macro-regional Science-Policy Dialogues:
- 15 April 2026 – “Leverage Points in the Transformation of Food Systems in CEE Countries”.
- 25 April 2025 – “Transitioning Food Systems in the BIOEAST Region”.
- Contribution to Poland’s National Bioeconomy Action Plan (BOOST4BIOEAST Deliverable D7.2), including thematic workshops covering food-systems production, distribution, consumption and public-policy dimensions.
- Input from the high-level conference on research, innovation and digitalisation to advance the competitiveness of European agriculture and ensure food security hosted by the Poland Presidency of the Council of the EU (June 2025, 200+ stakeholders), which called for action to support research, innovation, digitalisation and cooperation to increase the competitiveness of European agriculture and ensure food security.
- Input from the high-level ‘BIOEAST and Beyond’ conference hosted by the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU (December 2024, 350+ stakeholders), which identified food systems security as a priority R&I theme for the CEE macro-region.
- The process of developing joint analyses of food systems to support the evidence base for public policy in BIOEAST countries has been launched.
Resources and library
Explore the key documents and research outputs from our working group.
Knowledge platform
Looking for specific data, policy papers, or case studies related to Working Groups? The BIOEAST Knowledge Platform is our multilingual library for the macro-region. It hosts an expanded collection of resources designed to help you implement bioeconomy solutions in Central and Eastern Europe.
Discover moreTWG members
Discover the experts driving bioeconomy innovation in the TWG on Food Systems.
Adam Wasilewski
Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics – National Research Institute
Alvija Šalaševičienė
Kaunas University of Technology
Andrea Győrffy
Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture
Anet Režek Jambrek
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology
Anita Blija
Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies
Anna Matys
Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
Ants-Hannes Viira
Estonian University of Life Sciences
Danka Moravčíková
Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra
Eszter Takács
AKI
Ewa Bilska-Zając
National Veterinary Research Institute
Gasan Črnivec Ilja Osojnik
Biotechnical Faculty - University of Ljubljana
Iliana Nacheva
Institute of Cryobiology and Food Technology - Sofia, Agricultural Academy to the Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry
István Kertész
Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Jana Hajšlová
Institute of Chemical Technology
Kalina Sikorska-Zimny
National Institute of Horticultural Research
Karin Kovacevic Ganic
Faculty of Food and Biotechnology
Krzysztof Rutkowski
National Institute of Horticultural Research
Ksenia Markov
Faculty of Food and Biotechnology
Loreta Bašinskienė
Kaunas University of Technology
Loreta Mačytė
Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture
Maria Anghel
Romanian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
Martin Polovka
NPPC – Food Science Institute
Martina Jurković
Croatian Agency for Agriculture and Food
Paweł Chmieliński
Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics
Petr Roubal
Dairy research institute
Péter Penksza
Directorate of Food Industry, Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture
Róbert Kocsis
Hungarian Dairy Experimental Institute
Sanja Kovarić Kravar
Croatian Ministry of Agriculture
Slavomíra Vavreinová
Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Svetlana Malyugina
Research Institute for Cattle Breeding
Tadeja Kvas Majer
Slovenian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food
Teodora Georgieva
Bulgarian Food Safety Agency
Viktória Szűcs
Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture
Zoltán Kovács
Szent István University Faculty of Food Science Science