A group of people from the University of Perugia took part in the LVIII SIDEA Conference – organised in Palermo (Sicily) – focused on “Innovation and knowledge in agri-food and environmental systems: challenges and opportunities in a time of recovery and resilience”. Biancamaria Torquati, Professor at the UNIPG, participated in the discussion on “An integrated tool for local municipal food policy: school canteens, community gardens and community food pantry”.
The Conference addressed several topics:
- The turbulent socio-economic and political situation we are currently experiencing as a result of the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine;
- The European Green Deal, The Farm to Fork Strategy and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
In this scenario of profound instability, innovation can enable companies to seek, through effective knowledge management, new ways of resilience as well as new sources of competitive advantage for a recovery that still appears uncertain. Knowledge and innovation represent two strategic levers, closely interconnected, for businesses, policymakers and consumers as they provide tools to promptly respond to the challenges of an ever-changing market and society, defining new behavioural models in relation, for example, to the needs for secure supplies, food quality and wholesomeness, rural development opportunities, and impacts on the environment and natural resources.
The transformations that the agri-food and environmental system is currently undergoing and the challenges it will have to face in the near future cannot, therefore, disregard the strong link between technological innovation, sustainability in its various spheres, adaptability and resilience.
In this scenario, the development of punctual reflections according to a scientific approach on the strategic-organisational models adopted or to be pursued by companies, policy-makers and consumers-citizens to cope with the profound changes that the agri-food and environmental system is experiencing is a priority of the LVIII SIDEA Conference.
