On September 25, 2024, the international conference “Transformation of the Urban Food System” was held in the Entrepreneurial Incubator of Velika Gorica, which brought together experts from Croatia and abroad as part of the Project Cities. The goal of the conference was to present innovations and solutions that can improve the sustainability and resilience of food systems in urban areas.
The conference was opened by the Director of the Development Agency of the City of Velika Gorica VE-GO-RA, Mateja Kalisar, who in her speech emphasized the key importance of this topic for the sustainable development of urban areas. She emphasized that innovations in the food system play a key role in the future of cities.
This was followed by the main presentation related to the activities of the Cities2030 project, on which they have been working for the past four years, through Velika Gorica LAB, Violeta Crnogaj, and Blanka Kovac Walaitis in front of VE-GO-RE and Mario Konić and Damir Lučić from Inventive solutions Ltd.
In addition to various education and networking initiatives during the past four years, special emphasis was placed on the activities of the Voluntary Agreement “Together against food waste”, which will be implemented in the City of Velika Gorica, and the very important connection of the aforementioned initiative between the City of Velika Gorica, the City of Zagreb and Zagreb County.
A significant part of the program is dedicated to waste management. Marijan Galović from VG Čistoće Ltd presented solutions for bio-waste in the waste management system, while Gordana Matašin from Zagreb County presented activities aimed at reducing food waste in the County, while Emil Tuk from the City Office for Urban Nutrition of the City of Zagreb touched on the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact.
In addition to Croatian representatives, Project partners also participated. Selma Vaska, in front of the coordinator of the Cities2030 project from the University of Venice, shared the results of surveys conducted in partner countries, and Maarten Ameye from Belgian Inagro presented the Agrotopia Living Lab, focused on bridging the gap between farmers and suppliers.
The afternoon part of the program was focused on technological innovations. Tomaž Zadravec from the Slovenian organization ITC – Innovation Technology Cluster presented how Blockchain technology can improve the integrity of the food system and fight fraud in the food sector. Also, Blagoja Mukanov from AgFutura Technologies from North Macedonia spoke about the application of digital technologies in small and medium-sized farms.
Particularly interesting was the presentation on children’s nutrition and sustainable food systems, held by Terhi Välisalo from Finland, Rural Women’s Advisory Organization, while Zvjezdana Sirk Novak from JYSK West Balkans presented the Urban Orchard project as an example of good practice in educational systems.
Towards the end, we heard from Filip Stipančić from Smion, EIT Food HUB Croatia, about innovations and the importance of transferring knowledge in the agri-food sector.
In the end, the conference was closed by Ivana Alilović, director of the Zagreb County Tourist Board, who presented the rich gastronomic heritage of Zagreb County.
This conference was an important step towards the improvement of urban food systems following the goals of sustainable development until 2030.
You can see all projects related to the food system of the European Union on the unified platform Food2030.
