"Perspectives for Food 2030" conference

Ladies and gentlemen,

Let me start by thanking you for the invitation to speak here today. It is not often that I get the opportunity to talk about something that is both important and enjoyable: food.

The film director Alfred Hitchcock once said that the enemy of good food and wine is too much talking. I completely agree! But Mr Hitchcock would also certainly agree that 15 minutes of talking about the issues related to food and wine is a good investment.

During this time, I hope to talk about how research can help improve not only our food and wine, but also our health, our environment and, in short, our lives.

This Food 2030 conference looks forward to how food can be shaped in the next 23 years. In 2030, I will be 72 and retired � so food and wine will probably be major interests for me personally then, especially healthy food and curing wine. But they are already major interests nationally and across Europe.

The food industry is the leading manufacturing sector in Europe in terms of turnover, value added, employment and number of companies. It comes above even the car and chemical industries.

Its turnover was 836 billion euros in 2005 - and rising � and it employed nearly four million people.

Although the food industry has a major impact on our lives and economy, it is largely made up mainly of small companies. Of the 283,000 food companies in Europe, over 99% are Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) � and 79% are micro-companies with less than 10 employees. These SMEs generate almost half the industry's food and drink turnover and employ over 61% of the workforce.

Innovation in the food industry will depend to a large extent on these SMEs. The EU can help them do this.

For example, we want to see more SMEs participate in the EU's new R&D Framework Programme, or FP7. So we have changed the conditions to make it more attractive for them. For example, we have:

• increased the potential funding of SME research projects up to 75% - and in some areas, like training, up to 100%
• included SME specific calls for proposals, responding directly to the needs of SMEs
• And introduced major simplification of the procedure for participating in FP7.

We know that SMEs simply cannot dedicate the time and resources necessary for lengthy procedures. So multiple FP7 applications will only require one submission of information, we have set up a new single helpdesk, all documentation has been simplified and reporting requirements have been reduced. We introduced the guarantee fund, also with the aim to ease the burden for SMEs related to providing the financial liability checks and bank guarantees.

And FP7 can help larger companies, too. FP7's Cooperation programme includes research on many of the most pressing business needs and opportunities, which have been decided in close cooperation with the business community. The European Technology Platforms' such as the 'Food for Life' ETP, have Strategic Research Agendas which have provided valuable input from business in this area.

EU initiatives, such as FP7, have played a central role in doing what Europe needs to do as a whole � pull together, pool resources, eliminate waste and duplication and fight fragmentation.

How can we do this?

• First, we need to take a complete view of the food chain. Food is not just about what we put on our plates. It influences many other areas, such as the environment, health and the economy. Just as the food industry has looked at its process from 'farm to fork', we need to look at its research needs - from the beginning to the end of the food cycle.

This means opening up to other disciplines by involving converging technologies, such as neurosciences, biotechnologies and nanotechnologies. Learning from other disciplines can mean productivity gains and energy savings.

• Second, we need to take full advantage of the research opportunities available. This means participating in the regional, national and especially European programmes which fund research and innovation in the food sector. The EU's new Seventh Framework Programme, for example, has a budget of nearly 55 billion euros, as well as specific programmes dedicated to research in food, agriculture, fisheries, agriculture and health.
• Finally, we need to put the first two points together. This involves making changes: one of the biggest changes will be making research a major tool for advancing the food industry � through innovation, through cooperation and through knowledge.
  The changes we choose to make, and how we make them, is largely in your hands. Not just because the food industry carries out a lot of its own funded research, but also because you all now have a chance to shape the way that publicly funded research can change.

Why? Because the European Commission has just opened a new public consultation asking for feedback on how we can help improve research in Europe: how, in short, to help knowledge circulate more freely in Europe.

This new Green Paper on the European Research Area looks at areas such as how we could transfer knowledge better, what infrastructures are needed, how we can improve mobility between areas and sectors, and how we can put research at the heart of society. We can only make the necessary changes with feedback � researchers' feedback, business feedback, your feedback.

One of the reasons we need this consultation is because the world is changing. Developments on the other side of the world, in places like India and China, have effects on our own doorstep. And this affects the food industry as much as many others.

There are new areas of expertise, new opportunities and new challenges. Look at biotechnology, which can provide more predictable processes, better primary production, new inspection methods, and healthier, safer - and sometimes even tastier � food.

The knowledge-based bio-economy offers great opportunities. Its industries, which produce, manage and exploit biological resources, have an annual turn-over is �1.5 trillion euros in Europe. This bio-economy illustrates how modern biotechnology can contribute to economic growth, employment, and sustainable development.

That is why the Commission is working to help. We are not just dedicating millions of euros to new research. Last week, for example, the Commission refocused its action plan on life sciences and biotechnology to increase innovation in these areas.

Concretely, this means looking at the impact of biotechnology on Europe's industries, which the Commission's Joint Research Centre has just done in a study entitled 'Bio4EU'.

It also means exploring lead markets for eco-efficient bio-based products, investigating incentives for young innovative companies and improving legislation in the area.

More innovation can help not only provide better food security, but also reduce waste, increase energy efficiency and improve the environment � all areas directly linked to the food industry.

What is important to you is also important to us � more knowledge and increased competitiveness.

We have already had feedback from the food industry about what is needed. For example, we can all try to reduce the administrative burden on food companies. Unilever has pointed out that administrative approval for new foods can take up to 31 months in the EU, while the same process takes just three months in the US.

This is why the Commission has a 'less but better regulation' policy, which has seen over 100 pieces of pending legislation suspended.

But effort is not just needed from our side. More investment in research and development needs to come from the private sector. The research intensity of the food industry in the EU in 2004 was 0.24% - less than the US with 0.35% and far below Japan's 1.21%. This low figure is due to low R&D investment by the sector's large firms and cost and administration difficulties for its SMEs. FP7 can help address both these issues.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Food development is becoming a main course on society's menu.

Just ten years ago,

• few would have expected to see customer pressure force fast food chains to serve salads.
• few would have imagined that food packaging would become an environmental issue.
• and I don't think anybody would have imagined that a low budget film called 'Supersize me', which just shows one man eating fast food, would have become a global hit.

But all of these are now facts.

Food's quality, source, development and future are our business. This issue is not restricted to the kitchen or the supermarket. It is now an issue for schools, hospitals, laboratories, businesses and politicians.

It is an issue where we can make a clear stand on how we want our future to taste � both literally and metaphorically.

I welcome today's conference, because having a vision for the future of our food is not a luxury � it's a necessity.

Deciding what our children will eat is not something that should be done in the shadows. We need to shed light on the issue, the choices and the actions needed. For me, research is the source of that light. And I invite you all to use it to guide us to a better food future.

And finally, to pay a personal tribute to the great Albert Hitchcock and to all of you who want to improve the quality of our food and wine, I promise that I will try to avoid working breakfast, working lunches and dinners as much as possible also in the future. Food should associate to pleasure, and not to hard work.

Thank you.