Food for innovation: The food valley experience

Abstract

The concept that science-based economic development is crucial for general economic development and competitiveness, according to Wim Jongen, begs the question of how to organize the process. The objective of the Food Valley cluster, developed in the Netherlands, is the creation of a network for innovation and business involving companies, research institutes, experimental facilities, incubators and public-private-partnership based R&D programs with the foci being food, health and nutrition. The initiative—by three city councils—has grown into a regional economic force.