Galway Bay fm newsroom - GMIT has been awarded EU funding for a unique project which aims to build food innovation and entrepreneurship-focused rural communities and economies in the west of Ireland.
'Creating Entrepreneurs in Food' will receive over 220 thousand euro from the European Erasmus Key Action fund.
The project will be led by Dr Lisa Ryan and Maria McDonagh of the GMIT Department of Natural Sciences, School of Science & Computing.
They will lead a consortium of academic and industry expertise in achieving the project targets, strengthening its international links and boosting innovation and entrepreneurship in rural communities.
It will examine current food supply chains in Europe in a bid to identify innovative methods and help deliver short food supply process, cutting costs for the small producer.
The main outputs of the project will include a training course for food producers aimed at providing ‘soft’ skills that will empower them to keep control of their business.
The second output will be the development of an online web portal that will stimulate the flow and exchange of knowledge.
GMIT will work with three European partners and local food entrepreneurs including Brendan Allen of Castlemine Farms and Larder 360 and Ronan Byrne ‘The Friendly Farmer.'
