Platform for African – European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development

Sunday, March 2, 2014

The Dutch Food and Business Knowledge Platform

27 February 2014. Utrecht, The Netherlands. The Food & Business Knowledge Platform (F and BKP) invited networks and organizations from local, regional and global levels to participate in a consultationb meeting about the Platform.
The F and BKP is an open and independent initiative where representatives from Dutch, foreign and international networks and organizations, as well as from the business, scientific, civil society and policy communities come together.

F and BKP wants to share, critically reflect on, generate, deepen and improve (interdisciplinary) knowledge and feed practices and policies on food and nutrition security. It does so by identifying knowledge issues that are relevant now and in the future, we initiate action, learning and research, we disseminate lessons learned and we highlight promising innovations that will contribute to local and global food and nutrition security. To start, the Platform will create a research agenda and prioritize knowledge themes, such as nutrition, partnerships and food wastage.

Objectives of the F and BKP?
  • Disseminate relevant research results, good practices and innovative approaches;
  • Create synthesis documents, overview articles, policy papers and other (visual) materials;
  • Organize (international) online or offline dare-to-share dialogues and debates;
  • Develop jointly-focused knowledge and innovation strategies;
  • Establish (international) learning partnerships;
  • Feed policy in the field of food and nutrition security;
  • Organize (international) conferences;
  • Translate research results and learning experiences into practice;
  • Receive assistance in exploring (national and international) research funds.
In particular, two funds managed by NWO-WOTRO are available. The Food and Business Global
Challenges Programme (GCP) and the Food and Business Applied Research Fund (ARF). Within the Platform, you can get support on exploring (joint) research questions and, in coordination with NWO-WOTRO, disseminating research results.

The independent Office that supports the Platform is staffed by a team of knowledge brokers and support staff from Agri-ProFocus, The Broker and the Centre for Development Innovation Wageningen UR. The Platform is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is supervised by a Steering Committee of authoritative representatives from knowledge institutes, the business community, government and civil society.

Related:
Interview with Mr. Niek van Dijk of Base of the Pyramid (BoP) Innovation Centre. Mr. Niek van Dijk was one of the participants to aforementioned meeting.

The Base of the Pyramid (BoP) Innovation Centre. accelerates inclusive businesses that serve the demand of low-income groups at the base ofvalue-demanding consumers, hard working producers and creative entrepreneurs.

It provides an incubator space to develop inclusive innovations.
the pyramid with affordable, quality products and services. The people at the base of the pyramid are the
  1. 3 pilots for pro-poor innovation
  2. 2SCALE
The BoP Innovation Center and Global Alliance on Improved Nutrition (GAIN) performed practical research on successful business interventions creating better access to food and improved nutrition for the BoP. The report that was published in 2012 serves as a starting point to involve companies with low-income food markets in Africa.

Updates:
2SCALE newsletter mid 2013
2SCALE newsletter end 2013

Interview questions: (Published on 31 Oct 2013)
  1. What is the Base of the Pyramid approach? 
  2. What are the main challenges to reach the people at the base of the pyramid through core business (as opposed to Corporate Social Responsability) approaches? 

Filmed in the margins of the ECDPM conference (25 October 2013, Brussels): 'Private investment and regional approach to Nutrition Security: promoting an enabling environment through public-private-partnerships'

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