Alexandra NeytsOur second EAStalk will be given by Alexandra Neyts on October 1st, at 14:00 (GMT+2). The topic of this talk is Co-creating aquaculture awareness on a European level.

Ms. Alexandra Neyts is the General Secretary of the European Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Platform (EATiP) since 2018. This multi-stakeholder platform is dedicated to develop, support and promote technology and innovation in the aquaculture sector. For the past few years, she has been involved in the establishment and operation of the EATiP Mirror Platform working group, which aims at mobilising industry in European R&I activities. Ms. Neyts holds a Master of Science degree in bioscience engineering from the Ghent University in Belgium. She is also a project manager at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Norway, connected to the interdisciplinary strategic research area on ocean science and technology. She currently leads a long-term industry capacity building project called “Bridgehead aquaculture”.

 

The European Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Platform (EATiP): what is it all about?
As European technology platform, EATiP provides leverage to its members by being an interface between the aquaculture sector and the European Commission. Its role as industry driven multi-stakeholder arena is to promote a science-based sustainable aquaculture growth. The newly established EATiP Mirror Platforms (MiP) are national or regional clusters with an average representation of 65% private companies, linking regional or species specific priorities to European level strategies. Small and medium-sized enterprises are mobilized through the EATiP MiPs to bring forward their needs to the European agenda and to participate in collaborative actions. At the MiP working group, knowledge and best practice are exchanged and initiatives are taken to cooperate on issues of joint interest.

EATiP collaborates with other Technology Platforms to jointly endorse the development of a sustainable European Bioeconomy. In the landscape of international arenas representing the interests of aquaculture, EATiP takes the role of industry-led stakeholder forum acting to drive forward innovation, knowledge transfer and European competitiveness in collaboration with the European Commission. Through EATiP, producers, suppliers, research organisations, universities, NGO’s and associations can express a common voice into the programming of new concerted activities.

As a partner in collaborative actions, EATiP contributes to the “Multi-actor approach. This is achieved by involving its members and Mirror Platforms in user cases, by stakeholder consultations or alike, or by outreach and networking activities. EATiP also represents the European sector in international aquaculture activities. It recently engaged in a cooperation with the Copernicus Marine Services to promote a smarter use of ocean data for aquaculture monitoring and planning purposes. Another topic of high societal relevance is the transition to ecosystem-based management and a holistic food system approach. The promotion of lower trophic species and new aquaculture value chains to support a circular Bioeconomy and low impact food production is encouraged by EATiP. At Aquaculture Europe 19, EATiP and DG RTD jointly organize a session highlighting recent innovations and gaps to be filled in order to prepare recommendations for future research. The content of the EATiP position paper will also be launched there, as input to Horizon Europe and other future R&I strategies.

Video is available under the members section/EAStalk webinar/video.