Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM)

In addition, FEM trains 900 high school students and 6.000 farmers and practitioners per year. FEM has an annual turnover of 48 M €, with over a quarter of this from external funding. FEM is comprised of 3 centers: the Research and Innovation Centre (CRI), the Training and Education Centre (CIF), and the Technology Transfer Centre (CTT). CIF is characterised by different educational levels, guaranteeing education (from high school to doctorate), vocational and lifelong training around the concepts of sustainability and environmental protection of landscape and agriculture and has a strong link with the local industry. CTT’s prevalent activity regards technical consulting and services, as a concrete and direct action to support local companies and has also several peripheral sites to ensure a capillary presence on the territory.

Over the last 10 years FEM-CRI attracted funding from >255 projects (35% coordinated) funded at international, national (including EU funds allocated at national level or PSR calls) and local levels (success rate [funded/submitted] of about 29%). FEM is currently involved in 36 projects; among them, 20 EC funded projects (H2020, LIFE+, EGCT-Euregio, CEF, INTERREG, ERANET), 1 coordinated COST action, 2 KIC (EIT Climate, EIT FOOD), 4 national projects (Health Ministry, MIPAAF, PRIN MUR). FEM has obtained numerous international projects focused on food, for a total of approximately € 4,6 million in the last five years.

FEM research in food and nutrition include activities covering the different aspects related to food production, authenticity and nutritional quality by applying a transversal multi-omics approaches dedicated to food quality, nutrition and human health for the qualitative, technological and nutritional improvement of agri-food products, aiming at: food security (traceability, DOP), food production (biotechnology, production processes), food composition (quality, safety, nutrition), food sensorial quality (taste panels, volatiles), food function (nutrition, health, metabolome, metagenome).

FEM, during the last 5 years, has stipulated research agreements with 72 among national companies, cooperatives, and products’ consortia working in the area of food, 33 international companies working in the area of food and has direct exchange activities or research collaborations with all the most relevant international universities bearing a specific research interest in food science. FEM is also collaborating with EFSA, as an Art. 36 listed institutions. Finally, about ONFOODS topics, FEM is an associated member of the EIT FOOD and to the EU research infrastructures METROFOOD-RI.