On 13 December 2021 UNIDO ITPO Italy moderated and took part in the webinar "From Past to Future: Innovation in the tomato food value chain”, organized in collaboration with Future Food Institute with the goal of bringing together international SMEs in the field of sustainable tomato production to introduce innovative solutions for the development of the agroindustry in Egypt.

This initiative was organized within the framework of the project "Inclusive and sustainable development of the tomato value chain (TVC) in Egypt”, implemented by UNIDO and funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).

Started with the welcome remarks of UNIDO ITPO Italy Head Ms. Diana Battaggia, National Coordinator of UNIDO Egypt Mr. Omar Abdin and President of Future Food Institute Ms. Sara Roversi, the conference - moderated by UNIDO ITPO Italy's Investment Promotion Expert Mr. Francesco Pallocca - featured the participation of: CEO of Mebiol Mr. Hiroshi Yoshioka, illustrating the Japanese company’s film farming model for growing tomato plants; Ms. Adriana Palmitessa, Co-Founder of Newtra Food, an Italian company specialized in food processing solutions to achieve zero food waste; and Mr. Pierluigi Meriggi, President and Co-Founder of Horta - spin-off of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart - transforming research into remote-sensing technologies for precision and sustainable agriculture. 

Concluded by an interactive Q&A session, this webinar successfully contributed to promote knowledge-sharing and technology-transfer with regards to innovative solutions in the field of tomato production and processing, fostering inclusive and sustainable development of tomato and food value chains in Egypt and the Mediterranean region.

The second episode of this webinar series will be dedicated to tomato processing and will take place on 14 December 2021.