Brittany is France’s leading agricultural and food-processing region; it is also Europe’s leading exporter of agri-food. Because of this , the Valorial agri-food competitiveness cluster enjoys huge industrial and technological potential with 150 industrial companies, 70,000 jobs, 600 researchers and a dense network of research and technology transfer centres.

A wide range of training and education is also one of Brittany’s main features.

Industrial companies and research or training bodies within Valorial work together to create projects that will result in the production of the foodstuffs of the future, products that will take on the challenges of global competitiveness.

Valorial’s main strategic guidelines are as follows:

• to design new ingredients for food products that are adapted to national and international markets: functional, nutritional, healthy, culinary ingredients etc.
• to design and develop easy-to-use service foodstuffs by making use of new technologies and new packaging (functional, eco-friendly etc.)
• to satisfy the expectations of various categories of consumers for foodstuffs with the appropriate nutritional and healthy qualities e.g. high-quality, traceable raw ingredients, prevention of obesity and the related diseases etc.
• to develop “client relationships” with consumers and distributors so that they can take advantage of expertise and the cluster can anticipate their expectations for new products or new packaging.

The Valorial cluster involves all players in the agri-food sector (dairy, meat, egg products, vegetables etc.), from production to consumption e.g. producers, food-processing industries and their suppliers, equipment manufacturers, ingredient manufacturers etc.

To comply with its main guidelines, Valorial is working on eight topics or areas of particular expertise:

Four “sector-based” areas:

• milk and dairy products,
• egg and egg-based products,
• meat technology (working with the InnoViandes cluster in Clermont-Ferrand),
• vegetables (working with the European fruit and vegetables innovation cluster in Avignon).

Four cross-sector areas:

• food microbiology,
• functional ingredients,
• nutrition and health,
• industrial processes and packaging.

For further information, consult the cluster’s website