Partners

UNIPG

The University of Perugia, founded in 1308, is one of the oldest universities in Italy and one of the most accredited, offering a wide variety of courses in all fields of education. Today, research, education and consulting activities in various disciplines are organized in 16 Departments, with about 23,500 students, 1,100 professors and researchers and 1,000 staff members.
The goal of the university is to provide students with finest quality degree programmes and academic opportunities within a stimulating multicultural environment, which gives the opportunity to enjoy an excellent lifestyle and foster their personal and academic growth. In OLIVE4CLIMATE the following departments are involved:

• The Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences which performs basic and applied research in forestry and tree crops, shrubs and herbaceous.
• The Department of Engineering which is particularly specialized in Environmentally sustainable energy conversion systems as well as in the evaluation of the GHG emissions.
• The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, specialized in tridimensional modeling to solve optimization problems.

abc

abc advanced biomass concepts GmbH (abc) is a German SME, with vast experience in the fields of sustainability in agriculture, business planning, management, social sciences and renewable energies. abc has offices in Cologne, Bremen and Berlin, and was founded in 2011 with an innovative stance for sustainability. The objective of abc is the practical implementation of projects in the fields of sustainability in agriculture, renewable energies, with a focus on waste to energy, biomass and solar energy. They provide technical expertise and know-how on planning, contracting and operation to their clients. Besides, they design and implement customized capacity building and development programmes for NGOs, donor agencies, governments and the private sector. The mission of the company is to provide partners with solutions that are economically successful and sustainable for all parties.

CNR

National Research Council, Italy (CNR) is the leading national organization of research in science and technology in Italy, with a network of over 100 institutes around the country. The Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources of the CNR (CNR-IBBR), has as its primary mission the protection and sustainable management of genetic resources in agriculture, agro-food and environment fields. The CNR-IBBR manages the Mediterranean Germplasm Collection contains more than 56,000 accessions belonging to over 700 species of plants of agricultural interest. The CNR-IBBR actively contributes to the molecular characterization of the Collection of Varieties of Olive CNR, which includes approximately 800 genotypes. The Perugia Division of CNR-IBBR is particularly concerned with the evaluation of olive varieties, ecotypes threatened with extinction and for the wild olive, the study of genetic variability, the genetic determinants involved tolerance to environmental stresses, metabolism of secondary compounds, analysis of genomes, development of tools of molecular traceability of food, analysis of metabolites and markers for discriminating species of fruit (olives, grapes, hazel, cherry, citrus) and vegetables (legumes, cereals, potatoes).

IPSTVC

Agricultural Research Organization (IPSTVC) is located at the Volcani Center Campus in Bet-Dagan, near Tel Aviv. Agricultural Research Organization’s (ARO) six institutes are responsible for Plant Sciences, Animal Science, Plant Protection, Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Engineering, and Postharvest and Food Sciences. ARO also operates four research stations in various parts of the country, and serves as a testing center for agricultural products and equipments. While encompassing the full range of agricultural research activities, ARO focuses in particular on arid zone agriculture, enabling Israel – a country shortened of all resources required for agriculture – to achieve among the highest levels of agricultural output in the world. Among ARO’s areas of special expertise are: agriculture under arid conditions, agriculture on marginal soils, irrigation using effluent and saline water, crop cultivation in protected environments, freshwater fish farming under conditions of water shortage, minimization of product losses through use of latest pest control and post-harvest storage methods, breeding and development of new strains of crops and domestic animals better suited to the adverse conditions which already exist in many parts of the world, and which are likely to become even more prevalent in the future.

INASO-PASEGES

Institute for Agricultural and Co-operative Economy (INASO-PASEGES) is a civil non profit organisation, established in 2005 in Athens by the Panhellenic Confederation of Unions of Agricultural Cooperatives (PASEGES).
PASEGES was established in 1935 and is the leading body of the country’s Agricultural Cooperative Organisations in terms of ideology and coordination, supporting, promoting, boosting their activities and representing them at an International, European and national level. It is a non profit organisation and represents around 750.000 farmers, about 4.000 Agricultural Cooperatives, 111 Unions of Agricultural Cooperatives and 40 Agricultural Cooperative Organisations acting as sector cooperative organisations and Cooperative Societies Anonymes.
INASO-PASEGES is specifically crafted to serve the needs of applied research and related projects, and offer a high level of effectiveness and flexibility to all potential demands in National as well as in European and International Programmes. The scope of INASO-PASEGES is to promote the development of rural and cooperative economy at regional, national and European level and to promote strategic rural development policies, integrated regional development programs and sectoral policies that improve the quality of food and the competitiveness of food producing cooperative enterprises.

SGS

SGS Italia S.p.A. (SGS) is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. They are recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 80,000 employees, they operate a network of more than 1,650 offices and laboratories around the world. Their core services can be divided into four categories:
– Inspection: Their comprehensive range of world-leading inspection and verification services, such as checking the condition and weight of traded goods at transshipment, help their partners to control quantity and quality, and meet all relevant regulatory requirements across different regions and markets.
– Testing: their global network of testing facilities, staffed by knowledgeable and experienced personnel, enable their partners to reduce risks, shorten time to market and test the quality, safety and performance of partner’s products against relevant health, safety and regulatory standards.
– Certification: they enable their customers to demonstrate that their products, processes, systems or services are compliant with either national or international standards and regulations or customer defined standards, through certification
– Verification: they ensure that products and services comply with global standards and local regulations. Combining global coverage with local knowledge, unrivalled experience and expertise in virtually every industry, SGS covers the entire supply chain from raw materials to final consumption.

UNAPROL

U.N.A.PR.OL. CONSORZIO OLIVICOLO ITALIANO SOC. CONS. P.A. (UNAPROL) is the largest all-Italian olive-growing business in the world. Services to businesses: TRACKING Unaprol has created a system for the certification of the supply chain traceability in compliance with the ISO 22005:08, which guarantees the control over the entire production phases from the plant up to the shelves to all the companies that voluntarily subscribe to this programme. QUALITY IMPROVEMENT Unaprol promotes the product certification and offers technical assistance service to the producers and processing companies. These services are geared to improve the quality of productive processes, in compliance with good agricultural practices. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT UNAPROL promotes projects aimed at landscape preservation through the adoption of environmentally sound production systems and the dissemination of sustainable growing and picking techniques. TRADE SHOWS, PROMOTION, EVENTS Unaprol participates in the most important trade shows in its sector in Europe and across the world, during which it supports the visibility of its business partners, favors contact with specialized buyers and distribution organized within the framework of promotion projects in Europe and on third markets. It fosters collaboration with the catering industry and supports educational programs in schools on consumer awareness with the aim of disseminating the culture of high quality Italian extra virgin olive oil. MARKET ANALYSIS Unaprol constantly monitors data regarding production and commercial negotiations in the olive-growing and table olives sector along with market research in countries targeted for promotion projects in order to adjust the offer of its associates to meet consumer demands. MARKETING SUPPORT Unaprol supports a system of life-long training of sales staff and associates through management courses and courses qualifying for a career of extra virgin olive oil taster in accordance with the IOOC method.

UNIPA

Università degli Studi di Palermo (UNIPA). SAF, Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali , is an educational and research branch of the University of Palermo. The SAF develops education and research activities in the field of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences. Academic degrees are offered on the three levels according the current Italian University system regulations: undergraduate, graduate and doctorate programmes. Cooperative national and international academic curricula are available both for undergraduate and doctorate degree study programmes. Scientific research fields are within the range of agricultural, landscape and environmental research and green technologies, farm and land management, forest and ecosystem ecology, landscape ecology, sustainable crop growing techniques, horticulture, ornamental plants and floriculture, biodiversity and preservation of local genetic resources, economics and marketing of agricultural products. In particular in the field of studies of carbon balance and the role of the agricultural sector on mitigation of climate change has developed numerous research.

UNITUS

Università degli Studi della Tuscia (UNITUS). The Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-food and Forest systems (DIBAF) at University of Tuscia has been created by combining scientific expertise from the former Agriculture and Biological sciences faculties. The DIBAF is a multidisciplinary research and teaching department aiming at scientific innovation and technological progresses for the exploitation, conservation and management of biological systems and of agricultural and forest resources, and for transformation processes and food safety, with special attention to environmental sustainability. The DIBAF covers three complementary scientific areas: -The biological and chemical areas study the nature and development of organisms and their interaction with the environment, in reference to the effects of climate change, pollution and anthropic phenomena. -The food sciences and technologies areas work in the agro-food sector, with research related to manufacturing process, packaging, storage, protection and processing of foods, of food ingredients and transformed foods, including the safety aspects and sustainability, quality and traceability of food products, as well as waste management and waste processing. -The environmental and agro-forestry areas deal with the relations between plants and micro-organisms and the soil-atmosphere system, the selection of forest plants to meet the environmental challenges, the management of forest resources and green urban planning and their use for the production of biomass for energy use, the protection of plants from diseases and insect pests, the monitoring of fluxes of greenhouse gases and energy between ecosystems and atmosphere, the remote sensing, the geomatics and the modelling in field of hydraulics, forestry and the environment. Moreover the DIBAF, through University of TUSCIA that is part of the consortium Centro-Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC), is active in research activities related to climate change and its impacts.