From 13-15 October Euroseeds held its 2019 Congress in Stockholm, Sweden. This year’s event set a new record of presence! With an attendance of more than 1100 participants from almost 50 countries across the world, the importance of this congress for the European and international seed sector was once more confirmed. And for the first time this year, our new name, branding and logo Euroseeds was showcased!
During the meetings of the specific crop sections, participants got the latest updates and detailed information on many horizontal and crop-specific issues important for seed companies in Europe and worldwide such as:
- The state of play of plant breeding and agriculture in general in Sweden;
- Facilitating the international movement of seed: latest developments at OECD;
- How scenario planning can help shape successful future research strategies;
- An overview on the European Protein Plan in the global oilseeds’ context;
- How the CPVO is changing its approach to public requests on breeding scheme information;
- Lessons learnt from the blockchain pilot projects in the food industry sector;
- The EU Plant Health Regulation– a guide through the labyrinth;
- EU’s policies in between the seed treatment guidance document and microplastics’ restriction;
- Plant Intellectual Property from a retailer’s perspective;
- Production without protection? Is Europe demanding the impossible?
Participants also had the chance to assist to very inspiring and insightful talks and debates on the following topics:
- Exploring the options to consolidate and update the EU seed legislation, with an engaging panel debate with representatives from the European Commission, CPVO, CREA, Euroseeds;
- Plant breeding innovation: science and practice of acceptance policy and communication engagement with contributions from Prof. Daniel Barben, University of Klagenfurth and Jon Entine, Founder and Executive Director of Genetic Literacy Project.
Moreover, as every year, large trade and exhibition facilities provided ample space for a buzzing atmosphere of professional exchange and interaction of participants, and exposure for companies showcasing the latest developments in technical equipment, mechanical components, processing technologies and plant breeding software.
This year, ahead of the congress, we also organised a one and half day workshop with our national association members to specifically address the membership engagement and enhance members’ collaboration with Euroseeds. Crucial attention is paid to the importance of all our national association members for their potential outreach and advocacy work at Member State level. The workshop allowed to reach fruitful discussions and further plans for increased collaborative efforts.
For the first time we also run a Twitter competition to boost the visibility of our congress online: we got quite a number of potential ambassadors that made great use of our hashtag #Euroseeds2019. Congratulations to all!
To get a few snapshots and quotes of the event check the hashtags: #Euroseeds2019
More pictures will soon be made available at: https://www.euroseedscongress.com
The next Euroseeds Congress will be held from 11 to 13 October 2020 in Malta! We hope to see you all there and set a new record of attendance next year!
N.B. to our members: All the presentations will be made available on the Members’ Area – both under the specific section folders and the Assembly General folder.
