The EENOVA consortium convened for its fourth project meeting in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, bringing together partners from across Europe for two days of coordination, exchange, and planning as the project enters its final year. The event was hosted by AgroTransilvania Cluster, our project partner and a key actor in Romania’s agri-food innovation landscape.
Day 1 – Alignment and Future Actions
On 27 October, discussions focused on reporting progress, aligning activities across work packages, and defining next steps. With three successful regional roundtable cycles completed, Work Package 5 is now “ready for launch” – preparing for the fourth round of roundtables to take place in the five pilot regions: Austria, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania, and Slovenia.
These sessions will build upon the insights, data, and scenarios generated in previous rounds, consolidating results into actionable policy and replication pathways.
EENOVA Methodology and the Roundtable Sequence
EENOVA’s methodology follows a structured, four-step process designed to translate energy audits into concrete value-chain action:
- 1st Roundtable – Status Quo: energy audits and baseline assessment;
- 2nd Roundtable – Critical Factors and Action Plans: identifying barriers and defining improvement measures;
- 3rd Roundtable – Scenarios: developing and validating future energy and policy scenarios;
- 4th Roundtable – Achievements: consolidating lessons, validating the EENOVA model, and producing the policy replication framework.
The fourth round thus marks the culmination of the project’s participatory process – transforming individual company actions and regional findings into a replicable model for sustainable energy management across European food value chains.
At this stage, AgriFood Lithuania, which successfully led Work Package 4 and the third roundtables, formally handed over coordination to AgroTransilvania Cluster, now leading Work Package 5 (4th Roundtables – Achievements). This transition symbolises the project’s regional continuity and shared leadership approach.
Day 2 – Field Visit to Moldovan Meat Factory
On 28 October, participants visited Moldovan, a meat-processing company engaged in the Romanian pilot. The guided tour provided first-hand insights into production practices, energy efficiency improvements, and how audit-based recommendations are being applied in real conditions.
Looking Ahead
As EENOVA enters its final year, partners are preparing for the last series of roundtables and the consolidation of project outputs into a Europe-wide replication strategy. The Cluj meeting reaffirmed EENOVA’s commitment to collaboration, cross-regional learning, and sustainable transformation in the agri-food sector.
EENOVA – Energy Efficiency in Regional Food Processing Value Chains – is co-funded by the European Union under the LIFE Clean Energy Transition programme (Grant Agreement No. 101119476).
