After eighteen months of hard-working in the TRANSDAIRY Living Labs to enhance the Technological Transfer and entrepreneurship among research, industry, and SMEs in the fields of Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) applied to the Dairy Value Chain (DVC), the Higher School of Engineers of Medjez El Bab (ESIM), and the associate partner Livestock and Pasture Office (OEP) offered an excellent opportunity to the TRANSDAIERY Living Labs innovators from Italy, Lebanon, Greece, and Tunisia to meet in the cross border brokerage event in Tunisia, to pitch their innovative solutions, compete each other, and built cross border collaboration and networking.

This event started with an opening session inaugurated by the Tunisian decision-makers, the representatives of the ENI CBC med program, and the coordinator of the TRANSDAIRY project.

After a word of welcome by Prof. Hassen Kharroubi, General Director of ESIM, Prof Hichem Ben Salem, General Director of the Agricultural Institution of Research and Higher Education (IRESA), as well as Prof  Hichem Sebai, President of the university of Jendouba have underscored the IRESA and university roles’ and efforts in bolstering researchers' entrepreneurs' creativity.

After that, Prof. Helmi Merdassi, General Director of the Management Unit of the European Union Framework Program for Research and Innovation in the Ministry of scientific research and Higher Education took the floor to congratulate the team of ESIM for having committed to this particular project deals with the entrepreneurship and innovation and highlighted that this topic is a current challenge in Tunisia and one of the priorities of the European program.

Mrs. Salwa Chatti, representative of the cross-border cooperation direction in the ministry of economy and planning praised how important TRANSDAIRY project is, by saying:" If we are meeting today, it is obviously because Transdairy is an excellent project, you are indeed aware of the tri-competitive nature of financing within the framework of cross-border cooperation which is allocated to the best project".

Then, the ENI CBC Med programme was presented by Dr. Khaled Saadany, Senior Expert of Education, Research & Innovation of the Joint technical secretariat, who expressed his thanks for the good organization of this special event that offered an excellent opportunity to meet all stakeholders with researcher’s entrepreneurs, and he hopes that it will be very fruitful for the prosecution of the TRANSDAIRY project. Then he presented the new NEXTMED programme, its aims, and its horizons.

Additionally, Eng. Zied Kbaier project officer of Education, Research & Innovation of the Joint technical secretariat, presented the performance indicators of Tunisian participation in the ENI CBC MED programme.

Last but not least, Prof Luigi Zeni, the principal coordinator of the TRANSDAIRY project assured that the event was not only about coming up with ideas or evaluating pitches but also about boosting networking among innovators and building borderless relations that will create new business opportunities in the Mediterranean basin area.

The inaugural session was closed with the intervention of Dr. Fatma Trabelsi, communication manager of the TRANSDAIRY project, and the ESIM coordinator. She highlighted the opportunities and grants that TRANSDAIRY offers to all participants and proudly explained how satisfied to meet all distinguished guests.

Furthermore, to boost the synergies between the ENI CBC Med projects of the cluster innovation, a specific session was dedicated to presenting the activities of the INTECMED and PPI4Med projects by the Tunisian partner the National agency for the promotion of scientific research (ANPR) through its coordinator Mrs. Souad Boussaid and Mrs. Sonia Zgarni, respectively.

After the synergy session, it was time for the potential entrepreneurs to take a stand and present their creative projects. In fact, Twenty-Two creative projects, from the four countries, were presented during a two-hours pitching session.

• The Living Lab of the Industry and Innovation Promotion Agency (APII) is represented by two entrepreneurs;

• The Living Lab of the Agriculture University of Athene (AUA) is represented by three entrepreneurs;

• The Living Lab of the Higher School of Engineers of Medjez El Bab (ESIM) is represented by nine entrepreneurs;

• The Living Lab of the Institute of Communications and Computer Systems (ICCS) is represented by one entrepreneur;

• The Living Lab of the Industrial Research Institute (IRI) is represented by two entrepreneurs;

• The Living Lab of the Università degli Studi della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" (UCLV) is represented by three entrepreneurs;

The pitch session was closed by a fruitful debate during which questions were asked to the speakers and some recommendations and advice were suggested by the senior researchers in Bio/Nano, ICT, and DVC, the experts in intellectual property and innovation process, the experts in the spin-off creation, national and international donors, industrial in DVC and entrepreneurship coaches.

Among the TRANSDAIRY brokerage event goals is to boost networking for all young entrepreneurs with financing institutions, business incubators, and business angels. To do it, B2B matchmaking and round table session were organized in which all guests participated in two main groups dedicated to ICT & Bio/Nanotechnologies applied to DVC. During this session, entrepreneurs took other business opportunities and extended their network by receiving several collaboration proposals.

The first day of this cross-border brokerage event was closed by a coffee-talk break, a convivial opportunity for all TRANSDAIRY Living Labs innovators of Italy, Greece, Lebanon, and Tunisia to discuss future synergies for developing co-patent and co-publications.

On the second day, during three competitions, the TRANSDAIRY project offered the Living Labs innovators the floor to convince three honorable juries of experts from the four countries to get vouchers for prototypes, co-publications, and co-patents.

The jury members praised their solutions' originality and they gifted the winners vouchers for 8 prototypes, 2 co-publications, and 2 co-patents

 In between,  during the break, a coffee talk was devoted to the INTECMED project entrepreneurs to present their projects and products in Bioagrifood.

Noting that potential synergy was developed between TRANSDAIRY and INTECMED innovators by discussing future collaboration in ICT & Biotechnologies sector.

 Finally, the cross-border event was closed by Mr. Fethi Ben Mimoun, General Director of the cross-border cooperation direction of the Ministry of Economy and Planning, Mr. Khaled Saadany, and Mr. Zied Kbaier of the JTS ENI CBC Med program and Prof. Mokhtar Mahouachi former Chief of the Cabinet of the Ministry of scientific research and higher education. The speakers have widely thanked the communication manager Dr. Fatma Trabelsi and all her organization team for the excellent organization and the fruitful outcomes of this brokerage event.

The dream has just begun,

Stay tuned for more.