2015

Valovirta, Ville; Saarela, Maria; Dougan, Mark; Sundqvist, Henna; Kettle, John

This report summarises the outcomes of a study into the functional and luxury food value chains in Asia and Australia. This report focuses on Pathways, and gives general conclusions and recommendations. Based on the analysis on value chains, technologies, markets, and available opportunities in the target markets, six primary pathways are suggested for the South Australian food industry: (1) food technology upgrading, (2) functional food products, (3) ingredients for functional foods, (4) active, intelligent and polysensual packaging, (5) luxury food business strategy uptake and export promotion, and (6) luxury wine driven culinary tourism. The six pathways differ significantly in terms of their target focus in the food value chain. Successful implementation of technologically-driven pathways for functional foods, food technology upgrading and packaging will require close Collaboration with technology suppliers and co-operation with research and knowledge providers. A single shortcoming identified in the local ecosystem concerning these pathways is the lack of applied research and piloting capacity necessary to upscale new products and processing technology. Another related need cutting across these pathways is capability for new technology adoption involving training, benchmarking, demonstration, technology transfer and other activities supporting particularly SME’s with limited own resources. The luxury export pathway and luxury culinary food tourism pathways are less driven by technological development and adoption. In contrast, progress depends more on effective customer understanding, collaboration in marketing, networking, and supply chain management. Nevertheless, information and communication technologies, such as social media and traceability solutions, do play an important role as necessary capabilities to be utilised. The report presents conclusions, key findings and policy recommendations.<br/>