The kick-off meeting of the project MeDInno – “Joint development of innovative processes and products based on local dairy and meat tradition pertaining to ruminant farming and relevant agri-food sectors”, co-funded for 842.000,00 euro by the Interreg V-A Greece-Italy Programme 2014-2020, was held on 10 July 2018 at the Headquarters of the Region of Epirus in Ioannina, Greece.

The Region of Epirus is the lead beneficiary of this project in cooperation with one Greek partner, the Association of Transhumance Stockbreeders of Epirus, and three Italian partners, the Union of Provinces of Puglia, the Confederation for Italian Farmers of Bari and the Chamber of Commerce of Foggia. Associated Partner is the Greek-Italian Chamber of Commerce of Thessaloniki.

MeDInno project, financed under Priority Axis 1 – Innovation and Competitiveness focuses on the ruminant farming and agri-food micro & small enterprises, through the development of innovative processes and products based in local dairy and meat tradition of the Programme area, in order to decrease the rural unemployment and poverty.

Thanks to MeDInno project, new cheese and meat products will be developed through the knowledge transfer and the quality standardization and the promotion under an integrated brand strategy.

The project will also implement two day trips for 5 top chefs to get familiar with the new products in combination with workshops for local chefs (one in Epirus and one in Puglia Region), five special presentation events in Foggia, Barletta, Bari, Lecce and Taranto and a series of local training seminars and workshops targeting at local stakeholders and farmers in the two regions.