Digital Platform for the enhancement and commercialization of agri-food

Abstract Development of a Digital Platform for the enhancement and commercialization of agri-food 1. The project starts from the observation of the actual state of quality agrifood’s marketability in the chinese market. The main issues are: the food operators’ limited knowledge of the law context; the logistic and managerial difficulties linked to the low bargaining power of italian producers, coming from the modest quantities of products involved (often characterizing the high-quality food production); the linguistic barriers; the limited knowledge in the export market of the products, their origins and qualities, and the characteristics of the production chain. In light of these considerations we propose the following project. Development of a Digital Platform for the exchange of information about products, producers and marketing processes, and the connection of producers and potential buyers, aimed at the initiation of a commercial partnership between the two agents. Through this platform it will also be possible to acquire information about the legislative framework and the administrative and logistic praxis for the enhancement and commercialization of agri foods in the chinese market. 2 - Interchange digital platform characteristics: A – Producers/products area a) Input data – Identification sheets of producers and products, indicating the production specifics through standard indicators to be defined during the project development (rating food). i.e. Geographic area of production, national and european certifications, awards, seasonal nature, available quantities, etc. B – Information interchange area b) Output data – Information sheets aimed at the commercialization in the chinese market of the products in section A). Categorization of the products in view of the individuation of the referring legislation about production and packaging processes, accompanying documentation, clearance procedures and contacts of the competent authorities. C) – Buyers/consumers area Access to the information system (producers/products database) Possibility to require information about the product Possibility to insert data and specifics about the product Possibility to directly contact the producer by means of the platform 3 - Project implementation and development Phases and objectives organization The project implementation provides the following phases, each one associated to an interim and a final goal. I Research phase and scenario definition The research focuses on the history and characteristics of the market for quality agrifood products. Interim goal Scenario analysis, aimed at checking the marketability deficits and their causes. Final goal Creation of strategies and tools (interchange digital platform) for the overcoming of the marketability deficits, with the safeguard of the product quality and the specificity of the production processes; detection and simplification of commercial enhancement processes and definition of common good practices between producers, intermediaries, importers and final consumers. Tools Phase I: Research - Organization of the research activity in products’ categories - Detection and interpretation of the legislative framework - Procedural and logistical profiles analysis for the exportation of the products’ categories - Detection of the visual identity’s indicators for the products’ categories Phase II: Results’ examination and enhancement - Analysis of the documentation and materials coming from Phase I, aimed at the detection of the strenghts and weaknesses in the market approach. Phase III: Tools preparation - Interchange platform design - Check lists, good practices, standard commercialization agreements definition, based on national and European quality indicators (guarantees of quality and implementation of the commercial value) - Definition of the input and output sheets for the enhancement of the platform - Realization and experimental implementation of the digital platform (based on §2) Phase IV: Spreading of the results and products from Phase III - Presentation of the project, the platform and its results by means of meetings with the italian and chinese institutions and the sector’s operators, aimed at the promotion and sharing of the tools developed in Phase III 4 Project lenght The creation and the first experimental phase of the platform for the first category of products will last 1 year. 5- Legal form of the platform management 1st hypotesis: Start up limited to the management of the digital platform 2nd hypotesis: Enterprises network (from producers’ side) with a specific agreement for the system management 6- Developers Unipi - Law Department – Agrarian Science Department of the University of Pisa Law Firm Vaglio