The METROFOOD-PP 1st Consortium Assembly Meeting took place on the 5th and 6th November 2020 on line.  The whole consortium of METROFOOD-PP, with representatives of all the Beneficiaries and Linked Third Parties covering 48 institutes from 18 countries, meet on line with more than 120 participants. The meeting was originally planned to be organized in presence in Prague, Czech Republic, but plans were changed due to the COVID-19 crisis and therefore it was moved on-line.

The meeting was the opportunity to gather together all the institutes engaged in setting up, implementing and making ready-to-operation METROFOOD-RI, discuss about the status of METROFOOD-PP after 1 year of activity examining all the Work Packages. On the 5th of November, the meeting lasted for the whole day the administrative and organisational issues and ethics (WP1 & 16) were considered, then the WPs of Block 1 (“Building METROFOOD-RI”) & Block 2 (“Structuring METROFOOD-RI”) were examined in detail. On the 6th of November, the Consortium Assembly meeting lasted for half a day in the morning, continuing with the detailed examination of the WPs of Block 3 (“Strategic Planning”) and then of WP15 (Dissemination).

During the Block discussions, the respective WP Leaders gave updates on the activities performed during the first year (Dec. 2019 – Nov. 2020) and a special focus was given to the activity plan for the upcoming 6 months (Dec. 2020 – May 2021), highlighting the actions expected by task contributors and Node Representatives.

Question & Answer sessions with open discussions on the three blocks, communication and dissemination and next steps and future plans took place, along with live interactions about some topics and activities related to WP7 (e-infrastructure development), 10 (Research and Innovation Agenda), 12 (Socio-economic Benefit), and 15 (Dissemination) were arranged using SliDo.

To complete, at the end of day 1, an internal MC meeting was held and the afternoon of day 2 was dedicated to an internal meeting of Node Representatives.

The Consortium Assembly meeting was the opportunity to approve the management principles (thus reaching milestone MS4), while during the Management Committee meeting the principles and methodologies for cost book update and financial plan development (and the Data Management Plan were approved (thus reaching milestones MS5 and MS6).

It was a pity not to meet in person, and everybody missed the personal contact, as well as the important share, discussion and direct exchanged (professional and particularly human) during the breaks and social parts of the meetings, particularly considering that this was the second meeting in presence moved to the on-line version and that the pandemic crisis obliged all of us to cancel or move on-line also lots of workshops and conferences. Nevertheless, the virtual meeting was very successful, with huge participation and active involvement from all the involved institutes and very proactive discussions. Once more, it has been demonstrated that the most important strengthen and added value is the team!

Thanks to the Block and WP Leaders, the Management Committee and all the Deputies! Thanks to the Beneficiaries, Node Representatives and Linked Third Parties! Thanks to the teams of all the partner Institutes, and the new colleagues who joined the team during the last year! COVID-19 put us in front of an unexpected big challenge, but gave us once more the proof that the METROFOOD family is «the best team ever»!

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