Dr. Walter Mayrhofer from the FTI Burgenland (Research-Technology-Innovation Agency) opened the kick-off event on behalf of MoniQA’s new offices in Neutal, Austria (some 50 minutes’ drive South of Vienna Airport) with an appreciation of MoniQA’s initiatives in supporting the food industry and authorities to guarantee a high degree of food safety and quality, and by bringing new international expertise to Burgenland.
Representing the regional government of Burgenland, the most Eastern state of Austria, Mrs. Verena Dunst, officially welcomed MoniQA Association and emphasized the importance of international networks for Burgenland’s regional research and innovation activities, and a sustainable economic growth of Burgenland’s strong agricultural and food production sectors.
Dr. Roland Poms, Secretary General of MoniQA Association described the tools and vast information source that MoniQA offers and gave a glimpse into future research projects that MoniQA has submitted (together with various international consortia) within the frame of the European Commission’s Horizon2020 Programme.
Several members of MoniQA presented their institution joint activities at the event: Prof. Wolfgang Kneifel from BOKU – the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna explained the joint international educational and training programmes; BSc. Christoph Reiterich from R-Biopharm (a biotech company in food diagnostics, Germany) reported on the joint initiative to produce new reference materials for food allergen analysis and the validation of test kits. Finally, Dr. Rita Litauszky from FFG – the Austrian Research Promotion Agency appreciated MoniQA’s track of successful research proposals funded by the European Commission.