Generating an annual turnover of above €100billion and proving direct employment to more than 300.000 people. the Food industry is one of the key pillars of the economy of Flanders. the Netherlands. Lower Saxony and North-Rhine-Westphalia. Geographical and cultural proximity have led to the creation of strong trading relations (export/imports) between the regions. However. boundaries still remain when it comes to establishing B2B and B2S relations for research and development and innovation. The aim of the FOOD2MARKET (F2M) project is to increase the innovation capacity of NWE food sector SMEs by accelerating the transformation of ideas and knowledge into new products. processes and services that increase SMEs’ competitiveness and allow them to rapidly react to market trends and access new transnational markets. using as main inspiration two fundamental market drivers: sustainability and health-consciousness. To achieve this. partners will create a permanent transnational innovation incubator that will assist food sector SMEs in overcoming common barriers to innovation and facilitate international (and in many cases interdisciplinary) cooperation needed to achieve such innovation. The incubator scheme will be piloted in order to ensure both first real impact and also to optimize the quality of the support offered to SME’s. This ensures that we reach our aim to permanently improve the innovation framework for the largest manufacturing sector. The F2M project is driven by 5 food sector clusters in the regions: Flanders (Flanders´ Food). The Netherlands (Food Valley and Food Connection Point Innovatie). Lower Saxony (Deutsches Institut für Lebensmitteltechnik) and North Rhine-Westphalia (Food-Processing Initiative). These entities know each other well and 4 have since March 2008 formalized their collaboration in the Foodspot platform. Achievements: Food2Market has been incredibly successful in supporting agro-food SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) along their innovation processes in the past years.An overview of the results, you can find here: http://www.food2market.eu/content/download/1065/13103/version/1/file/F2M_booklet_08-final-2-web.pdfOver the past three years the project has assessed the innovation potential of 170 SMEs, held 9 innovation training sessions for 111 agro-food managers, published 8 trend reports, and helped develop 225 innovation concepts, to name some examples.The Food2Market initiative comprises five food network organisations from Germany, Flanders and the Netherlands, each with the know-how and networks needed to ensure success.