LETSGROW – the seed has been planted

The LETSGROW project officially launched with a vibrant two-day kick-off event hosted by Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) in Porto on 11–12 June 2025. Gathering representatives from partner institutions across Europe, the event marked the beginning of a collaborative journey to foster cross-sector talent development in the agri-food industry, academic and non-academic intersectoral mobility, and innovative training across the continent.

‘Engaging in collaboration based on an alliance of seven universities and four partners beyond academia will have a large impact on what we will build within the brand new consortium. The aim is to develop applicable research, provide comprehensive training sessions, and secure a stable mobility network between all the entities. The synergy will be highly beneficial to both environments,’ said João Cortez, the Director of the Research and Innovation Office at Universidade Católica Portuguesa.

The first day opened with a networking session, setting the stage for productive exchanges among project partners. The welcome reception featured a ‘Tour de Table’ led by UCP, introducing participants and institutions involved. Project Officer Isabelle D’Argenteuil followed with an overview, reinforcing the project’s alignment with broader EU goals in education and innovation.

UCP then presented the overarching objectives and KPIs of LETSGROW, providing a clear framework for the project’s ambition to build bridges between academia and industry through talent mobility and skills development. Subsequent presentations from leaders outlined the scope of such key areas as Cross-sectoral Training Development, Collaboration & Talent Development, Talent Mobility, as well as Impact, Dissemination and Communication.

Day two opened with reflections and a focused look at implementation. Partners led sessions on mapping resources, developing a training calendar, and designing assessment tools for evaluating training events, along with providing insights into monitoring mechanisms.

The day also featured discussions on administrative and financial aspects, collaboration with external stakeholders, and connections with the Transform4Europe Alliance, ensuring LETSGROW aligns with and contributes to existing European initiatives.

The meeting concluded with a summary of the next steps, leaving participants energised for the work ahead.

With a strong kick-off, LETSGROW is set to provide support to researchers and innovators associated with the agri-food sector via organising professional training sessions, strengthening intersectoral mobility—both academic and non-academic—and creating conditions contributing to and fostering more attractive career paths.

The project consortium includes Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Portugal, leader of the consortium), LIPOR (Portugal), Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” (Bulgaria), Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania), UAB Nando (Lithuania), University of Silesia in Katowice (Poland), University of Primorska (Slovenia), Saarland University (Germany), University of Alicante (Spain), the National Technology Centre for Canning (Spain), and the University of Alicante Science Park (Spain).

More about the project at: https://www.ucp.pt/.