Corina Creţu, the European Commissioner responsible for Regional Policy visited the Province of North-Brabant on 16 November 2015, where she participated in an event on Smart Specialisation and visited EU-funded projects, including the Gruyterfabriek and the Plant Lab, in s-Hertogenbosch. The Mayor of s’Hertogenbosch, Chairman of AgriFood Capital and Ambassador for the European Region of Gastronomy Award, Anton Rombouts, was a key speaker at the event and introduced Commissioner Creţu to the European Region of Gastronomy project within which North Brabant is a partner. He talked about the strengths of the region, including the R&D capacity of the AgriFood network, the interesting crossovers of Agrifood with other sectors and the way the region’s agrifood works within a triple helix model. Commissioner Creţu welcomed the idea of the European Region of Gastronomy Platform that encourages regions to work together and she said that she was sure North Brabant would be an excellent candidate for the IGCAT Award in 2018 because it would be able to combine Entrepreneurial Excellence (Brabant was Europe Entrepreneurial Region in 2014) with hospitality, therefore providing a sound basis for Gastronomy.
The European Region of Gastronomy Platform and Award are projects conceived by IGCAT that aim to contribute to better quality of life in European regions, by highlighting distinctive food cultures, educating for better health and sustainability and stimulating gastronomic innovation. For more information, please visit http://