Interdisciplinary Education and Research Platform in Cold-Chain of Fish: From Norway to Japan

Norway and Japan are countries with a highly developed fish processing industry and a deep knowledge, practice and technology in cold chain. Japan has a high share of fish import, while Norway is oriented on fish export. Norway had direct exports of over 114,000 tonnes of seafood to Japan in 2017, with a value of NOK 4 billion. This made Japan the largest Asian market for Norwegian seafood exports. The Japanese market has much higher potential for further growth for Norwegian seafood. At the same time, the high competition on the global market and other players like USA, Russia, China, Scotland and Canada requires measures for further development and increased sustainability and efficiency of the cold-chain between Norway and Japan. IntER-Cold will establish an education and research platform for knowledge exchange between researchers, students and industry between Norwegian and Japanese institutes for the seafood cold chain. The education and R&D will address the following complex challenges in the cold-chain development: 1. Decreasing of wastes during processing and handling of fish: Zero-Wastes approach; 2. Effective separation and utilization of rest-raw materials for human consumptions; 3. Efficient chilling, freezing and storage solutions, which satisfy the requirement to product quality, required high capacity, energy efficiency and sustainability; 4. Long high-quality shelf-life, which provide fresh and valuable products to consumers and increased flexibility in retail sector. IntER-Cold is focused on the following target groups: students, young researchers, academic staff and industry. IntER-Cold will provide (1) interdisciplinary seminars on cold chains, (2) guest lecturing, (3) workshops, (4) training programs, (5) research related visits and internships, (6) joint supervision of master diploma thesis, and (7) joint publications on research results. Due to the Covid 19 situation the planned activities are scheduled for for the period 2022-2024.

IntER-Cold will establish an education and research platform for knowledge exchange between researchers, students and industry between Norwegian and Japanese institutes for the seafood cold chain. The education and R&D activate on the following complex challenges will make an important impact on the cold-chain development: 1. Decreasing of wastes during processing and handling of fish: Zero-Wastes approach; 2. Effective separation and utilization of rest-raw materials for human consumptions; 3. Efficient chilling, freezing and storage solutions, which satisfy the requirement to product quality, required high capacity, energy efficiency and sustainability; 4. Long high-quality shelf-life, which provide fresh and valuable products to consumers and increased flexibility in retail sector. IntER-Cold is focused on the following target groups: students, young researchers, academic staff and industry. This will ensure the high quality and relevance of the education and research to the industry and market needs and provide benefits for all the partners. The project is planned as Dissemination and Communication activity and is plan to organise interdisciplinary seminars on cold chains, guest lecturing, workshops, training programs, research related visits and internships, joint supervision of master diploma thesis as well as joint publications on research results.