Partner 1: University of Bonn (coordinator, core consortium; UniBonn)
Role, contribution and qualification

The University of Bonn is one of Germany’s elite research universities with particular focus on and extensive experience in international research. Its Chair for Business Management, Organization and Information Management of the Department of Agricultural and Food Economics (UniBonn) has been a pioneer in all subjects related to food quality management since the early 1990s. It has become a globally visible hub in the use of ICT for food quality management. It is the leading German research institute for food quality management, food chain management, food process management, and e-commerce in the food sector. UniBonn has been leading one of the first tracking and tracing implementations for food quality and food safety management. UniBonn has a long record in organising international workshops and conferences on these topics (in 1997, 1999, 2001, and 2003) and currently organises an international workshop on trust in B2B e-commerce in the food sector in February 2006 (www.uf.uni-bonn.de/trust2006).

UniBonn will take the responsibility to coordinate the e-Trust project and to lead WP1 and WP7. In addition, it will participate in other workpackages. UniBonn contributes to the project expertise in food quality management, food chain management and organisation, B2B ecommerce in the food sector, the organization of the German food sector, trust in electronic commerce, and a B2B e-commerce platform developed for the food sector, which will be used in the experimental assessments in WP7. In addition, UniBonn contributes the Internet-based e-collaboration platform BSCW to support project communication and networking and provides videoconference equipment (Polycom multipoint videoconference) for discussions with the project consortium.

Scientific personnel involved

Professor Schiefer will act as coordinator of the e-Trust project. He has been holding the Chair of Business Management, Organization and Information Management since 1990. Professor Schiefer has extensive experience in coordinating national and European research projects funded by the Ministry of Agriculture ("E-commerce in specialized agri-food markets", 2002-2004) the EU ("PromStap", ongoing), the Germany National Research Organisation, DFG, ("E-commerce and management systems in the food sector" 2002-2003 and "Process optimisation in electronic trade", ongoing), and the German Academic Exchange Service ("Trust generation in complex markets of the food sector with increasing integration of electronic trading relationships", bilateral project with DEIAgra-UniBO).

His main research interests are process innovations for food safety and food quality facilitated by new technologies including electronic commerce. Professor Schiefer was instrumental in the foundation of EFITA (European Federation of Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and Environment), which is the leading European association for information technology in the food sector. The EFITA will be used as forum the dissemination of results to both practitioners of SMEs of the project through workshops within European conferences.

Professor Schiefer has initiated an international double degree master studies program between the universities of Bonn and Wageningen (Food and Resource Economics). Prof. Schiefer was chairman of the German national association for informatics in agribusiness and editor of the Journal for Agricultural Informatics (in German) and co-founder and manager of a software company for management support in the food sector.

He is involved in the European Technology Platform "Food for Life", which aims at improving welfare and well-being in Europe through high quality food and research and innovation in the European agro-food industry and an effective transfer of technology and knowledge, and other European research projects.

Assistant professor at the Chair of Business Management, Organization and Information Management. Her main research interests are food quality and trust between food companies and e-commerce for food chain management. She will act as project manager of the e-Trust project and lead the UniBonn group. She is experienced in managing international bilateral project funded by the VIGONI program from the German Academic Exchange Service in collaboration with the partner DEIAgra-UniBO ("Trust generation in complex markets of the food sector with increasing integration of electronic trading relationships", bilateral project with DEIAgra-UniBO).

Research stays an the University of Florida, USA, Università di Bologna, INRA, involved in teaching at the University of Bonn, regular guest lecturer at Università di Bologna. Dr. Fritz was awarded the 2005 EFITA Junior Prize of the European Federation of Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and Environment. She chairs the Organization Committee of the International European Seminar on Trust and Risk in Business Networks in February 2006.

Partner 2: BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (coreconsortium)

The University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, is Austria's leading university for food and natural resources indispensable for human life and well-being. The research group at the Institute for Marketing and Innovation, BOKU, is experienced in food quality research, food quality management, e-commerce in the food industry, and consumer demands for food quality marketing. In 1996 it started one of the first research projects in the field of food chain e-commerce, which was awarded the Austrian Agricultural-Marketing-Award. Recently BOKU has completed a research project about food quality product development and trust in cooperation with Austrian food industry companies. There is specific know-how concerning the management of geographically dispersed and collaborative food chain members and the use of the Analytical Hierarchy Process, which will be used in WP6. The group received a Best Paper Award at the International Symposium on the Analytic Hierarchy Process in 2001.

BOKU will take direct responsibility of WP2 and WP6, participate in other WPs and contributes expertise and knowledge in (electronic) food quality marketing with particular focus on Austria, and the Analytical Hierarchy Process as method to prioritize trust in the European food sector. In addition, it will contribute knowledge about the Austrian food sector and food marketing in the food distribution chain. BOKU disposes of a high-end Polycom videoconference equipment to support the communication among the consortium members. Members of the team are: Rainer Haas, Oliver Meixner, and Christoph Ameseder.

Partner 3: DEIAgra-UniBO - Department of Agricultural Economics and Engineering of the Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna (core consortium)

The Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna is a leading teaching and research University in Italy in a wide range of fields. The Department of Agricultural Economics and Engineeering (DEIAgra-UniBO) is doing research on food quality and safety management, food chains and studies on production, distribution and consumption of agricultural produce and food products. It also collaborates with agri-food industry associations and SMEs in Italy.

The research interests cover quality marketing in the food sector, including e-commerce, quality food products value enhancement and branding (organic food, geographical indication, functional food), and multi criteria decision analysis with AHP. DEIAgra-UniBO contributes to the project expertise in food quality and e-commerce in the Italian food sector, in participating into the survey design, implementation and data analysis activities. The DEIAgra-UniBO has the responsibility of leading the "Dissemination" workpackage (WP8) and it will participate in several WPs. Members of the team are: Maurizio Canavari (Team and WP8 leader), Roberta Spadoni, Nicola Cantore, Erika Pignatti, Franco Baraldi and Maria Papadopoulou.

Partner 4: University of Maribor (extended consortium, UniMaribor)
Role, contribution and qualification

The Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Maribor, Slovenia, offers undergraduate and postgraduate education and lies in the centre of the most important agricultural region of Slovenia. The Department for Agricultural Economics (UniMaribor) has its main research interests in organic food production, high quality food marketing and information management across food chains including multi criteria decision analysis with AHP, and is involved in many national research projects. UniMaribor contributes to the project expertise in the Slovenian food sector, which is taken as example for the new member states’ food sectors, and the analysis of its chains and product flows. It will be involved in WPs 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

Scientific personnel involved

Assistant professor for Farm management and Information Systems, his main research interests lie in food chain analysis and multi criteria decision analysis. He has led projects regarding the analysis of trade flows of Slovene agri-food products and developed an analytical tools for the coherent economic analysis of agricultural markets in Slovenia and will lead the group of UniMaribor in this project.

Partner 5: UnMac - University of Macedonia (core consortium)

The University of Macedonia is one of the newest Greek universities. The group of the Department of Applied Informatics takes direct responsibility of WP2 which deals with project's communication and is also involved in other WP's dealing with the analysis of different European food chains and the assessment of trust elements in traditional and electronic relationships. Members of the group are: Maro Vlachopoulou, leader and coordinator of the UnMac team, Aristides Matopoulos who is responsible for the research in WPs, and Spyros Kitsiou who is in charge of the managerial and technical support of the project.

Partner 6: Polytechnic University of Madrid (core consortium, UPM)
Role, contribution and qualification

The Polytechnic University of Madrid is very dynamic in research projects in different fields, and is the leader of the Spanish universities in EU research projects. The Department of Agricultural Economics and Social Science of the E.T.S.I. Agronomos (UPM) contributes to the project a long term experience in food marketing and food quality perception as well as electronic commerce in the food sector with focus on Spain. The group has carried out empirical research projects about food quality policy, consumer behaviour and food safety, using qualitative approaches such as focus groups and in depth interviews and various analytical approaches used with quantitative analytical data including factor analysis and regression. The group will take direct responsibility of WP 4 and participate in other WPs.

Scientific personnel involved

Prof. Julian Briz will lead the group of UPM in the e-Trust project. He holds the chair of Agricultural Marketing at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Social Science at the UPM since 1983. Visiting Professor at Univ. Florida and California (USA) and other European universities. He has extensive experience in carrying out food safety, food marketing and food quality chain management research projects at national and international level, including projects financed by the European Union, USA, and Spanish institutions, working in collaboration with professionals and consumer's organisations. He was a participant in the AIR-CAT projects "Measurements of consumer attitudes (1994-98) and EUFAIR Meat quality policy and consumer behaviour (CT 95-0046), Global Food Network (ICA4-CT-2002-10002), TRACE Integrated Project of VI EU Frame Work Program (Nº 006942), HEALTHSENSE Integrated Project of V EU Frame Work (QLK1-CT-1999-00010).

Prof. Julian Briz is chairman of the Observatory of Food Safety at the Foro Agrario, with workshops in meat, fish, fruit and vegetables.

She is associate professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Social Science an the UPM. Her main research interests involve food marketing and food quality perception.

Partner 7: WU - Wageningen University and Research Centre (core consortium)

Wageningen University is the leading European university in the Life Sciences. Researchers and students at Wageningen University focus on the fields of nutrition, health, nature and the living environment. All of these are studied from both technical and social perspectives. The Social Science group is one of five groups of the university. Socio-economic research complements the technical research done at Wageningen UR and gives it added value. We focus on agriculture, horticulture and fishery, management of rural areas, agribusiness and the production and consumption of food. Our research assists governments and businesses in their entrepreneurial choices, management of production chains, spatial planning, environmental performance, natural resource management, European agricultural policy and world trade .

Members of the team are Gert Jan Hofstede (team and WP3 leader), Elsje Ooosterkamp, and Gert-jan van Sprundel.