With this headline is presented the website of the SSPO (Scotish Salmon Producers Organsation), which since 2006 manages and controls 95% of the salmon produced in Scotland, which is a considerable figure.
I like the model and I especially I like the way they understand that progress, innovation, industry development must be based on being able to generate the necessary knowledge, applying the highest scientific quality, and working together for it.
Thus defined several areas containing the main objectives that the industry has identified as challenges and thus generate an economic structure that supports scientific groups working specifically on providing solutions to the needs of the industry. How ?, As a through its active participation in the project they have called «Scottish Aquacultre Research Forum» which set the lines to be financed and the type of projects (topics) that can be recipients of funding. This project is one of the 33 priority actions to support research and development in aquaculture.
In fact SARF in a non-for-profit company that draws on the funds of its members, with a budget of 400,000 pounds per year and 1.5 million pounds for the three year duration of this project. Members are basically all the actors who have the capacity to say something about government, local and regional authorities, associations of producers and scientists.
What projects funded? What they have decided to have value to the industry, fully applied to solve problems, whatever their level of development, basic, applied or industry implementation, and trying to involve as many actors better.
In short, the industry says what your needs are, they publish them, find the model of research funding and clearly defines the objectives for each of the projects financed, there is no doubt researchers know what to do and what expected of them.
I like the model and they know how to sell well to the consumer, to the society.