Bio

Eduardo Cuoco was born in Naples (Italy) where he studied and successfully completed his MSc in Food Science and Technologies. Successively, he gained a PhD on the ''Role of Stakeholder in strategic decision-making processes'' at the Polytechnic University of Marche (IT) and an executive master on Block-chain Technologies: Business Innovation and Application at MIT Sloan. He has been involved in organic farming since 1998 and collaborated with many organic organizations such as the Italian Association for Organic Farming - AIAB, the Institute for Environmental and Ethical Certification ICEA, the Mediterranean Institute of Agriculture (CIHEAM - Bari), BIOCERT, and others. During the first career phase (1998/2008), he focused on the regional and national development of the organic policies in Italy, regarding rural development plans, promotional and certification schemes. Furthermore, he also promoted the organic industry in Italy as an innovation broker. Since 2008 he is contributing and serving the European organic sector as staff member of IFOAM Organics Europe where in 2016 he was appointed as Director. Further, Eduardo is involved in the establishment and management of the European Technology Platform ''TP Organics'' (as Head of the Secretariat) and of the Technological Innovation Platform of IFOAM “TIPI” (as Council member). He is currently participating in different expert groups such as the Agriculture Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS-SCAR) and the Euro-Mediterranean Expert Group (EMEG).