Three years, five European food value chains and countless conversations about energy efficiency. In October 2026, it all came together in Brussels, where EEIP had the pleasure of hosting the EENOVA final event, The Taste of Energy Efficiency, and organising its closing meeting.
As the project’s communication and dissemination leader, EEIP had been closely involved in sharing EENOVA’s journey from the beginning. Bringing the consortium and the wider European energy efficiency community together in Brussels was a fitting way to celebrate the work, exchange the final lessons and give the project’s results a platform beyond its own partnership.
From Our Office to the Conference Stage
The two-day programme began on 6 October at EEIP’s office in the ICAB Business & Technology Incubator in Etterbeek. After years of working together across five countries, partners gathered for one last in-person consortium meeting to reflect on their achievements, discuss the remaining tasks and prepare for the public event the following day.
There was plenty to look back on. EENOVA had worked with food-processing businesses in Austria, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia, exploring how energy efficiency improvements could be approached not only within individual companies but across entire regional value chains. The meeting offered a chance to compare experiences, revisit lessons from the final regional roundtables and consider how the project’s methodology and resources could continue to be used after its conclusion.
The next morning, the setting shifted from our office to Comet Meetings – Louise, where EEIP welcomed participants to the EENOVA final event, titled The Taste of Energy Efficiency. The event brought together policymakers, industry representatives, researchers and fellow EU-funded projects for a day of discussions that connected EENOVA’s practical experience with Europe’s wider energy transition.
A Taste of What Three Years Can Achieve
The conference was an opportunity to move beyond project presentations and talk about what energy efficiency actually looks like for food-processing businesses. EENOVA’s five pilot regions shared their experiences, from identifying opportunities through energy audits to navigating the financial, organisational and practical challenges of implementing improvements.
The results gave the discussion substance: across the five regions, 15 energy audits identified 74 improvement measures, with 19 already implemented by the time of the conference. But the conversations also made clear that energy efficiency is rarely just a technical question. Cooperation between businesses, access to financing and the right policy conditions all influence whether promising ideas become reality.
European policy perspectives, contributions from other LIFE Clean Energy Transition projects and an expert panel helped connect these regional experiences to broader challenges. The conference also featured a joint policy statement from five LIFE-funded initiatives, bringing shared recommendations directly into the conversation with CINEA.
And because this was The Taste of Energy Efficiency, the EENOVA final event offered something beyond the usual conference experience. Partners brought local products representing their food value chains, giving participants a chance to taste some of the industries at the heart of EENOVA’s work. From Slovenian cheese and Romanian charcuterie to Austrian pastries and Lithuanian drinks, the products provided a tangible reminder of the businesses behind the project’s research, audits and recommendations.
More Than a Final Event
For EEIP, organising the Brussels gatherings brought together several aspects of our work: coordinating European partnerships, translating technical results into accessible stories, creating opportunities for stakeholder exchange and helping project knowledge reach the audiences who can use it.
The final event was also a reminder of why these activities matter. After three years of online meetings, regional workshops, communication campaigns and project milestones, bringing people together in one room created space for conversations that go beyond presentations and reports.
Although EENOVA officially concludes at the end of October 2026, its methodology, public resources and lessons learned will remain available through the project website. We are grateful to the consortium for three years of collaboration and to everyone who joined us in Brussels to help give EENOVA a memorable conclusion.
Interested in what came out of those two days? Explore the final consortium meeting recap or read the full conference highlights and download the presentations.
Funding Acknowledgement
EENOVA is funded by the European Union under the LIFE Clean Energy Transition programme. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
