Launched in 2024, the EU Cluster for Food Traceability and Trust unites over a dozen Horizon Europe projects, including SEA2SEE, ALLIANCE, THEROS, and WATSON, around a shared goal: to revolutionize food traceability and trust across Europe.
The cluster, of which SEA2SEE is one of the founding members, fosters collaboration, interoperability, and knowledge sharing, enabling projects to develop digital tools like blockchain, IoT sensors, and smart registries that strengthen supply chain transparency. Its mission is to combat food fraud, ensure product authenticity, and boost consumer confidence, while aligning innovations with EU policies and sustainability goals.
Guided by values of transparency, sustainability, collaboration, and practical impact, the cluster creates a pan-European innovation ecosystem. By pooling expertise and running joint pilots, it helps projects like SEA2SEE accelerate adoption, scale solutions, and contribute to a more resilient, transparent, and trustworthy food system for all Europeans.
Natural Synergies Between Projects
SEA2SEE’s integration into the EU Cluster for Food Traceability and Trust reflects strong convergence between the challenges, methods, and ambitions around the following areas:
- Technological Traceability and Interoperability
The cluster promotes the sharing of technological tools — such as blockchain infrastructures, digital ledgers, sensors, and APIs — to ensure interoperability across food chains. This directly benefits SEA2SEE, which can build on technological components developed by other projects. - Joint Pilots and Knowledge Exchange
The cluster organizes regular events (webinars, workshops) where each project presents its progress, lessons learned, and future outlooks. During the “Traceability & Verification in Food Supply Chains” webinar (February 21st, 2025), SEA2SEE was represented by Tilkal (Sébastien Gaïde), who showcased blockchain applications for seafood supply chains. These interactions create valuable opportunities for cross-learning, shared experimentation, and the identification of common challenges. - Policy Alignment and a Shared Regulatory Vision
A key objective of the cluster is to contribute to European policy implementation — particularly under the Fisheries Control Regulation (EU 2023/2842), which introduces new traceability requirements for seafood products by 2026. By joining this collective effort, SEA2SEE ensures that its technological solutions are aligned with upcoming legal frameworks and can support policymakers in applying these new standards effectively. - Dissemination and Impact Multiplication
Through the visibility and networks of the cluster’s founding projects (ALLIANCE, THEROS, WATSON, FishEUTrust, and others), SEA2SEE can amplify the impact of its results, reach new stakeholders — from processors to retailers and consumers — and encourage replication beyond the seafood sector. Moreover, existing synergies with FishEUTrust are already being leveraged to build joint action plans for fisheries and aquaculture value chains.
Toward a More Sustainable and Transparent Seafood Sector
By combining these initiatives within one ecosystem, the cluster is paving the way for a new era of food trust in Europe. This collective dynamic enables faster resolution of technical challenges (data management, interoperability, cybersecurity), deeper understanding of socio-technical barriers (industry adoption, cost, consumer acceptance). In addition, in terms of communication, a stronger dialogue with public authorities has been established, thanks to a unified and evidence-based approach, as well as a clearer, more coherent messaging to consumers about sustainability and authenticity.
For SEA2SEE, joining the EU Cluster for Food Traceability and Trust is not just a partnership — it’s a strategic opportunity to accelerate innovation uptake, strengthen collaboration, and align its mission with Europe’s broader goals of sustainable and transparent food systems.
The challenge remains considerable — both technologically and socially — but together, these projects are shaping a future where trust, transparency, and traceability form the backbone of the European food value chain.
Contributed by: Vitagora