On Wednesday 7 October 2026, the BETTED project was presented at the final conference of the EENOVA project in Brussels. The event marked the official launch of the EENOVA Methodology, which shows how companies in the food processing sector can go beyond individual energy audits and achieve more through coordinated action across regional value chains.
Paola Maio of the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) introduced BETTED to an audience of policymakers, business representatives, energy experts and other EU-funded initiatives. Her presentation explained how the project looks at the dairy plant as one connected system, where heat that is lost today can be recovered and reused through heat pumps and renewable energy.
She also presented the project’s three pillars (capacity building, easy-to-use tools and policy recommendations), the Industry Informative Network platform, the BETTED toolbox with its seven tools, and the four-step roadmap towards a net-zero dairy sector: assess, invest, integrate, value.
The two projects share a common message: the next gains in energy efficiency come from cooperation along the whole value chain.