Monday, 14th January

>11:00am - 12:15pm - Conference Value creation Ralph Hababou, Manager, PBRH Successful author Ralph Hababou (whose book "Service Compris" * has sold 500,000 copies in 20 years) once again focuses on customer service as a passport to value with his "Service Gagnant, les secrets des entreprises qui créent la différence" ** (2007, First Editions publishers). He will be sharing these "secrets" with us at the inaugural conference of PIM 2008.   * Service included ** Winning service, business secrets that make all the difference

>2:00pm - 3:00pm - Round table Value creation by listening to the markets Christophe Château, Sales and Marketing Manager with Bonduelle   Jean-Michel Monnier, wine expert from Loire OEnologie Promotion   Alain Montembault, Consumer Science department Manager with Danone Vitapole               For Christophe Château, understanding consumers and anticipating their needs is a vital ingredient when offering products that stand out from the competition, especially when the competition is as aggressive as in the vegetable market, which dealing with first conversion products has a low added value. To achieve this, Bonduelle has opted for a decentralised organisation revolving round technology and country divisions. Each subsidiary is responsible for the marketing policy in its own market, adapted to the constraints of each country. Download conference summary   Jean-Michel Monnier is a consultant wine specialist and associate Master of Conferences at the University of Angers. He will take a look with us at the creation of two vintages to illustrate how we can adapt to the tastes and expectations of consumers and thereby create value in production output, supported along the way by marketing and financial tools implemented by agricultural and para-agricultural organisations and institutions. Download conference summary   As far as Danone Vitapole Consumer Science department Manager Alain Montembault is concerned, the new information and communication technologies (NICT) give access to an inexhaustible source of authentic user, consumer, and citizen experiences. In other words, putting oneself in a position to listen to people from outside the company can partly solve the quest towards high added value differentiation.

> 4:30pm - 5:30pm - Round table - room osnabrück Value creation in distribution Mr Nicolas Aubin, CEO, Information systems director, Aquarelle     Mr Fontenel, Botanic Customer communications and marketing manager, Botanic.   Aquarelle is one of most spectacular success stories in the brief history of e-commerce. A "traditional" florist selling through shops, Aquarelle diversified onto the Internet in 1997. Ten years later, Information Systems Director Nicolas Aubin reviews the company's strategy which is a perfect illustration of the creation of value via a new sales medium. Aquarelle's force is based on placing the product at the heart of their strategy, very quickly implemented commercial actions and simplified customer access. Download conference summary   Since its creation in 1995, Botanic has grown extremely rapidly. From 12 shops and 120 employees in 1995, the company now operates 58 shops and employs over 2,000 people. Customer communications and marketing manager Franck Fontanel examines this rapid growth and details the strategies involved in this development, summarized in a single idea: a policy that differentiates Botanic's offer through the quality of the plants it sells. Download conference summary

Tuesday, 15th January

> 9:00am - 10:15am - Round table Value creation through research and development Yves Barbin, Phyto-sector centre manager with the Pierre Fabre group     Alain Cadic, Researcher at UMR Genhort INRA Angers   Didier Fages, Chairman of Sofralab   Olivier Morel, Manager at Morel   Research and development is an integral part of the make up of a cosmetics and pharmaceuticals group like Pierre Fabre. Yves Barbin, who runs the group's phyto-sector centre, will be presenting the organisation of research and the role of plants, "one of the strategic sources for the new active ingredients being developed". Barbin will explain in particular why the knowledge accumulated about plants and the coupling of this with innovative technologies comprises the core and added value of Pierre Fabre research. Download conference summary Alain Cadic will give details of the steps taken by ornamental plant nurseries who got together to form a distribution company (SAPHO) for issuing new varieties. From 1982, some of these companies (SAPHYR, SAPHINOV, EUROGENI) set up an EIG so they could develop selection and variety creation programmes as a partnership. Almost 30 varieties have thus been protected and distributed in Europe as well as North America. One consequence is the splitting of royalties between EIG and INRA. Download conference summary Didier Fages, Chairman of Sofralab (The French Wine Laboratories Company), will use the concrete example of a project for making value from the by-products of wine to show the interest of R&D on a company scale. This is a multi-partner project, adopted in 2006 by the Champagne-Ardennes-Picardy "Industry and agricultural resource" competitiveness centre. The key to the project is the obtaining of better value for Sofralab and its partners and for the wine sector in general. Download conference summary   Olivier Morel will take a look at research carried out on the cyclamen by detailing the methodology used in his company to develop a plant with better stress resistance and a proven ability to reflower. Among the lines of attack were the introduction of F1 hybridisation and an improved definition of selection criteria. The end result is new uses for the consumer and increased value for the cyclamen. Download conference summary

>11:45am - 1:00pm - Conference - room osnabrück Value creation via intellectual property Sonia Meilland, Meilland group research director representing the group Meilland within the European Breeders and Horticulturists Association.   Innovation is the driving force in developments in the decorative universe. The creation and development of new varieties must imperatively be protected by intellectual property rights, the only guarantee of the valorization of research efforts. No research without protection, no protection without control and no proven control without jurisprudence. Download conference summary                       >2:30pm - 3:45pm - Round table - room osnabrück Creation of perceived value in specialized plant sectors: inter-sector analysis ESSCA, INH and Angers University will present the results of a vast study undertaken to measure the perception of the creation of value in specialized plant sectors. The study aims to establish an inventory of perceptions of the sources of the creation of value within and between sectors and also to identify the solutions found by specialist plant sector companies for creating economic value. A guided interview conducted with specialist plant company managers in all the sectors concerned collected first hand information. Rigorous analysis of these data led to the identification of different sources of creation of value (strategic, organisational, technical) which will be the focus of the "surprise report" of the 2008 Plant International Meeting. Download conference summary                       > 3:45pm - 5:00pm - Round table Creation of value in the clusters Mr Benjamin Hénault, Coordinateur du SPL horticole Var Méditerranée         Cluster de Laval- Québec : Mr Yves Desjardins Professeur titulaire Centre de recherche en horticulture         Mr Patrick Van Winden PDG entreprise horticole         Mme Carmen Sillero Agence IDEA Andalousie           Mr Jean de Balathier Directeur de Végépolys     This round table will be led by West Atlantic mission manager, Nadia Chibouti How does Quebec encourage horticultural production? Yves Desjardins, professor at Laval University (Quebec), will give a detailed presentation of the practical support provided by the governments to promote public / private partnerships and the introduction of generous taxation incentives to finance research units and transfer innovation and, by so doing, increase the profitability of companies. Patrick Van Winden, Production horticoles Van Winden (Quebec), will give an account of a company that invests heavily in R&D. Since 2000, the Andalusian Innovation and Development Agency has been promoting various strategies in the Almeria and Huelva production regions. Carmen Sillero Illanes will describe the tightly targeted actions and go on to tell PIM delegates of the lessons drawn by the Agency, in particular the importance of inter-cluster co-operation to consolidate government actions. Download conference summary   Benjamin Hénault will present why - and especially how - the SPL horticole Var Méditerranée introduced a collective quality approach to develop its "cut flower" products. This approach is based on the introduction of specifications and regular controls and assistance in implementation by all the SPL professional organizations. The associated HORTISUD quality label has become the unique vector of communication for strategic cut flower species from the Var highlighting the know-how of SPL professionals. Average prices have increased by 5 to 12% in the hundred or so horticultural farms operated by members. Located in the Loire region, Végépolys federates companies working in and around botanicals in eight sectors: decorative horticulture, seeds, fruit-bearing arboriculture, truck farming, vines, medicinal plants and plants for wellbeing, mushrooms and cider-making. "Members are companies, public and private research centres and training centres working together on joint projects", explains Végépolys director Jean de Balathier. He will explain why Végépolys must be innovation-based to create value for the sector.

Workshops schedules for Harlem, Bamako, Pisa, Brissac rooms

Monday 14th January:
1st workshop from 3.00 pm to 3.30pm
2nd workshop from 3.30pm to 4.00pm
3rd workshop from 5.45pm to 6.15pm
Tuesday 15th January :
4th workshop from 10.15am to 10.45an
5th workshop from 10.45am to 11.15 am
24 eye-witness accounts are reported in these workshops. The number of participants is limited to 8 people per table. Each report takes 30 minutes. NO PRIOR REGISTRATION IS NECESSARY WITHIN THE LIMIT OF AVAILABLE SPACE. Use the map in the conference kit to find the rooms you want.

Value creation by listening to markets > Table 2 - harlem room Louis-Marie Pasquier, Deputy General Manager with Brioche Pasquier       Listening to the market is at the core of €500m turnover company Brioche Pasquier's strategy, which takes a 360° approach – via the sales force or via the shops managed on each of our sites as well as via numerous quantitative studies performed by external and specialist bodies (BVA, Nielsen, Iri). One last axis : qualitative studies with groups of housewives. > Table 3- harlem room Justin Cohen, ESA (USA) workshop in english   How does wine behave as a product category? How does price moderate the purchase occasion? How can information such as this be of use to a grape grower, wine maker or retailer? This talk will identify the data required, methods of analysis and benchmarking techniques for truly listening to the market and identifying competitive market structure. > Table 4- harlem room Damien Wilson, ESA (Australia)     Understanding consumers' expectations allows those who put products onto the market to respond more effectively and above all to highlight the differentiating points on which they can build their marketing strategies. The approach becomes more and more vital in markets that are increasingly congested. > Table 5- harlem room Eric Bergues, Manager, France with Container Centralen (logistics solutions)     Eric Bergues will illustrate his company's strategy and how it has evolved from the initial core business towards services with higher added value. This strategy relies on analyses of the market situation and of the company environment but also has its own inherent assets.

Value creation in distribution > Table 6- harlem room Eric Vaschaldes, Sales and Marketing Manager with Vilmorin   Vilmorin, drawing strength from roots delving 200 years into the past, has always considered a genuine partnership and close relations with its distribution network to be of strategic importance. Inspired by Vilmorin's international experience, Eric Vaschaldes will give details of how for a medium sized group (460 employees) the distribution strategy can be a lever in the creation of value. > Table 7- harlem room (14 january only) Nicolas Briant, Director, Jacques Briant group (mail- order flowers and plants)     Olivier Chapuis, Direct Marketing Manager, Jacques Briant group     For Nicolas Briant and Olivier Chapuis, the multi-channel distribution revolution is now well under way. There's no use advocating the Internet, the shop, or the mail order catalogue at the expense of the others. The "consumergeek" wants all three ! N. Briant and O. Chapuis will take a look at the advantages and drawbacks of these different channels one by one and study the added value from each. > Table 7- harlem room (15 january only) Gérard Roué of Pomona Terre Azur     Leading distributor of fruit and vegetables in France, decided to invest heavily in innovation. In 2008 a Product Innovation Centre will be set up at the Head Office in Antony to develop the product lines in the fruit and vegetable market. In a generally booming market, Pomona Terre Azur wishes to establish a collaborative approach with the whole fruit and vegetable industry, based on its transverse marketing strategies. > Table 8- harlem room Franck Fontanel, Customer communications and marketing manager, Botanic.Since its creation in 1995, Botanic has grown extremely rapidly.     From 12 shops and 120 employees in 1995, the company now operates 58 shops and employs over 2,000 people. Customer communications and marketing manager Franck Fontanel examines this rapid growth and details the strategies involved in this development, summarized in a single idea: a policy that differentiates Botanic's offer through the quality of the plants it sells. > Table 9- harlem room Alain Borderon, Development Manager, Pom’Salade   Alain Borderon, responsible for the development of Pom’Salade, will share his vision of a new type of store specialising in fruit and vegetable retailing. So far, Pom’Salade manages four outlets with a highly polished merchandising concept which Alain Borderon will take us through in a handful of pictures : flyers, choice of furniture, presentation, segmentation, etc.                               Value creation through research and development > Table 10- harlem room M. Barbin, phyto-sector centre manager with Pierre Fabre   Research and development is an integral part of the make up of a cosmetics and pharmaceuticals group like Pierre Fabre. Yves Barbin, who runs the group's phyto-sector centre, will be presenting the organisation of research and the role of plants, "one of the strategic sources for the new active ingredients being developed". Barbin will explain in particular why the knowledge accumulated about plants and the coupling of this with innovative technologies comprises the core and added value of Pierre Fabre research. > Table 11- bamako room Pomalia SAS Chairman Jean-Emmanuel Champeix on the Ariane apple   Pomalia chairman (and manager of the Castang Domain) Jean-Emmanuel Champeix will look back at the market launch of the Ariane apple and the creation of the Pomalia company, including producers' organisations and marketers. This initiative is currently in full development (8,000 tonnes on the European market), the outcome of a long phase of variety research. > Table 12- bamako room Matthieu Mounicq, leader of the ANGELYS Association (CEAFL Val de Loire)     Matthieu Mounicq will present the Angelys pear initiative, from its creation in 1998 by INRA Angers to the setting up of the Association in 2003 for the purpose of promoting the variety and ensuring specifications are followed as well as providing overall coordination of the initiative. > Table 13- bamako room Rodolphe Germain, Management of the Quality Control Pathology Laboratory at Vilmorin   Drawing inspiration from an actual situation (the sugar beet disease rhizomania, which leaves vegetables unfit for consumption) and from requests from producers in the Loiret department, Rodolphe Germain will talk about the research programme implemented at Vilmorin to introduce a rhizomania resistant gene. The programme has had tangible benefits for producers, who have been able to harvest beet eligible for the "Label Rouge". > Table 14- bamako room Pascal Pinel, André Briant Jeunes Plants (seedlings)     Nurseryman is a basic business that is easy to copy. In this context, how can you give your company added value ? The difference can be made with technical improvements (e.g., in-vitro laboratory), legally protected varieties, and if possible, "home baked" varieties. > Table 15- bamako room Guy Ligonnière, Manager, DL Davodeau Ligonnière     Guy Ligonnière will present the R&D strategy of the company he has managed since 1974 (apples). The strategy is built on three pillars : research, distribution, and production, the final outcome being higher added value for DL. > Table 16- bamako room Isabelle Maitre, Studies Engineer at the GRAPPE laboratory (ESA Angers group)   Isabelle Maître, Studies Engineer at the GRAPPE laboratory (Group ESA Angers), Isabelle Maître will show how R&D accompanied an innovative marketing concept: the development of a forgotten vegetable. The industrial and marketing project was based on this vegetable's richness in Omega 3. But cooking it modified the nature of the fatty acids. By studying cooking methods and the time/temperature relationship, R&D made it possible to optimize the industrial processes to conserve the nutritional potential of this vegetable and thus the value of the project.                       Value creation via intellectual property > Table 17- pise room Fabrice Vié, Legal adviser and assistant to the INPI Regional Delegate (Pays de Loire)   What is innovation really worth when only the very first output is exclusive to you ? Faced with this major issue, what is the added value of a true intellectual property strategy ? Creation of non-material capital, protection of your competitive advantages, making the most of your research results, etc. INPI invites you into its garden. > Table 18- pise room Bart Kiewiet, Chairman of the Communities Office of Plant Varieties (OCVV)     Bart Kiewiet will look in detail at the interest of intellectual property in the protection of and cashing in on research. He will also present the main stages in community protection of the plant production OCVV is in charge of. > Table 19- pise room M. Tuffreau, Cabinet Exaequo et Anne Laure Le Blouc'h, Cabinet Exaequo     Anne Laure Le Blouc'h and M.Tuffreau will present some of the methods operators can use to protect their rights to innovations in varieties. This presentation addresses French law and the "certificat d’obtention végétale" and, on a European scale, Community-wide copyright laws. > Table 20- pise room Jean-François Pouvreau, Chairman of Qualifrais     In 1995 through the will of professionals in the Nantes market garden sector. They wanted to protect the quality and image of production from the Nantes basin. Notable "tools" are the CCP and IGP specifications. The symbol of this initiative : the "Mâche nantaise" IGP. > Table 21- pise room Sonia Meilland, Meilland group research director representing the group Meilland within the European Breeders and Horticulturists Association.   Innovation is the driving force in developments in the decorative universe. The creation and development of new varieties must imperatively be protected by intellectual property rights, the only guarantee of the valorization of research efforts. No research without protection, no protection without control and no proven control without jurisprudence. > Table 22- pise room Seed branch : University of Angers     Angers University will present the results of a vast study undertaken to measure the perception of the creation of value in seed branch . The study aims to establish an inventory of perceptions of the sources of the creation of value within and between sectors and also to identify the solutions found by specialist plant sector companies for creating economic value. > Table 23- pise room Horticultural branch : INH     INH will present the results of a vast study undertaken to measure the perception of the creation of value in horticultural branch. The study aims to establish an inventory of perceptions of the sources of the creation of value within and between sectors and also to identify the solutions found by specialist plant sector companies for creating economic value > Table 24- brissac room Fruit and vegetable branch : INH     INH will present the results of a vast study undertaken to measure the perception of the creation of value in fruit and vegetable branch . The study aims to establish an inventory of perceptions of the sources of the creation of value within and between sectors and also to identify the solutions found by specialist plant sector companies for creating economic value. > Table 25- brissac room Health and well-being branch : ESSCA     ESSCA will present the results of a vast study undertaken to measure the perception of the creation of value in health and well-being branch. The study aims to establish an inventory of perceptions of the sources of the creation of value within and between sectors and also to identify the solutions found by specialist plant sector companies for creating economic value.