Innovation and market power in the food supply chain : challenges for competition policy and regulation : Workshop jointly organised with Assonime

On 20th September 2019, the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS) and Assonime (Italian Association of Joint Stock Companies) jointly organised a workshop within the framework of the Florence Competition Programme (FCP) and the Florence School of Regulation, Communications & Media (FSR C&M). The event took place at the EUI campus in Florence. The workshop discussed the roles of innovation and market power in the food supply chain. It started with a keynote speech delivered by Tassos Haniotis, Director for Strategy and Policy Analysis at DG Agriculture of the European Commission. There were two panels, which dealt with: (i) the impact of innovation on the food supply chain, and (ii) the role played by the new rules on unfair trading practices. A roundtable discussing the impact of e-commerce on the retail food industry, and the challenges currently faced by public policy ended the workshop. The event gathered several different stakeholders, including competition enforcers as well as representatives from academia, industry, law and economic consulting firms. The diversity of views ensured a lively debate. The present policy brief summarizes the main points that were raised during the discussion and seeks to stimulate further debate.