The Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB) is a Portuguese Higher Education Public Institution with a defined mission in creating, transmitting and diffusing technical, scientific and professional knowledge through the articulation of study, applied research and experimental development. In 35 years, IPB has prepared more than twenty thousand graduates, establishing itself as a paramount agent to the regional and national development, and the decentralisation and democratisation of the access to higher education. According to the SIR World Ranking 2017, elaborated by the SCImago Research Group, IPB is the Portuguese higher education institution with the better normalized impact, excellence rates and technological impact. IPB develops its mission in articulation with society, with views to territorial cohesion and national/international affirmation, aiming at regional development through the pillars of innovation and the production and transfer of scientific knowledge. The IPB’s team members are researchers integrated to the IPB-based Mountain Research Centre (CIMO), a national-funded research centre whose objectives include the valorisation of ecosystem services in mountain areas, the optimisation of agroecosystems efficiency, and the valorisation of regional products based on quality, safety and authenticity. Currently, IPB-CIMO researchers are committed as WP leaders of three EU-funded ERA-NET projects, two H2020 projects, six inter-regional projects (INTERREG) and thirty-four national-funded projects. IPB and CIMO-IPB extend their high education and research leadership from a Mediterranean mountain area; and hence the ArtiSaneFood project’s objectives are in perfect harmony with their missions since one way to sustain rural development and potentiate knowledge-based local economies is by means of ensuring the competency of agro-industries/SMES through the assurance of the production of safe artisanal food products.
