QOOT—Arabic for “food”—is Lebanon’s first agri-food innovation cluster, bringing SMEs, corporates, academia, and investors together around a shared growth vision.
As part of our broader Innovation Strategy services, Innovety and VDI/VDE-IT + Technik GmbH developed QOOT’s 5-year Strategy & Operations Plan through research, international benchmarking, and member consultations. The plan set QOOT’s mission, vision, business model, and services, positioning it as a catalyst for innovation and internationalization in Lebanon’s agri-food sector.
It also introduced the corporate anchor model—linking SMEs with larger firms for mentorship, client access, and acquisition pathways—and prioritized Lebanon’s fruit and vegetable exports to open new global markets.
Lebanon’s agri-food sector is a cornerstone of the economy, contributing nearly 32% of GDP and employing around 15% of the population. Despite this potential, the sector faced persistent barriers—weak R&D investment, fragmented industry–academia linkages, limited export capacity, and poor access to innovation support.
These challenges were magnified in 2020 by overlapping national crises—the currency devaluation, the Beirut Port explosion, and the COVID-19 pandemic—which disrupted supply chains, raised input costs, and threatened SME survival.
In response, Berytech and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands launched QOOT as Lebanon’s first agri-food innovation cluster.
The cluster aimed to foster collaboration between enterprises, SMEs, research institutions, and investors, but required a clear long-term strategy and operational roadmap to ensure scale, sustainability, and measurable impact.
Key pain points:
Innovation approach & partners
Innovety led the strategy development for QOOT, applying our Innovation Pipeline and Business Opportunity Mapping (BOM) frameworks, while VDI/VDE-IT + Technik GmbH contributed cluster benchmarking and EU excellence standards to co-design the cluster’s strategy.
Mapping the status quo
We assessed QOOT’s activities, partnerships, and organizational models through desk research, surveys with 21 member businesses, and board roundtables. The SWOT and gap analysis flagged weak industry–academia linkages, limited export support, low digital adoption, and underdeveloped R&D and waste-valorization capacity.
International benchmarking
Drawing on VDI/VDE-IT’s + Technik GmbH’s expertise, we analyzed 30+ international agri-food clusters, extracting best practices in governance, sustainability, and member services to position QOOT against EU cluster-excellence standards.
Strategic direction-setting
With QOOT’s board, we defined the cluster’s mission (“driving the growth of an innovation-based agri-food industry in Lebanon”), vision, and 5-year goals to increase member revenues, boost exports, and establish Lebanon as a recognized hub for agri-food innovation.
Corporate anchor model
We created and prioritized a corporate anchor concept to connect SMEs with larger corporates. This framework enables small companies to collaborate with anchors through mentorship, access to potential clients, integration of innovative services/products, and pathways to acquisition—accelerating SME scale-up and value-chain integration.
Export development
We designed a targeted export roadmap that prioritizes fruit & vegetable subsectors and supports SMEs with market selection, readiness, and go-to-market strategies to reach 20 international markets.
Industry–academia collaboration
We issued actionable recommendations to strengthen research–industry linkages—establishing joint R&D, innovation challenges, and technology transfer mechanisms to address production and quality bottlenecks.
SME services & innovation support
We built a comprehensive operational service portfolio for members:
Board management & alignment
Beyond strategy, we managed and supported the board with technical, business/financial, and export guidance. The draft plan was presented to the board and refined through member consultations, ensuring ownership and alignment with Berytech and donor priorities before adoption.
Lebanon’s agri-food sector faced mounting challenges—from economic difficulties due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, to weak linkages between firms, research, and international markets. Innovety helped us turn this into an opportunity by developing the five-year Strategy and Operations Plan (S&OP) for the agri-food cluster (QOOT). Their structured process included assessing 30+ global clusters, consulting 20+ member businesses, and running roundtables with our board. The outcome was a clear roadmap with export development programs, an innovation repository, and a Lebanese Seal of Authenticity — positioning QOOT as Lebanon’s leading agri-food innovation cluster.
