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Project overview
RITA1/02-143 “Ensuring the security of supply in the supply chains of food, essential goods, personal protective equipment and water in Estonia (VARUST)”
01.20.2020- 31.03.2022
Project aim
Project VARUST is an applied research project focusing on examining the supply chains of food, essential goods, personal protective equipment (PPE) and water in Estonia and on opportunities for minimizing the risks of supply disruptions.
The onset of COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the need to pay more attention to the risks and vulnerabilities in globalised value chains and to national preparedness for supply chains disruptions.
The overall aim of the project is to study the security of supply in the four supply chains in Estonia: food, essential goods, PPE and water, and to analyse the risks related to supply disruptions, and to develop guidelines for government and for enterprises for addressing risks related to supply chain disruptions.
Project activities
The project is divided into three main phases and activities:
- Overview on background information and development of national scenarios for supply disruptions
- Overview on present Estonian legislation on essential services, emergency preparedness, national food and medicine supplies
- Overview on scientific research on security of supply related to food, essential goods, PPE, water supplies.
- International comparison of organization of national supplies, related policies, recommendation for civil preparedness and for businesses from three countries.
- Development of scenarios of supply chains disruptions
- Analysis of security of supply and supply chains for food, essential goods, personal protective equipment and water in Estonia and a sector-based risk analysis for different disruption scenarios
- Review on the present state of selected supply chains and their stakeholders
- Analysis of national self-sufficiency related to food, essential goods, PPE and water
- The effect of different scenarios of supply chains disruptions in the sectors
- Risk analysis in the sectors
- Development of guidelines for assessing enterprises’ continuity of supply and risk management
- Development of general guidelines for enterprises to prepare for supply chain disruptions and risks
- Preparation for sector specific recommendations for mitigation of risks
- Recommendations for the government to increase the security of supply chains
Project team
The project is carried out by an interdisciplinary team formed by five research teams from three institutions: Estonian University of Life Sciences, Estonian Institute of Economic Research and Estonian Crop Research Institute.
Estonian University of Life Sciences is represented by research groups from three units: Institute of Economics and Social Sciences that leads the project; Institute of Forestry and Rural Engineering, and Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences.
Financing
The project is financed thorough RITA programme that supported by the European Regional Development Fund. RITA programme of the Estonian Research Council (ETAg) focused on funding socio-economical applied research.
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