ISEKI_FOOD 2nd Int. Conference (Milan, 1.9.2011) Saguy et al. 1 Academia's Role in Driving Innovation and Social Responsibility Sam Saguy 1 , Cristina Silva 2 , Paola Pittia 3 and Gerhard Schleining 4 1 Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. E-mail: ssaguy@agri.huji.ac.il 2 Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Portugal 3 Department of Food Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Teramo, Italy 4 Department of Food Sciences and Technology (DLWT), BOKU, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Austria Innovation?  The lifeline for meeting today/future challenges .  Creating new jobs & replacing those lost in the recent economic crisis.  Ensuring standard of living .  Creating/sustaining competitive advantages .  Meeting consumers’ needs & expectations. ISEKI_FOOD 2nd Int. Conference (Milan, 1.9.2011) Saguy et al. 2