Policies promoting the effective development of regional food products were the subject of a paper presented by Stefan Kah at an international conference in Parma.
Running from 9 to 11 September 2010, the conference 'Typicality in History: 'Tradition, innovation and territories' hosted by the University of Parma, Italy, brought together regional development and industry experts from throughout Europe.
Stefan Kah's paper, co-authored with Prof Norbert Weixlbaumer from the University of Vienna, presented the results of their research on how regional food products (using the example of cheese) could form the basis of an integrated regional development concept in Austria. The 'Walserstolz' is a traditional hand-made cheese that has been relaunched as part of a strategy to strengthen regional identity in the alpine Biosphere Reserve Grobes Walsertal in the Austrian federal state of Vorarlberg. The paper highlighted the interaction between the product, the regional economy and regional identity.