Résumé
In the European Union, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the food sector have to be sufficiently competitive to face various current challenges, such as changing governmental regulations, competition with large-scale manufacturers, increased pressure of retail, environmental restrictions, etc. Based on the assumption that traditional products and recent innovations could be complementary vectors to boost economic growth, this work seeks to establish a relationship between tradition and innovations from a SME point of view. After an identification of traditional products and innovation from research topics in the durum wheat and Mediterranean vegetable chains, SMEs were interviewed to get insight in their needs and the hurdles they are facing within the entire value chain (at agronomic, technological, product-related, marketing, and organizational levels). Using both qualitative and quantitative questionnaires, results showed that interviewed enterprises appeared as dynamic businesses, willing to innovate and invest, but occasionally facing financing issues. The high-rated topics of interest correspond to quality management, regulations, new products, packaging, and process technology trainings. Potential innovations are compared with the identified SMEs needs revealing a keen interest of interviewed SMEs for recent research innovations (e.g. mixed crops, bio-based and functional packaging, novel preservation processes, ecoconception, etc.). The high values of ratings of training subjects demonstrate the need for an action plan dedicated to SMEs of the traditional food sector such as an online portal, a traditional food-oriented magazine, or a joint technology demonstration platform.