Reinforcing the EU agricultural knowledge base

Since 2014, the EU has invested in a large number of agricultural research, innovation, coordination and support actions to improve knowledge flows in the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKISs) – the systems of people and organisations in countries/regions that generate, share and use agriculture-related knowledge and innovation. These projects, in particular those applying the multi-actor approach, have compiled innovative solutions for farming and forestry practice, and their outputs include end-user material in many forms such as knowledge databases, IT applications, decision-making tools, videos etc. made available through the websites of the projects, using a variety of standards and IT systems. However, the long-term longevity of knowledge and end-user material produced or collected by these individual actions is not necessarily ensured. The challenge now is to favour their longer-term and wider use with a view to enable updating, consolidating and connecting to regional and national AKISs.

Scope

Proposals shall review activities and outputs, and the communication and information channels for dissemination used by Horizon 2020 multi-actor projects. Consortia shall organise participatory activities with partners from multi-actor projects. Activities shall analyse and compare the approaches taken on their performance and impact for farmers/foresters as well as effectivity of the communication and information channels used for dissemination in countries and regions. Proposals shall explore the feasibility and added-value of developing joint tools, joint platform(s) and/or (e-) infrastructure integrating some or all of the outputs of projects into an EU wide open source system(s) and propose options for the future. Moreover, these options should connect efficiently to existing communication and dissemination channels within the national and regional AKISs.

Proposals shall fall under the concept of the 'multi-actor approach' with a project duration of up to two years. Consortia shall engage with the variety of actors involved in the multi-actor projects as well as with key players in the national and regional AKISs, therefore coordinating activities with the Member States and experts in the SCAR-AKIS Strategic Working Group.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of up to EUR 2.5 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Expected Impact

This action aims at improving knowledge flows in the long-term by proposing ways to structure and connect agricultural knowledge created through EU-funded and other projects, with a view to maximise their impact beyond the end of the projects themselves.

By driving future knowledge sharing systems towards the most efficient solutions, the action will, in the short term:

  • increase sharing of multi-actor project know-how and spreading of practical information between as many geographical areas and agricultural sectors in Europe as possible, drastically improving dissemination to end-users; and
  • produce recommendations and technical specifications which favour greater interoperability and integration of EU and Members States' knowledge bases for practitioners in the future; and
  • improve long-term access to practical knowledge produced by the Horizon 2020 multi-actor projects.

In the longer term, greater circulation of innovative knowledge around Europe will contribute to increased competitiveness and sustainability for European farmers and foresters.

Cross-cutting Priorities

  • RRI
  • Socio-economic science and humanities
Institution
Date de candidature
Discipline
Sciences sociales : Sciences de l'information et de la communication, Economie, Sciences environnementales, Psychologie et sciences cognitives