What is it about?
Despite the continued generation of scientific knowledge, its impact and application in practical farming and forestry is disappointing and its innovative impact poor. Although there are some good examples, the EIP-AGRI evaluation study recommends that more advisors need to be involved in interactive innovation [1] projects to fuel cross-fertilisation and implementation of results. There is a need to network advisors to promote this approach and to boost advisors’ innovation potential in order to ultimately improve knowledge flows in national and regional agricultural knowledge and innovation systems (AKISs).
Scope:
Activities shall aim at networking advisors to for learning and exchanging interactive innovation techniques that support the transition to a more productive, sustainable and climate-smart agriculture and a higher level of development in rural areas. Projects shall identify and showcase best practices from a broad series of practical cases of advisory services across the EU, with a view to support advisors on how to capture grass-roots innovative ideas from farmers and foresters and further develop them into innovation projects.
The activities shall create peer-to-peer learning for active and future advisors as well as training opportunities. They shall teach advisors the skills for managing and participating in interactive innovation projects and how to intermediate in farmer-to-farmer learning processes. Projects shall identify best practices from a broad series of practical cases of advisory services across the EU. Proposals must expand and update the inventory of advisors in the EU by the PRO-AKIS project, with a particular focus on including all private and public advisors and ensuring an EU wide coverage.
Expected Impact:
Activities shall contribute to better-interconnected advisors with a focus on innovation at national/regional level, able to support EIP-AGRI Operational Groups and Horizon 2020 multi-actor projects, by:
- improving networking and peer-to-peer learning of advisors, stimulating the interactive role of advisors to boost innovation and providing a set of best practices for advisors, thereby building an advisory network covering the EU in a balanced and comprehensive way;
- enhancing the impact of advisors on the strengthening of knowledge flows between scientific research and practical implementation for more productive and sustainable agricultural practices and rural development;
- improving education by developing efficient material and dedicated training systems for advisors that help to preserve practical knowledge in the long-term, and by delivering a substantial number of “practice abstracts” in the common EIP-AGRI format, including audio-visual material.
In the same framework IED has already implemented several innovative projects which included innovative practices. If you are interested in applying for this call you could contact us and further discuss the available options.
