IBISBA 1.0:

Industrial Biotechnology Innovation and Synthetic Technology Accelerator

Objectives

IBISBA 1.0 is a H2020-funded project that aims at building a European distributed network of research facilities to provide innovation services and accelerate translation of bioscience research into industrial applications.

IBISBA 1.0 provides access to a specialised research facilities for all industrial biotechnology professionals, including academic researchers, SMEs and large companies.

The IBISBA 1.0 network also offers subsidised access through its Transnational Access (TNA) programme and will develop a variety of activities, such as training, that will benefit the wider scientific community.

Focusing on e-services, the IBISBA 1.0 project will develop a dedicated knowledge hub that will provide users with FAIR access to a wide variety of project assets, such as standard operating protocols (SOPs), workflows publically-accessible, project deliverables and datasets.

Looking to the future, the overarching aim of IBISBA 1.0 project is to create a European distributed research infrastructure that will provide a range of research support services to the Industrial Biotechnology community in Europe and worldwide.

EC funding : 5 000 000 €
Duration : 4 years
Start : 1st December 2017
Coordinator : Michael O’Donohue michael.odonohue@inra.fr
Project manager : Lise Vedel, lise.vedel@inra.fr

Website : www.ibisba.eu 

NEFERTITI: Networking European Farms to Enhance Cross Fertilisation and Innovation Uptake through Demonstration

Objectives

NEFERTITI is a unique project that establishes 10 thematic networks bringing together regional clusters (hubs) of demo-activities and the involved actors. The project focuses on creating added value from the interactive exchange of knowledge and technical content among farmers and AKIS actors (Agricultural 10 interactive thematic networks will be established bringing together 45 regional clusters (hubs) of demo-farmers and actors involved (advisors, NGOs, industry, education, researchers and policy makers) in 17 countries. The project NEFERTITI focuses on creating added value from the exchange of knowledge, actors, farmers and technical content between networks in order to boost innovation uptake and to improve peer to peer learning and network connectivity between farming actors across Europe. In the end, it all contributes to a more competitive, sustainable and climate-smart agriculture.

The project NEFERTITI addresses 10 themes that have been chosen based on key concerns of the farming communities. Together they cover a balanced range of topics in the three main agricultural sectors: animal production, arable farming and horticultural production.

A monitoring and learning program supports the systematic extraction of lessons learnt, lessons to be shared with wide audiences including AKIS (Agriculture Knowledge and Innovation Systems) actors and public authorities. A web based platform unlocks the experience, actors, demo details and the related content for widespread sharing, enhanced by the dedicated production of relevant material (including high-quality videos) in each partner’s language. NEFERTITI will engage a policy dialogue with EU Regions to meet farmers and policy makers’ interests in view of the networks’ sustainability.

The overall objective of NEFERTITI is to establish an EU-wide highly connected network of well-specified demonstration and pilot farms designed to enhance knowledge exchanges, cross fertilisation among actors and efficient innovation uptake in the farming sector through peer-to-peer demonstration of techniques to be organised by themes.

The main project objectives are six:

At the support level:

• Developing dynamic action plans by identifying the needs of demonstration actors and networks’ in terms of knowledge and know-how for thematic network activities;
• Supporting cycle of demo-activities and peer-to-peer learning in the regional hubs of demo activities and related actors that will be established. O2 is aimed at learning by doing on how to improve uptake of knowledge among farmers and improve science-practice interactions;
• Establishing a web-based platform including knowledge tanks related to demo-activities incorporating ready-to-use knowledge from other national, EU and EIP related projects, organised by themes and sectors.

At the coordination level

• Establishing and sustaining interactive thematic networks at regional, national and EU levels by sectors and themes (and with the EIP related projects/landscape) to boost knowledge exchanges and cross fertilisation;
• Fostering the learning process of all actors involved in demo-activities throughout the networks to identify best practices for demonstrations and interactivity between demonstrations on similar themes over Europe;
• Improving the policy dialogue and networking the regional European Structural Investment Fund (ESIF) managing authorities to ensure the network sustainability;
• Promoting effective use of demo-and network activities by communicating and disseminating the practical oriented outcomes adapted at local level.

EC funding : 7 000 000€

Duration : 4 years

Start : 1st January 2018

Coordinator : Adrien Guichaoua, adrien.guichaoua@acta.asso.fr

Project manager : Emna Ben Hamza, Emna.BenHamza@inra.fr

Website : nefertiti-h2020.eu

Diversification through Rotation, Intercropping, Multiple Cropping, Promoted by Actors and Value Chains towards Sustainability

The overall goal of DiverIMPACTS is to realise the full potential of diversification of cropping systems for improved productivity, delivery of ecosystem services and resource-efficient and sustainable value chains by: i) assessing performances of crop diversification through rotation, intercropping and multiple cropping; ii) providing rural areas actors with those key enablers and innovations that would remove existing barriers and ensure actual uptake of benefits of crop diversification at farm, value chain and territory levels; iii) make recommendations to policy-makers to facilitate the coordination of all relevant actors within the value chain. DiverIMPACTS will build on existing experiences of crop diversification by networking and expanding 10 existing field experiments to quantify impacts of crop diversification and by accompanying 25 multi-actor case studies in their dynamic transition. DiverIMPACTS will propose a range of technical and organisational innovations to remove lock-ins from farmers to consumers as well as strategies and recommendations to sustain crop diversification.

The consortium includes a wide range of actors (farmers and farmers’ organisations, advisory services, cooperatives, logistic providers, scientists, industry, representatives of civil society and of rural areas). DiverIMPACTS will, through a multi-actor approach, accompany and support innovation groups in their dynamic process to develop sustainable value chain systems characterised by a high level of crop diversification and new market products. The consortium involves pioneer actors of crop diversification and has great experience in both the design and multi-criteria assessment of innovative systems and the analysis of barriers that may lock-in the transition towards sustainable diversified systems that would contribute to the Rural Renaissance objectives.

EC funding : 9 999 985 €
Duration : 5 years
Start : June 1st 2017
Coordinator : Antoine Messéan, antoine.messean@inra.fr
Project manager : Lise Vedel, lise.vedel@inra.fr

Website : http://www.diverimpacts.net/

The objective of GenTORE is to develop innovative genome-enabled selection and management tools to optimise cattle resilience and efficiency (R&E) in widely varying environments. These tools, incorporating both genetic and non-genetic variables, will be applicable across the full range of systems (beef, milk and mixed), and will thereby increase the economic, environmental and social sustainability of European cattle meat and milk production systems.

To achieve this, GenTORE brings together:

1. multidisciplinary scientific expertise in genomics, environmental assessment, nutritional physiology, health management, precision livestock farming, mathematical modelling, and socio-economics;
2. partners and stakeholders representing breeding organisations, farm technology companies, farm and veterinary advisory services, and farm sectors (organic, grazing, etc.);
3. a unique data basis including >1 million genotypes.

This multi-actor team will develop tools for:

• multi-breed selection for R&E,
• characterisation of diverse farm environments,
• large-scale phenotyping of R&E using on-farm technology,
• on-farm management of breeding and culling decisions,
• and predicting the consequences for farm resilience of changing breeding and management.

These tools are designed to be applicable under commercial conditions at the end of the project. They will allow increased use of the genomic diversity in cattle breeds, e.g. use of selective cross-breeding to best exploit the local production environment. They will also allow farm managers, their advisors, and policy-makers, to assess the relative importance of breeding for animal resilience vs breeding for efficiency, with respect to system resilience. As such GenTORE will not only enable the use of genomic information to facilitate predictive biology of efficiency- and resilience-related traits, but will also increase resilience of livestock production in the face of current and future challenges of climate change and food security.

EC funding : 6 999 999,75 €

Duration : 5 years

Start : 1st june 2017

Coordinator : Nicolas Friggens – nicolas.friggens@agroparistech.fr

Project manager : Agathe Renard – agathe.renard@inra.fr