Strengthening knowledge and skills of advisors and integrating them within Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) via an EU advisory network
Programme Category
Programme Name
Programme Description
Horizon Europe is the European Union (EU) funding programme for the period 2021 – 2027, which targets the sectors of research and innovation. The programme’s budget is around € 95.5 billion, of which € 5.4 billion is from NextGenerationEU to stimulate recovery and strengthen the EU’s resilience in the future, and € 4.5 billion is additional aid.
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
The advisers are best placed to encourage farmers to change their practices to improve the competitiveness, sustainability and resilience of agriculture.
They must be able to translate knowledge and provide specific, targeted and practical solutions for farmers, tailored to specific local conditions.
They should be prepared to provide innovation support services based on the interactive innovation model.
They should also be able to use different data sources to analyse farm performance over time, covering the three dimensions of sustainability, and thus provide informed, holistic advice to farmers.
Detailed Call Description
- improve the organisation and concrete services provided by impartial advisors, both public and private, within Member States’ AKIS in a collaborative way, including by (1) ensuring more networked structures, deepening the advisors’ integration into AKIS at EU and national/regional levels, and (2) developing and advancing more effective and interactive working methodologies and tools;
- improve advisors’ knowledge and skills across the EU in all areas of high interest to practitioners, covering competitiveness and the three dimensions of sustainability in line with all the objectives of CAP, at minimum by (1) enhancing the provision and management of knowledge useful for practice, and the sound thematic organisation and interaction of advisors and other relevant actors within AKIS in knowledge hubs, ensuring stronger links between research, education, advisors and farmers and encouraging the collection, wider sharing and use of available knowledge across the EU; (2) organising a substantial amount of activities to improve collaboration between advisors at the EU/national/regional levels, and enable them to effectively and widely share their knowledge, experience and skills, (3) creating and sharing tools, training courses and informative materials useful for advisors and their clients, as well as developing and applying approach(es) to motivate advisors to participate in and make use of them;
- improve and support the understanding and implementation of the interactive innovation model by the advisory community acting as innovation support services, including by (1) illustrating it with practical examples, (2) providing methodology and training for continued professional development, and (3) ensuring regular communication of research and innovation needs collected from practice to the relevant AKIS actors;
- create, regularly update and manage an online platform serving as a reference point for advisors and their clients that includes at minimum: (1) a database of advisors’ contacts and profiles (at least including education, professional experience and specific field(s) of expertise), (2) diverse robust data sources and decision support tools (including tutorials), (3) training courses and informative materials, (4) best practice examples (taking account of the costs and benefits for end-users), and (5) other tools and materials relevant for the target audience. The online platform should integrate the practice-oriented outputs from Horizon and CAP-funded projects useful for advisory services, and its entire content (not only interface) should be translated into all 24 official EU languages.
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
100%
Expected EU contribution per project: €10.00 million.
Thematic Categories
- Agriculture - Farming - Forestry
- Education and training
- Other Services
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
- Rural development
Eligibility for Participation
- Associations
- Educational Institutions
- Farmers Unions
- Farmers, Agriculturalists
- Legal Entities
- Other Beneficiaries
- Private Bodies
- Services Providers
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
- State-owned Enterprises
- Trade Unions
- Training Centres
Eligibility For Participation Notes
The following additional eligibility criteria apply: The proposals must use the multi-actor approach. See definition of the multi-actor approach in the introduction to this Work Programme part.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects.
Call Opening Date
Call Closing Date
National Contact Point(s)
Research and Innovation Foundation
29a Andrea Michalakopoulou, 1075 Nicosia,
P.B. 23422, 1683 Nicosia
Telephone: +357 22205000
Fax: +357 22205001
Email: support@research.org.cy
Website: https://www.research.org.cy/en/
Contact Persons:
Marcia Trillidou
Scientific Officer A’
Email: trillidou@research.org.cy
Dr. Mary Economou
Scientific Officer
Email: meconomou@research.org.cy