EU-funded project gives recommendations to improve communication of food research results in FP8
17 June 2011
Belgium
Effective communication is particularly important for the food sector where innovation is required to meet consumer demand for affordable, safe, healthy and sustainable foods. However, the food sector has certain characteristics that make innovation more challenging than in other sectors. One of these characteristics is the importance of small businesses: among the 310 000 companies involved in food and drink production, more than 90% are Small and Medium Size enterprises (SMEs).
The AgriFoodResults’ recommendations advise on a number of points that will allow for better knowledge transfer of research results. Currently, DG Research and Innovation is compiling information about the projects that are supported at EU level but information about the results of these projects is missing. Amongst other things, theAgriFoodResults recommendations suggest that each FP8 project should be requiredto submit a one-page summary of its results which will be published on a dedicated website. “Having access to the knowledge generated in research projects on a single site would make it easier for policy makers, media, SMEs and other stakeholders to find information. In AgriFoodResults we have taken steps towards providing this kind of platform. We have put together a wiki where project coordinators can upload project results themselves. We have also put together an interactive virtual supermarket where stakeholders can find research results relevant to the different areas of the supermarket”, said Olivier Chartier, project manager of AGF.
In the context of communicating research results, perhaps the most important finding came from an AgriFoodResults survey which revealed a lack of professionalism in food research projects financed by the EU. More than 50% of the projects surveyed did not employ a dissemination manager trained in communication and did not prepare a communication strategy. In FP8, this could be rectified by simply requesting that there is a dedicated person in charge of communications. In addition, it should be compulsory to include a dissemination plan in the Description of Work (DoW) and include a chapter on dissemination in the periodic activity reports and not only in the final activity report asis the case in FP7 projects.
On 1 March, AgriFoodResults held Communication Star, a communication award for best practice communication in FP 6 and 7 projects. At the event, MaiveRute, Director of the Biotechnologies, Agriculture and Food Directorate of DG Research and Innovation, European Commission stated that; “the need for communication in getting exciting ideas, research project findings and new ways of reaching out to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), policy-makers and the general public, is an increasingly important task in creating the successful Innovation Union flagship initiative”.
The AgriFoodResults’ recommendations advise on a number of points that will allow for better knowledge transfer of research results. Currently, DG Research and Innovation is compiling information about the projects that are supported at EU level but information about the results of these projects is missing. Amongst other things, theAgriFoodResults recommendations suggest that each FP8 project should be requiredto submit a one-page summary of its results which will be published on a dedicated website. “Having access to the knowledge generated in research projects on a single site would make it easier for policy makers, media, SMEs and other stakeholders to find information. In AgriFoodResults we have taken steps towards providing this kind of platform. We have put together a wiki where project coordinators can upload project results themselves. We have also put together an interactive virtual supermarket where stakeholders can find research results relevant to the different areas of the supermarket”, said Olivier Chartier, project manager of AGF.
In the context of communicating research results, perhaps the most important finding came from an AgriFoodResults survey which revealed a lack of professionalism in food research projects financed by the EU. More than 50% of the projects surveyed did not employ a dissemination manager trained in communication and did not prepare a communication strategy. In FP8, this could be rectified by simply requesting that there is a dedicated person in charge of communications. In addition, it should be compulsory to include a dissemination plan in the Description of Work (DoW) and include a chapter on dissemination in the periodic activity reports and not only in the final activity report asis the case in FP7 projects.
On 1 March, AgriFoodResults held Communication Star, a communication award for best practice communication in FP 6 and 7 projects. At the event, MaiveRute, Director of the Biotechnologies, Agriculture and Food Directorate of DG Research and Innovation, European Commission stated that; “the need for communication in getting exciting ideas, research project findings and new ways of reaching out to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), policy-makers and the general public, is an increasingly important task in creating the successful Innovation Union flagship initiative”.