Final Report Summary - PLATFORM (Platform of Knowledge Based Bio-Economy relevant ERA-NETs)
Executive Summary:
Objective
The FP7 project ‘Platform of Knowledge Based Bioeconomy relevant ERA-NETs’ objective was to bring together the coordination initiatives in the area of food, agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture, forestry, climate, biodiversity, and biotechnologies, with the aim to improve exchange and cooperation and to strengthen their impact on the ERA and the European bioeconomy.
Consortium
The PLATFORM project consortium consists of experienced coordinators of those ERA-NET actions that are funded under FP6 or FP7 by the food, agriculture and fisheries and biotechnologies Theme. The partners are committed to fuel networking, mutual learning, and exchange for a wider set of initiatives, including neighbouring ERA-NETs, JPIs, and working groups of SCAR. The concept is that network coordinators and other delegates that contribute to surveys and participate to workshops of the PLATFORM project act as linking pins. Thus outreach and impact of the platform benefits a broad community.
Networking and mutual learning
A lot of experience has been built since the ERA-NET scheme started, so new coordination networks do not need to reinvent the wheel and new colleagues do not have to start from zero. Through PLATFORM the actors are networked and interactive dialogues facilitate mutual learning, for example on effective and cost-efficient call management. After an inventory of practices and of learning demands, a customized workshop was organised for call secretariat officers. Another matter that the ERA-NETs tackle best together is the analysis of costs and benefits of joint calls and assessments of other impact indicators for evaluating the success of their work in coordination and collaboration between national programmes. Positioning of an ERA-NET action in relation to other coordination initiatives and to other type of networks is another commonality for overarching discussions. Existing and potential coordination among Member State public-to-public initiatives (ERA-NET, ERA-NET Plus, JPI, Art 185, SCAR WGs) is mapped and matchmaking organised. PLATFORM also looks into linkages with private sector d14riven technology platforms, scientists driven research alliances, and the EIP on agriculture to bridge science, innovation and practice.
Inspiration and Impact
PLATFORM organised inspiring and animated workshops. Briefing documents and expert and case introductions facilitate well-informed discussions of which outcomes are reported. The legacy of this process is a set of recommendation documents for the ERA-NET community and environment, for example on call management, cost/benefit indicators and collaboration of ERA-NETs and other stakeholders. Some activities are co-organised with ERA-LEARN and JPIs TO CO-WORK, to make the most of the synergies. The potential impact includes fast-track progress of new ERA-NETs, more collaborations between coordination networks, more coherence of strategies and practices, a higher visibility and appreciation of collaboration between Member States, and stronger links between national programming and European-scale coordinated programming.
Project Context and Objectives:
The project performs on all three dimensions aimed for; networking, mutual learning and as a forum for discussing general and overarching strategic aspects. The workshops and other occasions of direct contact are the most important. Participant find them inspiring, interactive and rich with regard to sharing information, experiences and ideas.
Networking the actors is a main objective of the work package responsible for organising all general meetings. The kick-off meeting, the first and second Annual Workshops took place in the first half of the project and are described in the Mid-term Report. The third Annual Workshop took place in February 2014 in Leiden, the Netherlands. This one was the largest of the three and apart from the PLATFORM consortium and ERA-NET representatives other related initiatives were invited as well. Preparation and coordination of all project activities have been organised in a very flexible, on-demand, manner. The same for the outreach activities, which require flexibility to interact in a dynamic environment.
The WP on Mutual Learning finalized guidelines and recommendations for call management which summarizes outcomes of assessment of a comprehensive survey among bioeconomy ERA-NETs and of a two-day master class that brought together ERA-NET call managers, most of them with 2-8 years of experience in (transnational) call organisation. There was a high level of consensus with regard effective and cost-efficient practices, and agreement on a set of recommendations for ERA-NET call activities under H2020.
The WP on common vision and strategy has worked on assessments (through surveys, analysis and dialogues) of various lines of interaction and the role and position of ERA-NETs in the European research policy. The tasks produced a set of recommendations on the various lines of interaction and collaboration: opportunities for collaborations among ERA-NETs and mapping of the networks; collaboration between ERA-NETs and private sector driven initiatives; collaborations of ERA-NETs with international research initiatives and with funders outside Europe. The expectations that JPIs and ERA-NETs have of each other and modalities for collaboration are assessed with FACCE-JPI providing cases for different modalities already brought into practice. From the angle of ERA-NETs and European research policy the contribution to discussions in SCAR is important. A small group of PLATFORM task leaders made a discussion note when the ERA-NETs were on the SCAR agenda.
The EIP Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability is an important, new, aspect of the policy landscape for our network. PLATFORM WP leaders and coordinator have met with the EIP Agri Service Point and DG AGRO. Together, we set out directions and plans to encourage and facilitate involvement of ERA-NETs in the objectives as laid out for the EIP. A session was dedicated to the EIP in the third Annual Workshop.
Project dissemination and outreach are performed through a set of communication tools. In the first place through the website; for general promotion of the project. Secondly, through leaflets and brochures distributed at conferences and to partners in the individual networks, and contributions to the ERA-LEARN newsletter that reaches a wide group of stakeholders. Thirdly, through presentations at various meetings, national and international. Also, outreach and interaction takes place through cross-over involvements of consortium partners, e.g. with SCAR, EURAGRI, the newly established European Bioeconomy Panel, the SET Plan, and other initiatives with networking and learning dimensions such as ERA-LEARN and JPIs To Co-Work. These cross-overs are beneficial in terms of having well-informed discussions, short and fast communication lines, direct opportunity to do ‘reality-checks’, and faster working-level impacts (such as of the recommendations for efficient call management).
PLATFORM prepared a book on bioeconomy ERA-NET actions. The Commission kindly offered to have it printed by the EC Publication Office. The book, with a foreword is by R. J. Smits, DG RTD, was published spring 2014. This publication was received with great interest from the ERA-NETs featured as well as the wider bioeconomy and ERA-NET communities. The book features over 25 networks from FP6 and FP7 and give comprehensive information about each of them, with key data on the consortium, topic, grant and start and end date, as well as a description of their objectives, scoping and mapping activities, and the joint calls organised and the projects funded thereby. Network coordinators have been asked to check and deliver data, to make sure that all information is correct and up-to-date.
We are confident that the PLATFORM activities fulfilled a range of demands of the ERA-NET actors with benefits to a wider community.
Expected final results and potential impacts
Through our surveys and workshops (process) and the recommendation and guidance documents (deliverables) the project realised a three-year boost to capacity building and performance of networks for stepping up European scale research collaboration, coordination between national programmes, and joint programming.
The task teams that focused on the various lines of interactions of ERA-NETs and their environment (tasks within WP4 Common Vision and Strategy) and the Task 3.2 on impact assessment delivered final outcomes of their assessments, and (background) briefings and concept recommendations as input for the 3rd Annual Workshop (February 2014). Outcomes of these tasks are compiled in a set of recommendations.
The potential impacts include fast-track start-ups for new ERA-NETs, more collaborations between the networks, more coherence of ERA strategies and practices, a higher visibility and appreciation of collaboration and coordination between Member States, stronger links between national programming and the European context. All these impacts are aspects of building a European research area in the bioeconomy domain.
Project public website
The URL of the PLATFORM project website is: www.era-platform.eu
Project Results:
WP1 – Project Management
Start: Month 1
End month: Month 36
WP leader: P1 DLO
Partners: -
Project management is reported in detail in section 3.3. Here, the progress of the tasks is given in summary.
Task 1.1 Administrative, financial and legal management
The project coordinator Dr Christine Bunthof was supported by a dedicated experienced project administrator, Ms Linda Oud, who was attributed for 400 hours per year to the project, financed by the ministry of Economic Affairs of The Netherlands. Adequate financial and administrative management of the project would otherwise not be possible, because the person months to claim in WP1 are much too low for the tasks. In the last year of the project Mrs Brenda Kuzniar-van der Zee took over some of the tasks of Ms Linda Oud, along with the task to manage the making of the book, which started in the second year funded by Wageningen UR.
The project administrator supports tasks such as distributing payments, monitoring expenses, correspondence on financial and legal aspects with partners and with the commission, supporting all reportings (including giving guidance and help to partners), some general project correspondence, the project intranet, and ad-hoc support for meeting logistics and making draft meeting notes.
We received pre-financing at the start of the project and intermediate financing after RP1 and duly distributed those over the beneficiaries according to ratio, after verification of bank account details. Partners were reminded to keep a good administration of expenses and of hours. Furthermore, to guide the people at their reporting duties, a reporting guidance document and report formats were prepared and distributed with an email with clear instructions and a presentation was given at the project meeting in Dublin (M14).
The coordinator met annually with Commission staff (project officer François Constantin, Dir E FAFB / Jörg Niehoff, dir B European Research Area) to report on the progress of work and to take a forward look to upcoming PLATFORM activities and events and developments relevant to the ERA-NET actors and landscape.
Task 1.2 Reporting
Reporting includes the Periodic Report 1 and 2, the Final Report and the deliverable reports. Preparations for the Periodic Reports and the Final Report were set in early to be able to have the reports finished before the end of the project.
WP2 – Networking the KBBE ERA-NET Actors
Start: Month 1
End: Month 36
WP leader: P2 EZ
Partners: P1 DLO, P3 FNR, P4 INRA, P5 FRB, P6 Defra, P7 BBSRC, P8 JUELICH,
P9 BMWFJ, P10 DASTI, P11 AU-ICROFS, P12 NICe, P13 Tekes
The main activities of this work package were well on schedule and followed the planning of the DoW. One month in the project, the kick-off meeting was held. The first Annual Workshop took place in June 2012, the second in April 2013, and the third annual workshop was the largest in participants we can host and it was held in February 2014 in Leiden, The Netherlands. In addition to the Kick-off and the Annual Workshops there has been a project meeting for the whole consortium and other invitees which we held in Dublin at the JPC2013. Preparation and coordination of all project activities have been organised in a very flexible, on-demand, manner. The same for the outreach activities, which require flexibility to interact in a dynamic environment. Through our workshops, and through PLATFORM participation at other core KBBE events, we had inspiring interactions and a good level of outreach to a large number of actors in the ERA-NET and the bioeconomy policy fields.
Task 2.1 Preparing, leading and follow-up of Steering Committee meetings
In the DoW, written in 2011, we planned for three Steering Committee meetings to be organised in conjunction with the Annual Workshops (M6, 16, 26). At these meetings the SC should take note of the project progress, give their opinion and input on concept recommendations and reports, and adopt deliverables. When preparing the programmes of the annual workshops these items were integrated in the workshops. With nearly all SC members present, among a group not much larger than that, no separate gathering was needed, and the workshop conclusions include input to concepts and adoption of approaches and results.
Task 2.2 Organisation of the Project Coordination Team meetings
In the duration of the project five Project Meetings have been held. Here, the task leaders presented plans and progress and got feedback and suggestions from the project colleagues.
These meetings were: 1) the project kick-off in The Hague on 1-2 February 2012; 2) project executive meeting in Copenhagen on 26 June 2012; 3) project meeting in Dublin on 28 February 2013; 4) project meeting in Brussels on 15 January 2014; 5) final event in Turin on 9 October 2014.
The project kick-off meeting, 1-2 February 2012, The Hague
Diverse programme with contributions prepared by Commission officer, WP leaders, and other participants: 26 participants; 9 countries; bioeconomy ERA-NETs and JPIs represented, most by the network coordinator, as well as some neighbouring networks. At the round table each network briefly introduced itself. Expectations from the Commission towards the PLATFORM project were presented by the project officer and the EC ambitions for the ERA and in particular partnerships between MSs and commission were introduced by B4 unit. A UK and a Dutch participant presented the strategies and way of working for participation of their countries in ERA-NETs. Workgroup sessions for work packages 2 (networking the actors), 3 (mutual learning), and 4 (common vision and strategy) to elaborate and approaches for the tasks.
Project Executive Meeting, 26 June 2012, Copenhagen
This was a short meeting held during the first Annual Workshop, in between the programme of the first day and Workshop dinner. Points on the agenda were: project management and work plan; extension of ERA-NETs invited to activities and for surveys; Action plan for WP4; upcoming meetings for outreach and linkage; any other business.
PLATFORM project meeting, 28 February 2013, Dublin
This was a half-day meeting with discussions on the developments in joint programming policy, the ERA-landscape, the importance of ERA-NETs. It was also timely for preparations among task leaders for the 2nd workshop. The project meeting; 23 participants; 10 countries; took place in the morning of February 28 in Dublin, where the Joint Programming Conference 2013 provided a meeting room and the opportunity for the PLATFORM Steering Committee members to easily combine participation. Participants were the WP and task leaders, EC project officer, guests for bioeconomy JPIs, SCAR, ERA-LEARN, JPIs TO CO-WORK and observer from GPC and the Irish presidency. After a welcome and tour de table, there was an update from the Commission and from SCAR followed by questions and opinions from the attendants. Then, project task leaders presented intermediate outcomes and further plans. This meeting was timely and very constructive in preparing for the upcoming Annual Workshop. In the weeks after this meeting task leaders worked on the documents which helped to make the Workshop in Paris a very rich and well prepared event that had a lot of information and inspiration to offer. At the Dublin meeting, Peter van Velzen handed over his responsibilities as SC chair to his successor at EZ-DAK Ino Ostendorf.
PLATFORM project meeting, 15 January 2014, Brussels
This was a half day meeting with a short set out of the programme of the third Annual Workshop in Leiden. Followed by updates from each Task, work in progress and concept documents for the third Annual Workshop. The PLATFORM vision and roadmap was discussed and the project management status. The meeting was attended by 9 representatives of the PLATFORM partners.
Task 2.3 Organising the first Workshop
The first Annual Workshop was organised by DASTI, in collaboration with the project coordinator. The workshop was held on 26-27 June 2012, in Charlottelund Castle, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Chairs: Niels Gøtke (DASTI) and Peter van Velzen (EZ).
This workshop was the first of three major, general, workshops organised in the course of the PLATFORM project. Day 1 focussed on strategic issues including the future possibilities within Horizon 2020 and Commission officers participated this day. Day 2 focussed on specific opportunities for collaboration among the networks.
Diverse programme with ample opportunities for exchanging information and experiences between ERA-NETs, building contacts, and bringing in ideas. Contributions prepared by project partners and other participants: a matchmaking break-out sessions; 29 participants,9 countries; bioeconomy ERA-NETs and JPIs represented, most by the network coordinator, as well as some neighbouring networks. Commission E4 (project officer François Constantin) and B4 (Jörg Niehoff) participated the first day. Group dinner was at the Danish aquarium and after seeing sharks, piranhas and a big turtle being fed, we had a Danish buffet dinner ourselves, seated in the aquarium in semi-darkness surrounded by tanks with beautiful sea creatures.
The content of the meeting can be summarized as follows:
ERA-NETs in H2020. After a Commission presentation on the ERA-NET role and instrument in the new Horizon 2020 five points for discussion were taken up: 1) instrument; who inspires, and who decides on ERA-NETs, new or continued, how to ensure broad participation, which activities can/should ERA-NETs do; 2) how can JPIs and ERA-NETs by typed in relation to each other; 3) calls planned – survey to get idea, as it may help the ERA-NETs and the Commission to better prepare for the future; 4) which sort of activities will be funded – a timely dialogue with the Commission as various scenarios are under consideration; 5) scope for future support and learning platform – highly supported.
Mutual learning and impact assessment. Survey results on use and appreciation by KBBE ERA-NETs for ERA-LEARN toolbox presented. Harmonizing calls was advocated. The idea to have a dedicated workshop - for the colleagues in our networks that are deeply involved in call management - was welcomed and plans further elaborated after the workshop. The cost-benefit analysis tool developed by ERA-LEARN was presented, with data from bioeconomy ERA-NETs. The approach was adopted and ERA-NETs asked to provide raw data for the analysis. We talked about various impact indicators for calls and for ERA-NETs, recognizing that leverage-on-call level is relatively easy (not much input data needed), but that leverage on a project-by-project level may make be more informative. When evaluating ERA-NETs we should not only make assessments about the calls, we need a diverse set of qualitative and quantitative parameters. Approach and proposal how to use data is to be elaborated.
Collaborations among networks. Classification of the PLATFORM ERA-NETs were presented and discussed, and a speed-dating session was organised to explore in bilateral settings opportunities for collaborations between the networks present. Outcomes of the talks and analysis of the scopes of networks will be used in identifying the webs that can be drawn in the ERA-NET landscape and collaboration opportunities. Furthermore, an overview of technology platforms was provided, the meta knowledge base developed in ICT AGRI was presented and DASTI presented its strategy with regard to linking national programmes and participating in ERA-NET calls and other European initiatives.
WP progress. Resulting from adopted proposals and new ideas that had arisen during the discussions at the workshop each WP team went home with a list of tasks for coming year.
Task 2.4 Organising the second Workshop
The second Workshop was organised by INRA, in collaboration with the project coordinator. The workshop was held on 18 - 19 April 2013 in Paris, France.
Chairs: Egizio Valceschini (INRA) and Ino Ostendorf (EZ)
The workshop was coined “Bioeconomy ERA‐NETs in action and interaction”. This event focused on the interactions of ERA-NETs and other bioeconomy actors, reflecting on modalities and good practices achieved and looking ahead to new collaborations. In the context of implementing a concept for Joint Programming in the European Research Area, meaningful interactions with JPIs are high on the agenda. We also discussed the potential of ERA-NETs in interactions in the working interfaces of the EIP on Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability.
Diverse programme with contributions prepared by project partners and other participants: 2 workgroup sessions; 31 participants, 10 countries; bioeconomy ERA-NETs and JPIs represented, most by the network coordinator, as well as some neighbouring networks. Workshop dinner in a near-by restaurant with French cuisine.
Mutual Learning & Common Vision and Strategy. Surveys to gather information and views
Analysis. Synthesis. Input from other sources (e.g. ERA-LEARN)
-> this second workshop was a major process step towards the recommendations
-> aim for a wide representation (20+ networks)
-> Inclusive and open process
-> Present briefings / assessments of the Tasks
-> Gathering input for selecting topics for the master class on call management
-> coherent set of Recommendations on interactions and collaborations of ERA-NETs and other
bioeconomy policy actors
Vision paper and Roadmap. We didn’t adopt a position paper at the end, but throughout the project we are in dialog and present PLATFORM’s reflections (e.g.briefing paper at SCAR). See Task 4.5
Task 2.5 Organising the third Workshop
The third Annual Workshop was held on the 13th and14th of February, 2014 in Museum Boerhaave in Leiden, The Netherlands. The title for the last annual workshop was ‘ERA-NETs for the future’. The Leiden workshop was the first ERA-NET forum event after Horizon 2020 has been launched. The workshop programme was designed to serve a broad interest. We worked towards finalizing recommendations on interactions between ERA-NETs and JPIs among each other, and with other policy actors in the European Research Area, such as industry-driven networks, research alliances, national policy makers and the EC. We also turned our eye on the activities expected from and possible under the Horizon 2020 ERA-NET COFUND actions. Furthermore, there was a dedicated session on the ERA-NETs and the EIP AGRI, for all those having an interest in developing or strengthening those lines of collaboration. The report of the workshop is a project Deliverable (D2.5) of public dissemination level. It was scheduled in the DoW for February 2014, however this was later.
Task 2.6 Interaction at other core KBBE events
This task can be split in: (1) the interaction with individual ERA-NETs; (2) the interactions at European-scale conferences, (3) the interactions with other learning and networking platforms. The progress along each of these lines is as follows.
1. Interactions PLATFORM – individual ERA-NETs
In the frame of this task the PLATFORM coordinator reserves time to participate occasionally to meetings of the individual bioeconomy networks. Presentations were given at the platform meetings of ERA-IB in Dresden, Germany. With regard to SUSFOOD and SUMFOREST the interaction is stronger as the PLATFORM coordinator is a member of Advisory Board of these ERA-NETs.
2. Interactions PLATFORM – European scale conferences
This includes participation at events such as the Annual Joint Programming Conference, Bioeconomy Days, EURAGRI meetings. In the larger conferences there have been always at least a few partners of the PLATFORM consortium that participated, not specifically as PLATFORM representative, but in most cases in the first place on behalf of their organisation (e.g. ministry or research organisation). These interlinkages are useful for coherence between initiatives that help shaping the European Research Area. Listing who of the partners has participated to what event would need to much work for the purpose of this report. In general, we can say the personnel cross overs strengthen the multitude of interactions. A very important line in this respect is the SCAR, of which Egizio Valchescini (WP lead 4) and Niels Gøtke (Lead 4.5) are active members. With regard to energy and industrial biotech, Kees Kwant and Karen Görner are linking pins. Another line, that is yet to start is that with the Bioeconomy Panel.
Usually, one of the persons who participated gives a briefing in the platform meeting to the partners of the project. The coordinator participated to the Bioeconomy Days 2014, and to the SCAR meeting in The Hague in August 2015. One event specifically worth mentioning is the Dissemination Session about PLATFORM in Turin
Dissemination event about PLATFORM at Bioeconmy Stakeholder Conference, 9 October 2014, Turin
PLATFORM Outcomes and Outlook, was a dissemination event organised as satellite meeting during the Bioeconomy Stakeholders Conference, 8-9 October 2014 in Turin, Italy. The event was open for all participants of the conference. During the event presentations were given on the outcomes of the deliverables and a set of recommendations was presented which was distributed among participants of the conference. Presentations were followed by panel discussion with reflections on the presented outcomes and recommendations, and views on ERA-NETs and implementation of activities in Horizon 2020. The attendees participated actively in the discussions. Focus, scale and capacity are issues important for their proven contribution to alignment and more is expected for the future.
3. Interactions with other networking and learning platforms.
In this respect, Christine Bunthof participated to the kick-off meeting and maintains contacts with ERA-LEARN 2. An interview about PLATFORM appeared in a 2012 newsletter, and an article in the ERA-LEARN special newsletter distributed at JPC2013.
There is a good connection with JPIs TO CO-WORK through occasional meetings between the respective coordinators, and with others of the project, and cross-over participation to meetings as this benefits both initiatives. For all PLATFORM meetings a representative from CO-WORK is invited. Christine Bunthof is advisory board member of CO-WORK. This appointment assumes active participation to the workshops, giving comments on the briefing documents that are made, and participation to the advisory board meetings (held during workshops). C. Bunthof participated to the first and second workshop of CO-WORK, and will do so to the fourth workshop. The third workshop, which focussed on peer review, was attended by Ulla Bertelsen from WP3.
Deviations from project work programme in DoW and corrective action taken
There were no major deviations from the work programme in the DoW.
WP3 – Mutual Learning
Start: Month 1
End: Month 27
WP lead: P9 BMWFJ
Partners: P1 DLO, P11 AU-ICROFS
The work packages’ objectives were presented and discussed at the project kick-off meeting (M2) and the first steps until month 6 were suggested and consensually defined. These included
(i) to map the bioeconomy relevant ERA-NETs along the value chain (see also T4.1) and to assemble participant information about ERA-NET maturity, knowledge available/needed, important topics to discuss/resolve – with regard to task 3.1;
(ii) to propose an impact-assessment tool for ERA-NET calls and elaborate it in a separate workshop co-lead by PLATFORM T3.2 task leader and a member of the ERA-LEARN consortium (M5), including a proposal on the practicalities of the impact assessment to be performed on bioeconomy relevant ERA-NETs – with regard to task 3.2; and
(iii) to screen needs and opportunities and thus the scope of a master class – with regard to task 3.3.
All these actions were started, including the organisation, with ERA-LEARN, of a dedicated workshop on cost-benefit for bioeconomy ERA-NETs (M5). Preliminary results of assessment, outcomes of the cost-benefit workshop, and the plans for next steps were shared with the consortium prior to the 1st Annual Workshop (M6), where, after presentations, consensus was achieved and future directions were set. This lead to the adoption of methodology and agreement of the call-impact assessment tool and the agreement on participation in the impact analysis (by M16), the continuation of the information collection about ERA-NET practices and its analysis (by M17) and the broad outlining of the master class scope (by M14), the narrowing down into topics (by M16) and the organisation of this dedicated event itself (by M18). The findings of the survey on ERA-NET goals and practices were reported in a document that was provided as a briefing to the participants of the master class.
During summer 2013 the deliverables 3.1 and 3.3 were prepared and submitted in M20. Deliverable 3.2 was drafted from M20 to M26 and presented during the 3rd PLATFORM workshop, the final version was submitted in June 2014.
WP3 is in complete accordance with the project objectives of the DoW both in time and content (the delay of D3.2 was announced in the M18 report).
Task 3.1 Good practices for ERA-NET activities
Apart from an informative inventory of KBBE ERA-NET accomplishments and the potential shortcomings in the process of ERA-NET implementation, a short list of “open topics” that would add value if being discussed among the participating ERA-NETs was produced. It was agreed that critical issues like evaluation and recommendation (among others) should be intensively discussed among well-experienced practitioners thereby adding value to the community systematically and synergistically.
Based on the analysis and outcome of the discussion within the consortium, the WP3 organised a master class (cf. task 3.3) dedicated to (i) the exchange of good practices in well-established ERA-NETs, (ii) the discussion of good practice and agreement on best practice among the participants, and (iii) the recommendation of good/best practice to practitioners within the PLATFORM consortium. By connecting PLATFORM to the ERA-LEARN consortium the resulting recommendations were made available for the entire ERA-NET community and contribute to the ERA-LEARN toolbox.
Significant results of the workshop revealed a severe clash of good practices with the ERA-NET Co-Fund scheme in H2020: Irrespective of independent, sound and thorough evaluation practice, the desired single outcome of a binding ranking list does not reflect identified good practices for efficient project recommendation, thereby affecting the implementation of absolutely qualified recommendation of all excellent projects. The restrictive pattern of ranking lists contrasts with the intention to optimize the MSs´ and regions´ funding contributions with respect to increase the share of national funds to be poured into the ERA and coordinated at the European level. Suggestions following the results of the master class are outlined in D3.1 and are online on the NETWATCH portal at http://netwatch.jrc.ec.europa.eu/web/lp/learning-platform/toolbox/call-implementation(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre). In the ERA-LEARN toolbox also special references that link to this document are implemented where applicable.
Call officers of European Research Area Networks (ERA-NETs) on bio¬economy relevant themes met at a two-day master class in Brussels. They shared knowledge and experiences and collectively provided recommendations for future ERA-NET calls. Through such mutual learning activities the European PLATFORM initiative aims to improve the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of call management.
The main outcome of the discussions at the master class confirmed the key result of a broad survey performed among the ERA-NETs: sufficient flexibility and pragmatism in the evaluation and selection process are of key importance for transnational calls. This would foster a larger impact of the investment provided through national funds and EC top-up funding on building the ERA.
Specific recommendations were given concerning call organisation, support tools, proposal evaluation and ranking, project selection and negotiation, funding and joint project monitoring. They include:
Call, evaluation and ranking of applications
• Transparent communication of national regulations regarding eligibility is required for applicants.
• Clear communication and transparency by national funding organisations about funding ceilings and the type of project costs they expect to fund are important.
• There is absolute need for a clear Code of Conduct on Conflicts of Interest regarding scientific experts.
• There is absolute need for clear instructions to external reviewers and review panel on the selection criteria and about scoring.
• A rebuttal step, after review of full proposals and before the review panel meeting, adds value to the quality of assessment and transparency.
• The possibility of access to the expert database of the EU Commission Services for ERA-NETs should become better known.
Selection of recommended applications and funding decision
• Ranking in barrels instead of a prescriptive ranking list should be considered for transnational calls with distributed pots as it allows optimising the use of available funding and it avoids the artificial hierarchy among proposals of similar quality.
Project negotiation
• Avoidance of any cut-back of project budget during funding negotiations is considered best practice, as long as the funding requests are appropriate and considered necessary.
• Any revised proposal should be re-evaluated by (part of) the review panel.
Joint project monitoring
• Project progress monitoring at the transnational level is beneficial as it is an indicator for the performance of the consortium as a whole.
• The development of a database with key project information for all projects granted within the calls of all ERA-NETs is recommended.
Task 3.2 Impact of ERA-NETs in the knowledge based bioeconomy
This task assessed performance of joint calls and other impact indicators of bioeconomy ERA-NETs.
Cost-benefit indicators are considered valuable for orientation and decision making at all levels, since they report achievements and allow future planning. In a study the PLATFORM project has measured up the activities of bioeconomy related European Research Area Networks (ERA-NETs) of FP6 and FP7 with regards to the associated eff orts and outcomes of call implementation and implicit networking activities.
The benefits are clear. Between 2004 and 2013, covering the period of FP6 and FP7, 153 ERA-NETs and 23 ERA-NET Plus actions were created. The networks have organised some 325 joint calls with a total of estimated € 2.4 billion public funding. These impressive figures stand for the global picture, but of course there are differential call balances and individual developments within and across single ERA-NETs within this ten year period. But what were the costs? A PLATFORM study reveals that it is always important to consider the scope and research field of an individual network, but some general conclusions apply:
• The bioeconomy ERA-NETs managed to mobilise on average € 12 million for a call, but the funding varies notably: from a small pilot of just € 1 million, up to large calls with volumes between € 30 and 40 million.
• On average, the implementation of a call required a joint eff ort of approximately 50 person months.
• Additional costs necessary to generate a project can be benchmarked with € 33 k per project.
• National funding contributions leverage the EU funding of ERA-NETs by a factor 5 to 40, with an implicit positive trend towards higher values as long as the networks remain active.
• Cost-benefit indicators are considered valuable for orientation and decision making at all levels, since they report achievements and allow future planning.
The outcome of this study is interesting for all ERANET stakeholders and also other entities that perform joint calls, because it provides figures on the costs and outcomes of implemented joint calls. It can serve for orientation on transfer costs associated with the implementation of joint calls and provide benchmarks for the cost planning of transnational funding instruments. It will equally well inform policy makers engaged in the bioeconomy and build a basis for decision making.
Task 3.3 Master class
Though initially a training workshop for newcomers was envisaged for the master class, the consortium decided to dedicate this task to organise a gathering with many experienced call performers because of two major reasons: (i) neither in the overall assessment of individual participating bioeconomy ERA-NETs nor in the regular workshops (M6, M16) had a large demand for a training program targeting newcomers become obvious. Even new ERA-NETs showed only little interest in training, since they find copious support in the ERA-LEARN toolbox. In addition, ERA-LEARN is providing training workshops for call implementation at irregular intervals and there are no specific elements in calls of KBBE related ERA-NETs; (ii) the consortium increasingly tended to use the scarce resources for an “expert master class” in order to create a life dialogue and discussion on identified primary concerns of call implementation, and to create sound recommendations (cf. T3.1).
The workshop has been meticulously planned and organized for 22 participants representing 23 ERA-NETs and one JPI of the PLATFORM consortium in Brussels (M18). Preparations included a compilation of call implementation practices of the participants and a collection of call documents. The workshop was led by the three task leaders of WP3 and assisted by a rapporteur. It was structured into an impulse-presentation, round table, model building and recommendation phase for each of the 5 topics addressed. The recommendations are summarized in D3.1.
With regard to the master class binder (D3.3) as the assigned deliverable, it was agreed to deliver the full set of master class documents (consisting of the master class programme – with briefings one each topic, the outcomes of the survey, the presentations, and the report), as a valuable collection of documents of the aspects concerned therein, and with regard to general aspects of call implementation to refer to the ERA-LEARN toolbox instead.
Deviations from project work programme in DoW and corrective action taken
Regarding content and time, some minor deviations were made. All objectives and deliverables are delivered to the point. The three task leaders distributed the necessary efforts and workload among each other in a mutually agreed way, with minor deviations in the deployment of workforce.
WP4 – Common Vision and Strategy
Start: Month 1
End: Month 36
WP lead: P4 INRA
Partners: P2 EZ, P3 FNR, P10 DASTI
Work package 4 has performed all tasks planned. Tasks 1, 2, 3 and 4 have done the surveys needed and have analysed the results. This is combined with other assessments, such as in Task 4.1 the position of ERA-NETs along the value chain or the R&D phase. Task 4.2 sent questionnaires to five JPIs. Task 4.3 surveys PPP’s by a questionnaire sent by email, followed by phone interviews. Task 4.5 in collaboration with Task 2.6 seeks dialogue with SCAR. Outcomes have been presented, followed by discussions that feed in the next step of these tasks: formulation of recommendations to the ERA-NET actors as well as to the wider community. Task leaders prepared briefing documents / concept recommendations which were on the agenda of the last Annual Workshop, after which all Deliverables were finalized.
Task 4.1 Collaboration among KBBE relevant ERA-NETs
Task 4.1. aimed to increase the effectiveness of ERA-NETs by enhancing synergy among the existing and new ERA-NETs.
The outcomes can be summarized as follows.
A study from the PLATFORM project has mapped out opportunities for collaborations among existing bioeconomy European Research Area Networks (ERA-NETs) and with JPIs. Through inter-network collaborations the efficiency and effectiveness of research can be improved and cross-cutting or overlapping areas can be addressed. The identified opportunities are good starting points for integrated joint programming, and dissemination, and for new ERA-NET Cofund actions in Horizon 2020 and other activities
such as fully member state funded multi-disciplinary calls, joint networking, training and dissemination.
The initiatives included in the study span ERA-NETs, ERA-NET Plus actions, and Joint Programme Initiatives (JPIs) in the bioeconomy sectors. Through an exploratory inventory areas were identified where inter-network
cooperation on overlapping or neighbouring topics could have a clear added value. General recommendations
from the network coordinators include:
• In a changing environment, and with changing projects, research agendas and political framework, a continuous search for collaboration possibilities between existing and new initiatives and networks is a necessity. This concerns all actors.
• Joint calls, which are an established mechanism to implement collaboration between countries, can be employed for inter-network collaboration as well. This widens the opportunities for researchers, businesses and programme and policy makers.
• Bioeconomy topics that require collaboration among countries and that are in the focus of the Horizon 2020 areas should be boosted by the ERA-NET Cofund instrument.
• Further workshops should be organised for funding authorities and other ERA-NET actors to investigate common interests, to formulate bottom-up needs for new collaborations and to develop joint activities.
The results clearly show that the collaborations can take place at different levels, e.g. joint workshops and joint
calls. The inventory, which included questionnaires, a desk study, and a match-making session at a PLATFORM
annual event yielded concrete recommendations for 11 joint workshops to disseminate research findings,
19 interests for exploring joint calls on overlapping or cross-cutting topics between two or more networks, and
17 expressions of interest for other kinds of collaboration.
Task 4.2 ERA-NETs and Joint Programming Initiatives
In Task 4.2 The PLATFORM project explored how to increase the synergy between the bioeconomy European Research Area Networks (ERA-NETs) and the Joint Programme Initiatives (JPIs), with the aim to contribute to building the European Research Area. The JPI on Food Security, Agriculture and
Climate Change - FACCE-JPI, the JPI Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans, the JPI Climate, the Water JPI, and the JPI A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life; all joint programmes in the bioeconomy domain, were looked into.
The responses to the questionnaire put to the JPIs showed:
• JPIs can learn from ERA-NETs; among others, from their previous experiences and well-established
• structures.
• Mapping exercises performed by ERA-NETs are useful for JPIs; they provide thematic overviews of
• the research landscape and often also an overview of institutes, funding organisations, research
• infrastructures and national existing and future programmes.
• Collaboration with an existing ERA-NET is a potential tool for implementing short-term research priorities of the JPI Strategic Research Agendas (SRA).
• The new ERA-NET Cofund instrument can be used to implement topics from the SRA, provided there is sufficient national financial commitment and critical mass.
Also, an important role was indicated for PLATFORM, in being a linking communicator and forum provider for programming authorities and network actors in the ERA-NETs and JPIs on bioeconomy relevant topics as well as SCAR Working Groups.
Among information to be exchanged are the following:
• Best practices
• Tools
• Early information on upcoming calls
• Outcomes of mapping and scoping exercises
• Strategic Research (and Innovation) Agendas
The next PLATFORM project can also work together with ERA-NETs and JPIs to catalyse cooperation, exchange, and synergy. Also the experiences with the new Cofund instrument can be gathered and evaluated for its suitability to fulfil objectives of the networks.
Task 4.3 ERA-NETs and private sector driven platforms
As a result of this Task, the European PLATFORM initiative has presented recommendations for better exchange and coordination between European Research Area Networks (ERA-NETs) and industry-driven initiatives in the bioeconomy.
Improving the existing collaborations and setting up new ones helps to realise the potential of research and innovation to produce ‘more and better quality’ in a sustainable way.
From interviews and questionnaires with European Technology Platforms (ETPs) and Public Private Partnerships, the programme managers in the PLATFORM initiative conclude that ERA-NETs are well known in all industry-driven initiatives questioned. Most are already actively cooperating or trying to set up links with ERA-NETs in their field. There is clear value in networking, as vital interests are shared by all relevant stakeholders.
Based on the inventory and analysis, recommendations to further improve on these networks and collaborations were compiled in a PLATFORM report. A small pick from the various pieces of advice for ERA-NETs, industry initiatives, and the European Commission:
• Explore ways to improve communication: personal contact and enthusiasm for exchange are key to
• successful collaboration.
• Organise joint activities, such as workshops to define priority areas.
• Create an environment in which collaboration can blossom.
The surveys clearly highlighted the practical results of the collaborations between ERA-NETs and industrydriven
initiatives, the most important one being the use of the ETPs’ Strategic Research Agendas in the planning
and preparation of joint calls for R&D proposals. Joint events such as conferences, workshops, and programming sessions were also mentioned repeatedly. Both ERA-NETs and ETPs agreed that close collaboration on such strategic issues holds the largest benefit for both sides.
Task 4.4 ERA-NETs and international research alliances
Within this task the attention was on benefiting the bioeconomy through global cooperation.
Cooperation between the European Research Area Networks (ERA-NETs) and organisations in global research can benefit the bioeconomy. The PLATFORM project has explored the experiences and (potential) interest
and published the findings on global collaborations in its series of recommendation papers.
The results show opportunities for ERA-NETs that address research areas with a clear global dimension
(such as agricultural research for development, climate action, land use, and statutory plant health), or where
combined expertise can speed up knowledge creation and innovation (such as plant sciences, animal production, or biodiversity). Benefits lay in combining research budgets - so more budget is available and budget efficiency is increased -, access to research infrastructures, and critical mass of researchers.
Global cooperation can increase the outreach and impact of ERA-NET activities through having access to
the best available knowledge and avoiding duplication of efforts. The programme managers recommend starting up small pilots in specialised research fields, involving partners from third countries in joint calls that have already bilateral collaboration, and working together preferably from the start on.
A survey among bioeconomy ERA-NET coordinators was conducted in this study. The motivations were investigated as well as the benefits and barriers encountered in working with funding organisations outside the EU and with global partnerships. The overview of relevant global research alliances and intergovernmental organisations, including some with which there is no collaboration yet, was further elaborated by an internet search. The same set-up was used for insight into participation of funding partners from third countries. A call on social media (LinkedIn) and sourcing literature and reports gave complementary information on current practice and global collaboration potential, and on the rationale and experiences.
Task 4.5 ERA-NETs and European research and innovation policy
Within this task various aspects were addresses of fostering partnerships and national embedding for ERA-NET actions with impact
The European PLATFORM initiative calls for increased interaction and collaboration between European Research Area Networks (ERA-NETs), other European research policy platforms and national research and innovation authorities to tackle issues facing bioeconomy research today and tomorrow. Recommendations are aimed at maximising synergies, operational interactions, and high-impacting contributions to coordinate and collaborate across country and institutional borders.
The context for European research and research programming has changed considerably in the last decade.
The launch of Horizon 2020 has added to the dynamics of the environment as experienced by national programme managers and their European networks. We have the new ERA-NET Cofund instrument. There are
less funds in many countries, and stronger push towards working across sectors and disciplines, along value
chains, and with stakeholders. As such, these are all driving forces behind increasing the interactions and collaborations. Also, these developments cause a shift for the ERA-NETs from strategic, analytical and networking activities towards a focus on call implementation.
Efficiency, synergy, and inclusiveness. Both on a national and European level, reduction of administrative burdens, and costs, as well as an overall rationalisation of funding are seen already. Sharper choices on participation in networks and calls are expected in the coming years. ERA-NETs can synergise their calls for cost-efficiency and better service to the scientific community. In PLATFORM the networks can pursue this collectively. PLATFORM also fosters explorations towards aligning research from different nations e.g. by collaborative programmes between ERA-NETs involving more countries, funders, disciplines and/or sectors. Also commitment from new member states is important. Opportunities for increasing their participation in the ERA-NETs should be investigated more.
Policy and programming partnerships. Recommendations to increase interaction and collaboration include strengthening the connections between bioeconomy ERA-NETs and various European policy platforms. These are the Horizon 2020 Programme Committees, the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR), the Bioeconomy Panel, the European Research Area and Innovation Committee (ERAC), and, for those with overlapping focus, the European Initiative for Agricultural Research for Development (EIARD), the European Innovation Partnership initiatives (EIPs), and the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs). As a result the ERA-NETs can contribute more to strategy and policy, and the mentioned policy platforms can contribute more to coordination among national programmes including call implementation.
Deviations from project work programme in DoW and corrective action taken
Work in WP4 progressed well. Two additional pieces of work have been added along the way. EZ has extended its work for Task 4.4 assessing not only interactions with international research initiatives (e.g. CGIAR, EFFARD), but also the collaboration with countries outside Europe. Furthermore, PLATFORM takes an active role in contributing to discussions in SCAR by preparing discussion notes during the project rather than to wait with this communications till the end of the project.
WP5 – Communication
Start: Month 1
End: Month 36
WP lead: P8 JUELICH
Partners: P1 DLO
The communication Work package delivered the website, the project brochure, PowerPoint presentations, and fact sheets. These were planned in the DoW. PLATFORM decided on an extra, very large, task: the production of a book on bioeconomy ERA-NETs.
For the sake of a more logic, ordered reporting, the progress is described under four new task headings that differ from the DoW task headings (which was: T5.1 Public engagement; T5.2 Newsletters; T5.3 Basic dissemination packages, including the master class material).
Task 5.1 Website
The development of the website was head-started already before the start of the project and the website concept was presented at the kick-off meeting. With design and content approved by the consortium, the website was launched timely. Information on the site is regularly updated, and public deliverables are published in the documents and meetings sections.
The website contained the access to the cyber forum and the link to the project intranet (project documents for the consortium, intranet is maintained as part of the administrative management tasks).
In the second part of the project period website maintenance was transferred from Juelich to DLO at the beginning of 2014. Since the project office is based in the Netherlands, it was found more convenient to have project management and communication and dissemination of the project at one place. The website has been set up on a new platform and information from the previous website was transferred there. New information was added, e.g. news items are placed on a regular base and the book on Bioeconomy ERA-NET Actions has been digitalised and made available through the Web. Information on the site is regularly updated, and public deliverables are published in the documents and meetings sections. On the new version of the website the cyber forum was not integrated. The original plan was to have communications in between workshops taking place on this cyber forum, however this hardly happened. In our practice people use the e-mail, seek direct contact, and use the occasions when they meet others. There was no real demand for a cyber-forum. Hence it was decided not to put a lot of effort in stimulating or initiating discussions on the cyber forum and the functionality was not offered anymore on the new website. The website contains the link to the project intranet (project documents for the consortium, intranet is maintained as part of the administrative management tasks).
Task 5.2 Public engagement
Public engagement mainly takes place through the website. In the last half year of the project monthly newsletters has been sent out to the stakeholders and a PLATFORM LinkedIn Group and Twitter account have been created to keep interested updated about the project and the bioeconomy ERA-NET Actions in between the newsletters. Also the final event was used as dissemination event and took place at the Bioeconomy Stakeholders Conference in Turin, Italy, on 9 October 2014.
The first plan with regard to engagement beyond the participants at meetings was to set up a communication platform for stakeholders. Both design and content were presented at the Kick-off
meeting and approved by the consortium. Additionally the consortium decided to set up a communication strategy for the course of the project. The task is completed.
The cyber forum is not used by participants and stakeholders. An email request and a preliminary tour de table during the last consortium meeting revealed, that nearly all partners prefer a traditional way of communication like, person contact, telephone or email. Sufficient possibilities to meet during the project course are also considered as appropriate.
Task 5.3 Brochures, general presentation, newsletters
Following a provisional leaflet made before the start of the project, a general PowerPoint presentation about PLATFORM (M4), a more elaborate leaflet (M6), and a brochure (M13) were developed. Again all were approved in design and content by the consortium. The PowerPoint is the basis for various presentations, such as those mentioned in Task 2.6.
No newsletters had been produced so far. With the new task 4.5 taken on, and a brochure to use for general dissemination at various conferences and at meetings of individual networks, it was decided to reduce the number of newsletters to just one or two that will be made to promote the recommendations and the vision paper and roadmap in the second half of the project.
In the second part of the project a set of factsheets based on conclusions and recommendations of Work Package 3 'Mutual Learning' and Work Package 4 'Common Vision and Strategy' have been created. The set consists of seven sheets in a binder. On the inside of the binder there is a short text about the European Bioeconomy ERA-NETs and a figure which places the ERA-NETs in the diverse bioeconomy topics. On the back there are the PLATFORM project details (duration, funding), the consortium participants, coordinator, contact, website and acknowledgement of EC funding and FP7, EC and ERA logo. Each of the sheets summarizes the outcomes and recommendations of a task, and refers to the website where the full reports can be downloaded.
From September 2014 newsletters have been sent out on a monthly base with information on the PLATFORM project and the bioeconomy ERA-NET Actions. Newsletters were sent to 250-300 persons from the PLATFORM contact database of which on average 35% opened the newsletters and 8% of the persons opening the newsletter clicks to read further on the topics.
The general presentation has been updated and used at various events.
Task 5.4 Book on bioeconomy ERA-NETs
This is an extra task that was not yet envisaged in the DoW. The idea to make a book with comprehensive information about bioeconomy ERA-NETs was proposed and much welcomed at the first Annual workshop. After compiling basic information using Netwatch, Cordis, and ERA-NET’s websites as source ERA-NET coordinators were first contacted in February 2013 with the request to complete the information. The scope was to include all bioeconomy relevant ERA-NETs of FP6 and FP7, and ERA-NET Plus actions. The information about each network is more comprehensive than the fact sheets of FP6 ERA-NETs that compiled the ‘Series I to V’ sets or the special set of KBBE ERA-NETs that was published in 2010. In addition to key data on consortium, duration, grant, and objective, the book contains information about each networks’ mapping and scoping activities and about all the calls of the ERA-NETs, with lists of funded projects. The book was published spring 2014.
Deviations from project work programme in DoW and corrective action taken
All deliverables aimed for in this WP have been produced, except the production of newsletters, which was only taken up in the last half year of the project. We modified the plans following priorities set by the consortium in the course of the project. The extra task to make a book is a very large task requiring extra person months. We could reallocating part of the budget for other costs in WP5 to be used for extra pm. Reductions in ‘other costs’ for WP5 are possible because the costs for hosting of the project intranet are not claimed on the project but paid by P2 EZ (saves about 3000 EUR), the costs for the website were lower than budgeted (in house by JUELICH), we made a brochure of just one page (less printing costs), we keep a smaller reserve for printing materials in the second half of the project. Secondly, we originally reserved 33.000 EUR in case invitees to the Annual Workshops (other than from the consortium partners who have T&S budget in the project) would need T&S support to be able to attend. However because the rooms were small we could not invite many others and much of the budget is left with only one last workshop to go. Thus at least 25.000 EUR of that budget is available for reallocation to personnel costs. We keep for the moment 8000 EUR for T&S of invitees to meetings that are not from the consortium partner organisations.
Since March 2013 Brenda van der Zee (MSc), who is seconded within DLO from Corporate Communication to Wageningen International, strengthens the WP5 team.
Potential Impact:
Strategic impact
The impact of the project can be seen from three different perspectives; the impact on individual ERA-NETs, the impact on the ERA-NET scheme, and the impact on the European Research Area particularly in the knowledge based bioeconomy.
1. Impact on each individual ERA-NET
An extensive body of knowledge and experience has been made available through exchange in Workshops and the cyber forum for the various partners in ERA-NETs and other joint initiatives. The knowledge shared in the offered facilities and the identification of good practices enlarged the toolbox for the individual initiatives in running their work packages (new ideas taken from others, gains of time, adoption of well tested solutions, improved quality of procedures adopted, etc.). It also supported new initiatives during their various stages of development. As a result PLATFORM helped to overcome the steep learning curves faced by all networks (mutual learning), assist funding bodies in the national coordination of KBBE ERA-NET participation, and strengthen the collaboration between actors in research programming based on common approaches and shared ownership.
2. Impact on the ERA-NET Scheme
The network of bioeconomy relevant ERA-NETs fostered through regular exchanges of views and the identification and exchange of best practices a more effective and harmonized environment for the ERA-NET users. It supported the EC to further develop the ERA-NET scheme based on the results of the proposed work. It identified areas where ERA-NETs can have better synergy for example through joint calls. It analysed means for impact assessment of ERA-NETs and perform this impact assessment. Through this analysis, recommendations for improving ERA-NET were made.
3. Impact on the European Research Area
The European Research Area was a high priority in the orientation paper 2020 (EUROPE 2020). Further the role of the bioeconomy area for the future was highlighted. This platform provided recommendations on how the ERA-NETs in the bioeconomy (as well as Joint Programming Initiatives) can contribute concretely to these goals. Providing Member States that are actively involved in bioeconomy relevant topics with a meeting place meaning that new ideas and initiatives have a fertile breeding ground. In this way PLATFORM contributed to the development of new joint activities as well. By encouraging participation of ERA-NET partners from New Member States, PLATFORM contributed to an inclusive Europe.
Moreover, in providing an overarching strategic vision beyond each ERA-NET vision and purpose, the project will offered to research institutions, Members states and the Commission opportunities to open new fields of
cooperation through the ERA-NET scheme (or other joint programming schemes) to complete the KBBE endeavour and more importantly develop mechanisms for coordination that provide a framework for current
and future needs for coordination between different actors.
PLATFORM fostered a more effective and harmonized environment for the ERA-NETs. The input of all the KBBE
ERA-NETs as well as the two JPIs in this area will, via the Recommendations, provided insight into effective mechanisms for the long-term coordination of research at the European level as well as how ERA-NETs can contribute to international activities in the KBBE domain and have an impact on research and innovation policy at the European level.
ERA-NETs play a structuring role in the bioeconomy area and thus contribute to the realisation of the bio-based
economy in Europe. By bringing together all the actors, a clearer picture emerged for future priorities needed
to bring about the implementation of the bioeconomy in Europe. Synergies were identified to add efficiency to the process, and an analysis of impact assessment provided recommendations for improving impact in the European bioeconomy, in the ERA, and in realising the objectives of Europe2020 and the Innovation Union.
PLATFORM offered a framework for stronger coherence between various policies, ERA-NETs and funding
instruments in Europe and contributed to the preparation of an European strategy for the bio-based economy.
Spreading excellence, exploiting results, disseminating knowledge
Benefits resulting from PLATFORM
The output of the project is targeted towards the people directly involved in the project (consortium members), the whole group of participants in the Workshops and the wider KBBE community. To make the workshop reports and master class teaching materials available for the benefit of the wider ERA-NET community these were published on the website, shared through NETWATCH and promoted through using social media.
Organisations profited from human capital that is better equipped to run ERA-NET activities, it helped to
speed up preparation phases. Applicants to ERA-NET calls benefitted from more streamlined procedures and
more uniformity. Other bioeconomy actors profited because the individual ERA-NETs are, through the self-assessment, more aware of their position and possible roles. This helps to define the collaborations an ERA-NET
may want to seek to fully exploit the opportunities and chances. These benefits resulted from jointly being involved in the process of mutual learning and development of a common vision (human capital), from applying guidelines and recommendations that PLATFORM delivered, and from being involved in the implementation of ERA activities of which the horizon is longer than the duration of this project.
Face-to-face communication
The main approach for dissemination was the sharing of knowledge between people. The project involved
regular in meetings of representatives of the bioeconomy ERA-NETs and JPIs, who are at the same time representing major programme owners (Government policy departments, agencies and research councils) from eight European countries who share information, both formally and informally.
The workshops brought together a wider group of actors; more partners then only the coordinating partner of
the bioeconomy ERA-NETs were invited, and also representatives of Collaborative Working Groups of SCAR and KBBENET, ETPs and the Commission Services. As the project enrolled we will kept flexibility to
best suit the needs of the project participants given the policy context at the time. Bringing representatives
from different (types of) bioeconomy actors into the workshops increased the impact of the project on joint research programming, joint strategy building, and commitments to transnational activities.
The ERA-NET coordinators united in the Steering Committee played a key role in linking the projects’ activities and deliverables to the consortium partners within their ERA-NETs and vice versa; they transmitted the experiences and views of their whole network into the mutual leaning, assessment of ERA-NET impact, and development of a common vision. Also the invited Workshop participants added to this further outreach layer.
Linking in individual staff members through the Cyber Forum
The cyber forum was intended to be an inviting, well-structured and information-rich professional networking site. The cyber forum would ensure that all documents could be easy to retrieve, and that information exchange, discussions can proceed in between the Workshop meetings. It was a ‘members-only’ site and the target group consisted of individuals that are staff member involved in bioeconomy ERA-NETs, neighbouring ERA-NETs, the KBBE relevant JPIs, in Collaborative Working Groups of SCAR and KBBE-NET, and other groups to be specified and agreed upon by the Steering Committee. During the project it appeared that the cyber forum was superfluous, persons involved gave the preference to communicate more directly to each other through meetings, telephone and email contact. Half way the project it was decided to end the cyber forum and continue with other means of communication.
Interaction with a larger group of KBBE stakeholders
PLATFORM successfully sought opportunities for interaction with ERA and bioeconomy stakeholders outside its own events, including EURAGRI, SCAR, EIP, ERA and joint programming conferences and Bioeconomy Stakeholder conferences.
Broad-scoped dissemination
The project website was the general tool for spreading the work developed by the platform to the ‘external
world’. In addition the website was a ‘first contact’ tool for people that belong to the wider ERA-NET
community and could register for a cyber forum account.
In the last half year of the project a digest of what’s new was highlighted in a newsletter distributed by e-mail. The target group of the newsletter was broader than the group of active individuals who are taking part in the social networking by the cyber forum. It included all staff working in bioeconomy relevant ERA-NETs, the SCAR and KBBE-NET, Commission Services staff of relevant units, and colleagues within the national programme management organisations that are involved in (inter)national research programming in particular in research targeting bio-based.
Intellectual Property issues
There are no Intellectual Property issues associated with this project.
List of Websites:
Website:
http://era-platform.eu(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) or http://era-platform.net(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)
Contact details:
Coordinator
Christine Bunthof
T: +31 317 480996
E: christine.bunthof@wur.nl
Project office
Brenda Kuzniar-van der Zee
T: +31 317 482114
E: office.platform@wur.nl
Wageningen UR (University & Research centre), The Netherlands
Objective
The FP7 project ‘Platform of Knowledge Based Bioeconomy relevant ERA-NETs’ objective was to bring together the coordination initiatives in the area of food, agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture, forestry, climate, biodiversity, and biotechnologies, with the aim to improve exchange and cooperation and to strengthen their impact on the ERA and the European bioeconomy.
Consortium
The PLATFORM project consortium consists of experienced coordinators of those ERA-NET actions that are funded under FP6 or FP7 by the food, agriculture and fisheries and biotechnologies Theme. The partners are committed to fuel networking, mutual learning, and exchange for a wider set of initiatives, including neighbouring ERA-NETs, JPIs, and working groups of SCAR. The concept is that network coordinators and other delegates that contribute to surveys and participate to workshops of the PLATFORM project act as linking pins. Thus outreach and impact of the platform benefits a broad community.
Networking and mutual learning
A lot of experience has been built since the ERA-NET scheme started, so new coordination networks do not need to reinvent the wheel and new colleagues do not have to start from zero. Through PLATFORM the actors are networked and interactive dialogues facilitate mutual learning, for example on effective and cost-efficient call management. After an inventory of practices and of learning demands, a customized workshop was organised for call secretariat officers. Another matter that the ERA-NETs tackle best together is the analysis of costs and benefits of joint calls and assessments of other impact indicators for evaluating the success of their work in coordination and collaboration between national programmes. Positioning of an ERA-NET action in relation to other coordination initiatives and to other type of networks is another commonality for overarching discussions. Existing and potential coordination among Member State public-to-public initiatives (ERA-NET, ERA-NET Plus, JPI, Art 185, SCAR WGs) is mapped and matchmaking organised. PLATFORM also looks into linkages with private sector d14riven technology platforms, scientists driven research alliances, and the EIP on agriculture to bridge science, innovation and practice.
Inspiration and Impact
PLATFORM organised inspiring and animated workshops. Briefing documents and expert and case introductions facilitate well-informed discussions of which outcomes are reported. The legacy of this process is a set of recommendation documents for the ERA-NET community and environment, for example on call management, cost/benefit indicators and collaboration of ERA-NETs and other stakeholders. Some activities are co-organised with ERA-LEARN and JPIs TO CO-WORK, to make the most of the synergies. The potential impact includes fast-track progress of new ERA-NETs, more collaborations between coordination networks, more coherence of strategies and practices, a higher visibility and appreciation of collaboration between Member States, and stronger links between national programming and European-scale coordinated programming.
Project Context and Objectives:
The project performs on all three dimensions aimed for; networking, mutual learning and as a forum for discussing general and overarching strategic aspects. The workshops and other occasions of direct contact are the most important. Participant find them inspiring, interactive and rich with regard to sharing information, experiences and ideas.
Networking the actors is a main objective of the work package responsible for organising all general meetings. The kick-off meeting, the first and second Annual Workshops took place in the first half of the project and are described in the Mid-term Report. The third Annual Workshop took place in February 2014 in Leiden, the Netherlands. This one was the largest of the three and apart from the PLATFORM consortium and ERA-NET representatives other related initiatives were invited as well. Preparation and coordination of all project activities have been organised in a very flexible, on-demand, manner. The same for the outreach activities, which require flexibility to interact in a dynamic environment.
The WP on Mutual Learning finalized guidelines and recommendations for call management which summarizes outcomes of assessment of a comprehensive survey among bioeconomy ERA-NETs and of a two-day master class that brought together ERA-NET call managers, most of them with 2-8 years of experience in (transnational) call organisation. There was a high level of consensus with regard effective and cost-efficient practices, and agreement on a set of recommendations for ERA-NET call activities under H2020.
The WP on common vision and strategy has worked on assessments (through surveys, analysis and dialogues) of various lines of interaction and the role and position of ERA-NETs in the European research policy. The tasks produced a set of recommendations on the various lines of interaction and collaboration: opportunities for collaborations among ERA-NETs and mapping of the networks; collaboration between ERA-NETs and private sector driven initiatives; collaborations of ERA-NETs with international research initiatives and with funders outside Europe. The expectations that JPIs and ERA-NETs have of each other and modalities for collaboration are assessed with FACCE-JPI providing cases for different modalities already brought into practice. From the angle of ERA-NETs and European research policy the contribution to discussions in SCAR is important. A small group of PLATFORM task leaders made a discussion note when the ERA-NETs were on the SCAR agenda.
The EIP Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability is an important, new, aspect of the policy landscape for our network. PLATFORM WP leaders and coordinator have met with the EIP Agri Service Point and DG AGRO. Together, we set out directions and plans to encourage and facilitate involvement of ERA-NETs in the objectives as laid out for the EIP. A session was dedicated to the EIP in the third Annual Workshop.
Project dissemination and outreach are performed through a set of communication tools. In the first place through the website; for general promotion of the project. Secondly, through leaflets and brochures distributed at conferences and to partners in the individual networks, and contributions to the ERA-LEARN newsletter that reaches a wide group of stakeholders. Thirdly, through presentations at various meetings, national and international. Also, outreach and interaction takes place through cross-over involvements of consortium partners, e.g. with SCAR, EURAGRI, the newly established European Bioeconomy Panel, the SET Plan, and other initiatives with networking and learning dimensions such as ERA-LEARN and JPIs To Co-Work. These cross-overs are beneficial in terms of having well-informed discussions, short and fast communication lines, direct opportunity to do ‘reality-checks’, and faster working-level impacts (such as of the recommendations for efficient call management).
PLATFORM prepared a book on bioeconomy ERA-NET actions. The Commission kindly offered to have it printed by the EC Publication Office. The book, with a foreword is by R. J. Smits, DG RTD, was published spring 2014. This publication was received with great interest from the ERA-NETs featured as well as the wider bioeconomy and ERA-NET communities. The book features over 25 networks from FP6 and FP7 and give comprehensive information about each of them, with key data on the consortium, topic, grant and start and end date, as well as a description of their objectives, scoping and mapping activities, and the joint calls organised and the projects funded thereby. Network coordinators have been asked to check and deliver data, to make sure that all information is correct and up-to-date.
We are confident that the PLATFORM activities fulfilled a range of demands of the ERA-NET actors with benefits to a wider community.
Expected final results and potential impacts
Through our surveys and workshops (process) and the recommendation and guidance documents (deliverables) the project realised a three-year boost to capacity building and performance of networks for stepping up European scale research collaboration, coordination between national programmes, and joint programming.
The task teams that focused on the various lines of interactions of ERA-NETs and their environment (tasks within WP4 Common Vision and Strategy) and the Task 3.2 on impact assessment delivered final outcomes of their assessments, and (background) briefings and concept recommendations as input for the 3rd Annual Workshop (February 2014). Outcomes of these tasks are compiled in a set of recommendations.
The potential impacts include fast-track start-ups for new ERA-NETs, more collaborations between the networks, more coherence of ERA strategies and practices, a higher visibility and appreciation of collaboration and coordination between Member States, stronger links between national programming and the European context. All these impacts are aspects of building a European research area in the bioeconomy domain.
Project public website
The URL of the PLATFORM project website is: www.era-platform.eu
Project Results:
WP1 – Project Management
Start: Month 1
End month: Month 36
WP leader: P1 DLO
Partners: -
Project management is reported in detail in section 3.3. Here, the progress of the tasks is given in summary.
Task 1.1 Administrative, financial and legal management
The project coordinator Dr Christine Bunthof was supported by a dedicated experienced project administrator, Ms Linda Oud, who was attributed for 400 hours per year to the project, financed by the ministry of Economic Affairs of The Netherlands. Adequate financial and administrative management of the project would otherwise not be possible, because the person months to claim in WP1 are much too low for the tasks. In the last year of the project Mrs Brenda Kuzniar-van der Zee took over some of the tasks of Ms Linda Oud, along with the task to manage the making of the book, which started in the second year funded by Wageningen UR.
The project administrator supports tasks such as distributing payments, monitoring expenses, correspondence on financial and legal aspects with partners and with the commission, supporting all reportings (including giving guidance and help to partners), some general project correspondence, the project intranet, and ad-hoc support for meeting logistics and making draft meeting notes.
We received pre-financing at the start of the project and intermediate financing after RP1 and duly distributed those over the beneficiaries according to ratio, after verification of bank account details. Partners were reminded to keep a good administration of expenses and of hours. Furthermore, to guide the people at their reporting duties, a reporting guidance document and report formats were prepared and distributed with an email with clear instructions and a presentation was given at the project meeting in Dublin (M14).
The coordinator met annually with Commission staff (project officer François Constantin, Dir E FAFB / Jörg Niehoff, dir B European Research Area) to report on the progress of work and to take a forward look to upcoming PLATFORM activities and events and developments relevant to the ERA-NET actors and landscape.
Task 1.2 Reporting
Reporting includes the Periodic Report 1 and 2, the Final Report and the deliverable reports. Preparations for the Periodic Reports and the Final Report were set in early to be able to have the reports finished before the end of the project.
WP2 – Networking the KBBE ERA-NET Actors
Start: Month 1
End: Month 36
WP leader: P2 EZ
Partners: P1 DLO, P3 FNR, P4 INRA, P5 FRB, P6 Defra, P7 BBSRC, P8 JUELICH,
P9 BMWFJ, P10 DASTI, P11 AU-ICROFS, P12 NICe, P13 Tekes
The main activities of this work package were well on schedule and followed the planning of the DoW. One month in the project, the kick-off meeting was held. The first Annual Workshop took place in June 2012, the second in April 2013, and the third annual workshop was the largest in participants we can host and it was held in February 2014 in Leiden, The Netherlands. In addition to the Kick-off and the Annual Workshops there has been a project meeting for the whole consortium and other invitees which we held in Dublin at the JPC2013. Preparation and coordination of all project activities have been organised in a very flexible, on-demand, manner. The same for the outreach activities, which require flexibility to interact in a dynamic environment. Through our workshops, and through PLATFORM participation at other core KBBE events, we had inspiring interactions and a good level of outreach to a large number of actors in the ERA-NET and the bioeconomy policy fields.
Task 2.1 Preparing, leading and follow-up of Steering Committee meetings
In the DoW, written in 2011, we planned for three Steering Committee meetings to be organised in conjunction with the Annual Workshops (M6, 16, 26). At these meetings the SC should take note of the project progress, give their opinion and input on concept recommendations and reports, and adopt deliverables. When preparing the programmes of the annual workshops these items were integrated in the workshops. With nearly all SC members present, among a group not much larger than that, no separate gathering was needed, and the workshop conclusions include input to concepts and adoption of approaches and results.
Task 2.2 Organisation of the Project Coordination Team meetings
In the duration of the project five Project Meetings have been held. Here, the task leaders presented plans and progress and got feedback and suggestions from the project colleagues.
These meetings were: 1) the project kick-off in The Hague on 1-2 February 2012; 2) project executive meeting in Copenhagen on 26 June 2012; 3) project meeting in Dublin on 28 February 2013; 4) project meeting in Brussels on 15 January 2014; 5) final event in Turin on 9 October 2014.
The project kick-off meeting, 1-2 February 2012, The Hague
Diverse programme with contributions prepared by Commission officer, WP leaders, and other participants: 26 participants; 9 countries; bioeconomy ERA-NETs and JPIs represented, most by the network coordinator, as well as some neighbouring networks. At the round table each network briefly introduced itself. Expectations from the Commission towards the PLATFORM project were presented by the project officer and the EC ambitions for the ERA and in particular partnerships between MSs and commission were introduced by B4 unit. A UK and a Dutch participant presented the strategies and way of working for participation of their countries in ERA-NETs. Workgroup sessions for work packages 2 (networking the actors), 3 (mutual learning), and 4 (common vision and strategy) to elaborate and approaches for the tasks.
Project Executive Meeting, 26 June 2012, Copenhagen
This was a short meeting held during the first Annual Workshop, in between the programme of the first day and Workshop dinner. Points on the agenda were: project management and work plan; extension of ERA-NETs invited to activities and for surveys; Action plan for WP4; upcoming meetings for outreach and linkage; any other business.
PLATFORM project meeting, 28 February 2013, Dublin
This was a half-day meeting with discussions on the developments in joint programming policy, the ERA-landscape, the importance of ERA-NETs. It was also timely for preparations among task leaders for the 2nd workshop. The project meeting; 23 participants; 10 countries; took place in the morning of February 28 in Dublin, where the Joint Programming Conference 2013 provided a meeting room and the opportunity for the PLATFORM Steering Committee members to easily combine participation. Participants were the WP and task leaders, EC project officer, guests for bioeconomy JPIs, SCAR, ERA-LEARN, JPIs TO CO-WORK and observer from GPC and the Irish presidency. After a welcome and tour de table, there was an update from the Commission and from SCAR followed by questions and opinions from the attendants. Then, project task leaders presented intermediate outcomes and further plans. This meeting was timely and very constructive in preparing for the upcoming Annual Workshop. In the weeks after this meeting task leaders worked on the documents which helped to make the Workshop in Paris a very rich and well prepared event that had a lot of information and inspiration to offer. At the Dublin meeting, Peter van Velzen handed over his responsibilities as SC chair to his successor at EZ-DAK Ino Ostendorf.
PLATFORM project meeting, 15 January 2014, Brussels
This was a half day meeting with a short set out of the programme of the third Annual Workshop in Leiden. Followed by updates from each Task, work in progress and concept documents for the third Annual Workshop. The PLATFORM vision and roadmap was discussed and the project management status. The meeting was attended by 9 representatives of the PLATFORM partners.
Task 2.3 Organising the first Workshop
The first Annual Workshop was organised by DASTI, in collaboration with the project coordinator. The workshop was held on 26-27 June 2012, in Charlottelund Castle, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Chairs: Niels Gøtke (DASTI) and Peter van Velzen (EZ).
This workshop was the first of three major, general, workshops organised in the course of the PLATFORM project. Day 1 focussed on strategic issues including the future possibilities within Horizon 2020 and Commission officers participated this day. Day 2 focussed on specific opportunities for collaboration among the networks.
Diverse programme with ample opportunities for exchanging information and experiences between ERA-NETs, building contacts, and bringing in ideas. Contributions prepared by project partners and other participants: a matchmaking break-out sessions; 29 participants,9 countries; bioeconomy ERA-NETs and JPIs represented, most by the network coordinator, as well as some neighbouring networks. Commission E4 (project officer François Constantin) and B4 (Jörg Niehoff) participated the first day. Group dinner was at the Danish aquarium and after seeing sharks, piranhas and a big turtle being fed, we had a Danish buffet dinner ourselves, seated in the aquarium in semi-darkness surrounded by tanks with beautiful sea creatures.
The content of the meeting can be summarized as follows:
ERA-NETs in H2020. After a Commission presentation on the ERA-NET role and instrument in the new Horizon 2020 five points for discussion were taken up: 1) instrument; who inspires, and who decides on ERA-NETs, new or continued, how to ensure broad participation, which activities can/should ERA-NETs do; 2) how can JPIs and ERA-NETs by typed in relation to each other; 3) calls planned – survey to get idea, as it may help the ERA-NETs and the Commission to better prepare for the future; 4) which sort of activities will be funded – a timely dialogue with the Commission as various scenarios are under consideration; 5) scope for future support and learning platform – highly supported.
Mutual learning and impact assessment. Survey results on use and appreciation by KBBE ERA-NETs for ERA-LEARN toolbox presented. Harmonizing calls was advocated. The idea to have a dedicated workshop - for the colleagues in our networks that are deeply involved in call management - was welcomed and plans further elaborated after the workshop. The cost-benefit analysis tool developed by ERA-LEARN was presented, with data from bioeconomy ERA-NETs. The approach was adopted and ERA-NETs asked to provide raw data for the analysis. We talked about various impact indicators for calls and for ERA-NETs, recognizing that leverage-on-call level is relatively easy (not much input data needed), but that leverage on a project-by-project level may make be more informative. When evaluating ERA-NETs we should not only make assessments about the calls, we need a diverse set of qualitative and quantitative parameters. Approach and proposal how to use data is to be elaborated.
Collaborations among networks. Classification of the PLATFORM ERA-NETs were presented and discussed, and a speed-dating session was organised to explore in bilateral settings opportunities for collaborations between the networks present. Outcomes of the talks and analysis of the scopes of networks will be used in identifying the webs that can be drawn in the ERA-NET landscape and collaboration opportunities. Furthermore, an overview of technology platforms was provided, the meta knowledge base developed in ICT AGRI was presented and DASTI presented its strategy with regard to linking national programmes and participating in ERA-NET calls and other European initiatives.
WP progress. Resulting from adopted proposals and new ideas that had arisen during the discussions at the workshop each WP team went home with a list of tasks for coming year.
Task 2.4 Organising the second Workshop
The second Workshop was organised by INRA, in collaboration with the project coordinator. The workshop was held on 18 - 19 April 2013 in Paris, France.
Chairs: Egizio Valceschini (INRA) and Ino Ostendorf (EZ)
The workshop was coined “Bioeconomy ERA‐NETs in action and interaction”. This event focused on the interactions of ERA-NETs and other bioeconomy actors, reflecting on modalities and good practices achieved and looking ahead to new collaborations. In the context of implementing a concept for Joint Programming in the European Research Area, meaningful interactions with JPIs are high on the agenda. We also discussed the potential of ERA-NETs in interactions in the working interfaces of the EIP on Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability.
Diverse programme with contributions prepared by project partners and other participants: 2 workgroup sessions; 31 participants, 10 countries; bioeconomy ERA-NETs and JPIs represented, most by the network coordinator, as well as some neighbouring networks. Workshop dinner in a near-by restaurant with French cuisine.
Mutual Learning & Common Vision and Strategy. Surveys to gather information and views
Analysis. Synthesis. Input from other sources (e.g. ERA-LEARN)
-> this second workshop was a major process step towards the recommendations
-> aim for a wide representation (20+ networks)
-> Inclusive and open process
-> Present briefings / assessments of the Tasks
-> Gathering input for selecting topics for the master class on call management
-> coherent set of Recommendations on interactions and collaborations of ERA-NETs and other
bioeconomy policy actors
Vision paper and Roadmap. We didn’t adopt a position paper at the end, but throughout the project we are in dialog and present PLATFORM’s reflections (e.g.briefing paper at SCAR). See Task 4.5
Task 2.5 Organising the third Workshop
The third Annual Workshop was held on the 13th and14th of February, 2014 in Museum Boerhaave in Leiden, The Netherlands. The title for the last annual workshop was ‘ERA-NETs for the future’. The Leiden workshop was the first ERA-NET forum event after Horizon 2020 has been launched. The workshop programme was designed to serve a broad interest. We worked towards finalizing recommendations on interactions between ERA-NETs and JPIs among each other, and with other policy actors in the European Research Area, such as industry-driven networks, research alliances, national policy makers and the EC. We also turned our eye on the activities expected from and possible under the Horizon 2020 ERA-NET COFUND actions. Furthermore, there was a dedicated session on the ERA-NETs and the EIP AGRI, for all those having an interest in developing or strengthening those lines of collaboration. The report of the workshop is a project Deliverable (D2.5) of public dissemination level. It was scheduled in the DoW for February 2014, however this was later.
Task 2.6 Interaction at other core KBBE events
This task can be split in: (1) the interaction with individual ERA-NETs; (2) the interactions at European-scale conferences, (3) the interactions with other learning and networking platforms. The progress along each of these lines is as follows.
1. Interactions PLATFORM – individual ERA-NETs
In the frame of this task the PLATFORM coordinator reserves time to participate occasionally to meetings of the individual bioeconomy networks. Presentations were given at the platform meetings of ERA-IB in Dresden, Germany. With regard to SUSFOOD and SUMFOREST the interaction is stronger as the PLATFORM coordinator is a member of Advisory Board of these ERA-NETs.
2. Interactions PLATFORM – European scale conferences
This includes participation at events such as the Annual Joint Programming Conference, Bioeconomy Days, EURAGRI meetings. In the larger conferences there have been always at least a few partners of the PLATFORM consortium that participated, not specifically as PLATFORM representative, but in most cases in the first place on behalf of their organisation (e.g. ministry or research organisation). These interlinkages are useful for coherence between initiatives that help shaping the European Research Area. Listing who of the partners has participated to what event would need to much work for the purpose of this report. In general, we can say the personnel cross overs strengthen the multitude of interactions. A very important line in this respect is the SCAR, of which Egizio Valchescini (WP lead 4) and Niels Gøtke (Lead 4.5) are active members. With regard to energy and industrial biotech, Kees Kwant and Karen Görner are linking pins. Another line, that is yet to start is that with the Bioeconomy Panel.
Usually, one of the persons who participated gives a briefing in the platform meeting to the partners of the project. The coordinator participated to the Bioeconomy Days 2014, and to the SCAR meeting in The Hague in August 2015. One event specifically worth mentioning is the Dissemination Session about PLATFORM in Turin
Dissemination event about PLATFORM at Bioeconmy Stakeholder Conference, 9 October 2014, Turin
PLATFORM Outcomes and Outlook, was a dissemination event organised as satellite meeting during the Bioeconomy Stakeholders Conference, 8-9 October 2014 in Turin, Italy. The event was open for all participants of the conference. During the event presentations were given on the outcomes of the deliverables and a set of recommendations was presented which was distributed among participants of the conference. Presentations were followed by panel discussion with reflections on the presented outcomes and recommendations, and views on ERA-NETs and implementation of activities in Horizon 2020. The attendees participated actively in the discussions. Focus, scale and capacity are issues important for their proven contribution to alignment and more is expected for the future.
3. Interactions with other networking and learning platforms.
In this respect, Christine Bunthof participated to the kick-off meeting and maintains contacts with ERA-LEARN 2. An interview about PLATFORM appeared in a 2012 newsletter, and an article in the ERA-LEARN special newsletter distributed at JPC2013.
There is a good connection with JPIs TO CO-WORK through occasional meetings between the respective coordinators, and with others of the project, and cross-over participation to meetings as this benefits both initiatives. For all PLATFORM meetings a representative from CO-WORK is invited. Christine Bunthof is advisory board member of CO-WORK. This appointment assumes active participation to the workshops, giving comments on the briefing documents that are made, and participation to the advisory board meetings (held during workshops). C. Bunthof participated to the first and second workshop of CO-WORK, and will do so to the fourth workshop. The third workshop, which focussed on peer review, was attended by Ulla Bertelsen from WP3.
Deviations from project work programme in DoW and corrective action taken
There were no major deviations from the work programme in the DoW.
WP3 – Mutual Learning
Start: Month 1
End: Month 27
WP lead: P9 BMWFJ
Partners: P1 DLO, P11 AU-ICROFS
The work packages’ objectives were presented and discussed at the project kick-off meeting (M2) and the first steps until month 6 were suggested and consensually defined. These included
(i) to map the bioeconomy relevant ERA-NETs along the value chain (see also T4.1) and to assemble participant information about ERA-NET maturity, knowledge available/needed, important topics to discuss/resolve – with regard to task 3.1;
(ii) to propose an impact-assessment tool for ERA-NET calls and elaborate it in a separate workshop co-lead by PLATFORM T3.2 task leader and a member of the ERA-LEARN consortium (M5), including a proposal on the practicalities of the impact assessment to be performed on bioeconomy relevant ERA-NETs – with regard to task 3.2; and
(iii) to screen needs and opportunities and thus the scope of a master class – with regard to task 3.3.
All these actions were started, including the organisation, with ERA-LEARN, of a dedicated workshop on cost-benefit for bioeconomy ERA-NETs (M5). Preliminary results of assessment, outcomes of the cost-benefit workshop, and the plans for next steps were shared with the consortium prior to the 1st Annual Workshop (M6), where, after presentations, consensus was achieved and future directions were set. This lead to the adoption of methodology and agreement of the call-impact assessment tool and the agreement on participation in the impact analysis (by M16), the continuation of the information collection about ERA-NET practices and its analysis (by M17) and the broad outlining of the master class scope (by M14), the narrowing down into topics (by M16) and the organisation of this dedicated event itself (by M18). The findings of the survey on ERA-NET goals and practices were reported in a document that was provided as a briefing to the participants of the master class.
During summer 2013 the deliverables 3.1 and 3.3 were prepared and submitted in M20. Deliverable 3.2 was drafted from M20 to M26 and presented during the 3rd PLATFORM workshop, the final version was submitted in June 2014.
WP3 is in complete accordance with the project objectives of the DoW both in time and content (the delay of D3.2 was announced in the M18 report).
Task 3.1 Good practices for ERA-NET activities
Apart from an informative inventory of KBBE ERA-NET accomplishments and the potential shortcomings in the process of ERA-NET implementation, a short list of “open topics” that would add value if being discussed among the participating ERA-NETs was produced. It was agreed that critical issues like evaluation and recommendation (among others) should be intensively discussed among well-experienced practitioners thereby adding value to the community systematically and synergistically.
Based on the analysis and outcome of the discussion within the consortium, the WP3 organised a master class (cf. task 3.3) dedicated to (i) the exchange of good practices in well-established ERA-NETs, (ii) the discussion of good practice and agreement on best practice among the participants, and (iii) the recommendation of good/best practice to practitioners within the PLATFORM consortium. By connecting PLATFORM to the ERA-LEARN consortium the resulting recommendations were made available for the entire ERA-NET community and contribute to the ERA-LEARN toolbox.
Significant results of the workshop revealed a severe clash of good practices with the ERA-NET Co-Fund scheme in H2020: Irrespective of independent, sound and thorough evaluation practice, the desired single outcome of a binding ranking list does not reflect identified good practices for efficient project recommendation, thereby affecting the implementation of absolutely qualified recommendation of all excellent projects. The restrictive pattern of ranking lists contrasts with the intention to optimize the MSs´ and regions´ funding contributions with respect to increase the share of national funds to be poured into the ERA and coordinated at the European level. Suggestions following the results of the master class are outlined in D3.1 and are online on the NETWATCH portal at http://netwatch.jrc.ec.europa.eu/web/lp/learning-platform/toolbox/call-implementation(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre). In the ERA-LEARN toolbox also special references that link to this document are implemented where applicable.
Call officers of European Research Area Networks (ERA-NETs) on bio¬economy relevant themes met at a two-day master class in Brussels. They shared knowledge and experiences and collectively provided recommendations for future ERA-NET calls. Through such mutual learning activities the European PLATFORM initiative aims to improve the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of call management.
The main outcome of the discussions at the master class confirmed the key result of a broad survey performed among the ERA-NETs: sufficient flexibility and pragmatism in the evaluation and selection process are of key importance for transnational calls. This would foster a larger impact of the investment provided through national funds and EC top-up funding on building the ERA.
Specific recommendations were given concerning call organisation, support tools, proposal evaluation and ranking, project selection and negotiation, funding and joint project monitoring. They include:
Call, evaluation and ranking of applications
• Transparent communication of national regulations regarding eligibility is required for applicants.
• Clear communication and transparency by national funding organisations about funding ceilings and the type of project costs they expect to fund are important.
• There is absolute need for a clear Code of Conduct on Conflicts of Interest regarding scientific experts.
• There is absolute need for clear instructions to external reviewers and review panel on the selection criteria and about scoring.
• A rebuttal step, after review of full proposals and before the review panel meeting, adds value to the quality of assessment and transparency.
• The possibility of access to the expert database of the EU Commission Services for ERA-NETs should become better known.
Selection of recommended applications and funding decision
• Ranking in barrels instead of a prescriptive ranking list should be considered for transnational calls with distributed pots as it allows optimising the use of available funding and it avoids the artificial hierarchy among proposals of similar quality.
Project negotiation
• Avoidance of any cut-back of project budget during funding negotiations is considered best practice, as long as the funding requests are appropriate and considered necessary.
• Any revised proposal should be re-evaluated by (part of) the review panel.
Joint project monitoring
• Project progress monitoring at the transnational level is beneficial as it is an indicator for the performance of the consortium as a whole.
• The development of a database with key project information for all projects granted within the calls of all ERA-NETs is recommended.
Task 3.2 Impact of ERA-NETs in the knowledge based bioeconomy
This task assessed performance of joint calls and other impact indicators of bioeconomy ERA-NETs.
Cost-benefit indicators are considered valuable for orientation and decision making at all levels, since they report achievements and allow future planning. In a study the PLATFORM project has measured up the activities of bioeconomy related European Research Area Networks (ERA-NETs) of FP6 and FP7 with regards to the associated eff orts and outcomes of call implementation and implicit networking activities.
The benefits are clear. Between 2004 and 2013, covering the period of FP6 and FP7, 153 ERA-NETs and 23 ERA-NET Plus actions were created. The networks have organised some 325 joint calls with a total of estimated € 2.4 billion public funding. These impressive figures stand for the global picture, but of course there are differential call balances and individual developments within and across single ERA-NETs within this ten year period. But what were the costs? A PLATFORM study reveals that it is always important to consider the scope and research field of an individual network, but some general conclusions apply:
• The bioeconomy ERA-NETs managed to mobilise on average € 12 million for a call, but the funding varies notably: from a small pilot of just € 1 million, up to large calls with volumes between € 30 and 40 million.
• On average, the implementation of a call required a joint eff ort of approximately 50 person months.
• Additional costs necessary to generate a project can be benchmarked with € 33 k per project.
• National funding contributions leverage the EU funding of ERA-NETs by a factor 5 to 40, with an implicit positive trend towards higher values as long as the networks remain active.
• Cost-benefit indicators are considered valuable for orientation and decision making at all levels, since they report achievements and allow future planning.
The outcome of this study is interesting for all ERANET stakeholders and also other entities that perform joint calls, because it provides figures on the costs and outcomes of implemented joint calls. It can serve for orientation on transfer costs associated with the implementation of joint calls and provide benchmarks for the cost planning of transnational funding instruments. It will equally well inform policy makers engaged in the bioeconomy and build a basis for decision making.
Task 3.3 Master class
Though initially a training workshop for newcomers was envisaged for the master class, the consortium decided to dedicate this task to organise a gathering with many experienced call performers because of two major reasons: (i) neither in the overall assessment of individual participating bioeconomy ERA-NETs nor in the regular workshops (M6, M16) had a large demand for a training program targeting newcomers become obvious. Even new ERA-NETs showed only little interest in training, since they find copious support in the ERA-LEARN toolbox. In addition, ERA-LEARN is providing training workshops for call implementation at irregular intervals and there are no specific elements in calls of KBBE related ERA-NETs; (ii) the consortium increasingly tended to use the scarce resources for an “expert master class” in order to create a life dialogue and discussion on identified primary concerns of call implementation, and to create sound recommendations (cf. T3.1).
The workshop has been meticulously planned and organized for 22 participants representing 23 ERA-NETs and one JPI of the PLATFORM consortium in Brussels (M18). Preparations included a compilation of call implementation practices of the participants and a collection of call documents. The workshop was led by the three task leaders of WP3 and assisted by a rapporteur. It was structured into an impulse-presentation, round table, model building and recommendation phase for each of the 5 topics addressed. The recommendations are summarized in D3.1.
With regard to the master class binder (D3.3) as the assigned deliverable, it was agreed to deliver the full set of master class documents (consisting of the master class programme – with briefings one each topic, the outcomes of the survey, the presentations, and the report), as a valuable collection of documents of the aspects concerned therein, and with regard to general aspects of call implementation to refer to the ERA-LEARN toolbox instead.
Deviations from project work programme in DoW and corrective action taken
Regarding content and time, some minor deviations were made. All objectives and deliverables are delivered to the point. The three task leaders distributed the necessary efforts and workload among each other in a mutually agreed way, with minor deviations in the deployment of workforce.
WP4 – Common Vision and Strategy
Start: Month 1
End: Month 36
WP lead: P4 INRA
Partners: P2 EZ, P3 FNR, P10 DASTI
Work package 4 has performed all tasks planned. Tasks 1, 2, 3 and 4 have done the surveys needed and have analysed the results. This is combined with other assessments, such as in Task 4.1 the position of ERA-NETs along the value chain or the R&D phase. Task 4.2 sent questionnaires to five JPIs. Task 4.3 surveys PPP’s by a questionnaire sent by email, followed by phone interviews. Task 4.5 in collaboration with Task 2.6 seeks dialogue with SCAR. Outcomes have been presented, followed by discussions that feed in the next step of these tasks: formulation of recommendations to the ERA-NET actors as well as to the wider community. Task leaders prepared briefing documents / concept recommendations which were on the agenda of the last Annual Workshop, after which all Deliverables were finalized.
Task 4.1 Collaboration among KBBE relevant ERA-NETs
Task 4.1. aimed to increase the effectiveness of ERA-NETs by enhancing synergy among the existing and new ERA-NETs.
The outcomes can be summarized as follows.
A study from the PLATFORM project has mapped out opportunities for collaborations among existing bioeconomy European Research Area Networks (ERA-NETs) and with JPIs. Through inter-network collaborations the efficiency and effectiveness of research can be improved and cross-cutting or overlapping areas can be addressed. The identified opportunities are good starting points for integrated joint programming, and dissemination, and for new ERA-NET Cofund actions in Horizon 2020 and other activities
such as fully member state funded multi-disciplinary calls, joint networking, training and dissemination.
The initiatives included in the study span ERA-NETs, ERA-NET Plus actions, and Joint Programme Initiatives (JPIs) in the bioeconomy sectors. Through an exploratory inventory areas were identified where inter-network
cooperation on overlapping or neighbouring topics could have a clear added value. General recommendations
from the network coordinators include:
• In a changing environment, and with changing projects, research agendas and political framework, a continuous search for collaboration possibilities between existing and new initiatives and networks is a necessity. This concerns all actors.
• Joint calls, which are an established mechanism to implement collaboration between countries, can be employed for inter-network collaboration as well. This widens the opportunities for researchers, businesses and programme and policy makers.
• Bioeconomy topics that require collaboration among countries and that are in the focus of the Horizon 2020 areas should be boosted by the ERA-NET Cofund instrument.
• Further workshops should be organised for funding authorities and other ERA-NET actors to investigate common interests, to formulate bottom-up needs for new collaborations and to develop joint activities.
The results clearly show that the collaborations can take place at different levels, e.g. joint workshops and joint
calls. The inventory, which included questionnaires, a desk study, and a match-making session at a PLATFORM
annual event yielded concrete recommendations for 11 joint workshops to disseminate research findings,
19 interests for exploring joint calls on overlapping or cross-cutting topics between two or more networks, and
17 expressions of interest for other kinds of collaboration.
Task 4.2 ERA-NETs and Joint Programming Initiatives
In Task 4.2 The PLATFORM project explored how to increase the synergy between the bioeconomy European Research Area Networks (ERA-NETs) and the Joint Programme Initiatives (JPIs), with the aim to contribute to building the European Research Area. The JPI on Food Security, Agriculture and
Climate Change - FACCE-JPI, the JPI Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans, the JPI Climate, the Water JPI, and the JPI A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life; all joint programmes in the bioeconomy domain, were looked into.
The responses to the questionnaire put to the JPIs showed:
• JPIs can learn from ERA-NETs; among others, from their previous experiences and well-established
• structures.
• Mapping exercises performed by ERA-NETs are useful for JPIs; they provide thematic overviews of
• the research landscape and often also an overview of institutes, funding organisations, research
• infrastructures and national existing and future programmes.
• Collaboration with an existing ERA-NET is a potential tool for implementing short-term research priorities of the JPI Strategic Research Agendas (SRA).
• The new ERA-NET Cofund instrument can be used to implement topics from the SRA, provided there is sufficient national financial commitment and critical mass.
Also, an important role was indicated for PLATFORM, in being a linking communicator and forum provider for programming authorities and network actors in the ERA-NETs and JPIs on bioeconomy relevant topics as well as SCAR Working Groups.
Among information to be exchanged are the following:
• Best practices
• Tools
• Early information on upcoming calls
• Outcomes of mapping and scoping exercises
• Strategic Research (and Innovation) Agendas
The next PLATFORM project can also work together with ERA-NETs and JPIs to catalyse cooperation, exchange, and synergy. Also the experiences with the new Cofund instrument can be gathered and evaluated for its suitability to fulfil objectives of the networks.
Task 4.3 ERA-NETs and private sector driven platforms
As a result of this Task, the European PLATFORM initiative has presented recommendations for better exchange and coordination between European Research Area Networks (ERA-NETs) and industry-driven initiatives in the bioeconomy.
Improving the existing collaborations and setting up new ones helps to realise the potential of research and innovation to produce ‘more and better quality’ in a sustainable way.
From interviews and questionnaires with European Technology Platforms (ETPs) and Public Private Partnerships, the programme managers in the PLATFORM initiative conclude that ERA-NETs are well known in all industry-driven initiatives questioned. Most are already actively cooperating or trying to set up links with ERA-NETs in their field. There is clear value in networking, as vital interests are shared by all relevant stakeholders.
Based on the inventory and analysis, recommendations to further improve on these networks and collaborations were compiled in a PLATFORM report. A small pick from the various pieces of advice for ERA-NETs, industry initiatives, and the European Commission:
• Explore ways to improve communication: personal contact and enthusiasm for exchange are key to
• successful collaboration.
• Organise joint activities, such as workshops to define priority areas.
• Create an environment in which collaboration can blossom.
The surveys clearly highlighted the practical results of the collaborations between ERA-NETs and industrydriven
initiatives, the most important one being the use of the ETPs’ Strategic Research Agendas in the planning
and preparation of joint calls for R&D proposals. Joint events such as conferences, workshops, and programming sessions were also mentioned repeatedly. Both ERA-NETs and ETPs agreed that close collaboration on such strategic issues holds the largest benefit for both sides.
Task 4.4 ERA-NETs and international research alliances
Within this task the attention was on benefiting the bioeconomy through global cooperation.
Cooperation between the European Research Area Networks (ERA-NETs) and organisations in global research can benefit the bioeconomy. The PLATFORM project has explored the experiences and (potential) interest
and published the findings on global collaborations in its series of recommendation papers.
The results show opportunities for ERA-NETs that address research areas with a clear global dimension
(such as agricultural research for development, climate action, land use, and statutory plant health), or where
combined expertise can speed up knowledge creation and innovation (such as plant sciences, animal production, or biodiversity). Benefits lay in combining research budgets - so more budget is available and budget efficiency is increased -, access to research infrastructures, and critical mass of researchers.
Global cooperation can increase the outreach and impact of ERA-NET activities through having access to
the best available knowledge and avoiding duplication of efforts. The programme managers recommend starting up small pilots in specialised research fields, involving partners from third countries in joint calls that have already bilateral collaboration, and working together preferably from the start on.
A survey among bioeconomy ERA-NET coordinators was conducted in this study. The motivations were investigated as well as the benefits and barriers encountered in working with funding organisations outside the EU and with global partnerships. The overview of relevant global research alliances and intergovernmental organisations, including some with which there is no collaboration yet, was further elaborated by an internet search. The same set-up was used for insight into participation of funding partners from third countries. A call on social media (LinkedIn) and sourcing literature and reports gave complementary information on current practice and global collaboration potential, and on the rationale and experiences.
Task 4.5 ERA-NETs and European research and innovation policy
Within this task various aspects were addresses of fostering partnerships and national embedding for ERA-NET actions with impact
The European PLATFORM initiative calls for increased interaction and collaboration between European Research Area Networks (ERA-NETs), other European research policy platforms and national research and innovation authorities to tackle issues facing bioeconomy research today and tomorrow. Recommendations are aimed at maximising synergies, operational interactions, and high-impacting contributions to coordinate and collaborate across country and institutional borders.
The context for European research and research programming has changed considerably in the last decade.
The launch of Horizon 2020 has added to the dynamics of the environment as experienced by national programme managers and their European networks. We have the new ERA-NET Cofund instrument. There are
less funds in many countries, and stronger push towards working across sectors and disciplines, along value
chains, and with stakeholders. As such, these are all driving forces behind increasing the interactions and collaborations. Also, these developments cause a shift for the ERA-NETs from strategic, analytical and networking activities towards a focus on call implementation.
Efficiency, synergy, and inclusiveness. Both on a national and European level, reduction of administrative burdens, and costs, as well as an overall rationalisation of funding are seen already. Sharper choices on participation in networks and calls are expected in the coming years. ERA-NETs can synergise their calls for cost-efficiency and better service to the scientific community. In PLATFORM the networks can pursue this collectively. PLATFORM also fosters explorations towards aligning research from different nations e.g. by collaborative programmes between ERA-NETs involving more countries, funders, disciplines and/or sectors. Also commitment from new member states is important. Opportunities for increasing their participation in the ERA-NETs should be investigated more.
Policy and programming partnerships. Recommendations to increase interaction and collaboration include strengthening the connections between bioeconomy ERA-NETs and various European policy platforms. These are the Horizon 2020 Programme Committees, the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR), the Bioeconomy Panel, the European Research Area and Innovation Committee (ERAC), and, for those with overlapping focus, the European Initiative for Agricultural Research for Development (EIARD), the European Innovation Partnership initiatives (EIPs), and the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs). As a result the ERA-NETs can contribute more to strategy and policy, and the mentioned policy platforms can contribute more to coordination among national programmes including call implementation.
Deviations from project work programme in DoW and corrective action taken
Work in WP4 progressed well. Two additional pieces of work have been added along the way. EZ has extended its work for Task 4.4 assessing not only interactions with international research initiatives (e.g. CGIAR, EFFARD), but also the collaboration with countries outside Europe. Furthermore, PLATFORM takes an active role in contributing to discussions in SCAR by preparing discussion notes during the project rather than to wait with this communications till the end of the project.
WP5 – Communication
Start: Month 1
End: Month 36
WP lead: P8 JUELICH
Partners: P1 DLO
The communication Work package delivered the website, the project brochure, PowerPoint presentations, and fact sheets. These were planned in the DoW. PLATFORM decided on an extra, very large, task: the production of a book on bioeconomy ERA-NETs.
For the sake of a more logic, ordered reporting, the progress is described under four new task headings that differ from the DoW task headings (which was: T5.1 Public engagement; T5.2 Newsletters; T5.3 Basic dissemination packages, including the master class material).
Task 5.1 Website
The development of the website was head-started already before the start of the project and the website concept was presented at the kick-off meeting. With design and content approved by the consortium, the website was launched timely. Information on the site is regularly updated, and public deliverables are published in the documents and meetings sections.
The website contained the access to the cyber forum and the link to the project intranet (project documents for the consortium, intranet is maintained as part of the administrative management tasks).
In the second part of the project period website maintenance was transferred from Juelich to DLO at the beginning of 2014. Since the project office is based in the Netherlands, it was found more convenient to have project management and communication and dissemination of the project at one place. The website has been set up on a new platform and information from the previous website was transferred there. New information was added, e.g. news items are placed on a regular base and the book on Bioeconomy ERA-NET Actions has been digitalised and made available through the Web. Information on the site is regularly updated, and public deliverables are published in the documents and meetings sections. On the new version of the website the cyber forum was not integrated. The original plan was to have communications in between workshops taking place on this cyber forum, however this hardly happened. In our practice people use the e-mail, seek direct contact, and use the occasions when they meet others. There was no real demand for a cyber-forum. Hence it was decided not to put a lot of effort in stimulating or initiating discussions on the cyber forum and the functionality was not offered anymore on the new website. The website contains the link to the project intranet (project documents for the consortium, intranet is maintained as part of the administrative management tasks).
Task 5.2 Public engagement
Public engagement mainly takes place through the website. In the last half year of the project monthly newsletters has been sent out to the stakeholders and a PLATFORM LinkedIn Group and Twitter account have been created to keep interested updated about the project and the bioeconomy ERA-NET Actions in between the newsletters. Also the final event was used as dissemination event and took place at the Bioeconomy Stakeholders Conference in Turin, Italy, on 9 October 2014.
The first plan with regard to engagement beyond the participants at meetings was to set up a communication platform for stakeholders. Both design and content were presented at the Kick-off
meeting and approved by the consortium. Additionally the consortium decided to set up a communication strategy for the course of the project. The task is completed.
The cyber forum is not used by participants and stakeholders. An email request and a preliminary tour de table during the last consortium meeting revealed, that nearly all partners prefer a traditional way of communication like, person contact, telephone or email. Sufficient possibilities to meet during the project course are also considered as appropriate.
Task 5.3 Brochures, general presentation, newsletters
Following a provisional leaflet made before the start of the project, a general PowerPoint presentation about PLATFORM (M4), a more elaborate leaflet (M6), and a brochure (M13) were developed. Again all were approved in design and content by the consortium. The PowerPoint is the basis for various presentations, such as those mentioned in Task 2.6.
No newsletters had been produced so far. With the new task 4.5 taken on, and a brochure to use for general dissemination at various conferences and at meetings of individual networks, it was decided to reduce the number of newsletters to just one or two that will be made to promote the recommendations and the vision paper and roadmap in the second half of the project.
In the second part of the project a set of factsheets based on conclusions and recommendations of Work Package 3 'Mutual Learning' and Work Package 4 'Common Vision and Strategy' have been created. The set consists of seven sheets in a binder. On the inside of the binder there is a short text about the European Bioeconomy ERA-NETs and a figure which places the ERA-NETs in the diverse bioeconomy topics. On the back there are the PLATFORM project details (duration, funding), the consortium participants, coordinator, contact, website and acknowledgement of EC funding and FP7, EC and ERA logo. Each of the sheets summarizes the outcomes and recommendations of a task, and refers to the website where the full reports can be downloaded.
From September 2014 newsletters have been sent out on a monthly base with information on the PLATFORM project and the bioeconomy ERA-NET Actions. Newsletters were sent to 250-300 persons from the PLATFORM contact database of which on average 35% opened the newsletters and 8% of the persons opening the newsletter clicks to read further on the topics.
The general presentation has been updated and used at various events.
Task 5.4 Book on bioeconomy ERA-NETs
This is an extra task that was not yet envisaged in the DoW. The idea to make a book with comprehensive information about bioeconomy ERA-NETs was proposed and much welcomed at the first Annual workshop. After compiling basic information using Netwatch, Cordis, and ERA-NET’s websites as source ERA-NET coordinators were first contacted in February 2013 with the request to complete the information. The scope was to include all bioeconomy relevant ERA-NETs of FP6 and FP7, and ERA-NET Plus actions. The information about each network is more comprehensive than the fact sheets of FP6 ERA-NETs that compiled the ‘Series I to V’ sets or the special set of KBBE ERA-NETs that was published in 2010. In addition to key data on consortium, duration, grant, and objective, the book contains information about each networks’ mapping and scoping activities and about all the calls of the ERA-NETs, with lists of funded projects. The book was published spring 2014.
Deviations from project work programme in DoW and corrective action taken
All deliverables aimed for in this WP have been produced, except the production of newsletters, which was only taken up in the last half year of the project. We modified the plans following priorities set by the consortium in the course of the project. The extra task to make a book is a very large task requiring extra person months. We could reallocating part of the budget for other costs in WP5 to be used for extra pm. Reductions in ‘other costs’ for WP5 are possible because the costs for hosting of the project intranet are not claimed on the project but paid by P2 EZ (saves about 3000 EUR), the costs for the website were lower than budgeted (in house by JUELICH), we made a brochure of just one page (less printing costs), we keep a smaller reserve for printing materials in the second half of the project. Secondly, we originally reserved 33.000 EUR in case invitees to the Annual Workshops (other than from the consortium partners who have T&S budget in the project) would need T&S support to be able to attend. However because the rooms were small we could not invite many others and much of the budget is left with only one last workshop to go. Thus at least 25.000 EUR of that budget is available for reallocation to personnel costs. We keep for the moment 8000 EUR for T&S of invitees to meetings that are not from the consortium partner organisations.
Since March 2013 Brenda van der Zee (MSc), who is seconded within DLO from Corporate Communication to Wageningen International, strengthens the WP5 team.
Potential Impact:
Strategic impact
The impact of the project can be seen from three different perspectives; the impact on individual ERA-NETs, the impact on the ERA-NET scheme, and the impact on the European Research Area particularly in the knowledge based bioeconomy.
1. Impact on each individual ERA-NET
An extensive body of knowledge and experience has been made available through exchange in Workshops and the cyber forum for the various partners in ERA-NETs and other joint initiatives. The knowledge shared in the offered facilities and the identification of good practices enlarged the toolbox for the individual initiatives in running their work packages (new ideas taken from others, gains of time, adoption of well tested solutions, improved quality of procedures adopted, etc.). It also supported new initiatives during their various stages of development. As a result PLATFORM helped to overcome the steep learning curves faced by all networks (mutual learning), assist funding bodies in the national coordination of KBBE ERA-NET participation, and strengthen the collaboration between actors in research programming based on common approaches and shared ownership.
2. Impact on the ERA-NET Scheme
The network of bioeconomy relevant ERA-NETs fostered through regular exchanges of views and the identification and exchange of best practices a more effective and harmonized environment for the ERA-NET users. It supported the EC to further develop the ERA-NET scheme based on the results of the proposed work. It identified areas where ERA-NETs can have better synergy for example through joint calls. It analysed means for impact assessment of ERA-NETs and perform this impact assessment. Through this analysis, recommendations for improving ERA-NET were made.
3. Impact on the European Research Area
The European Research Area was a high priority in the orientation paper 2020 (EUROPE 2020). Further the role of the bioeconomy area for the future was highlighted. This platform provided recommendations on how the ERA-NETs in the bioeconomy (as well as Joint Programming Initiatives) can contribute concretely to these goals. Providing Member States that are actively involved in bioeconomy relevant topics with a meeting place meaning that new ideas and initiatives have a fertile breeding ground. In this way PLATFORM contributed to the development of new joint activities as well. By encouraging participation of ERA-NET partners from New Member States, PLATFORM contributed to an inclusive Europe.
Moreover, in providing an overarching strategic vision beyond each ERA-NET vision and purpose, the project will offered to research institutions, Members states and the Commission opportunities to open new fields of
cooperation through the ERA-NET scheme (or other joint programming schemes) to complete the KBBE endeavour and more importantly develop mechanisms for coordination that provide a framework for current
and future needs for coordination between different actors.
PLATFORM fostered a more effective and harmonized environment for the ERA-NETs. The input of all the KBBE
ERA-NETs as well as the two JPIs in this area will, via the Recommendations, provided insight into effective mechanisms for the long-term coordination of research at the European level as well as how ERA-NETs can contribute to international activities in the KBBE domain and have an impact on research and innovation policy at the European level.
ERA-NETs play a structuring role in the bioeconomy area and thus contribute to the realisation of the bio-based
economy in Europe. By bringing together all the actors, a clearer picture emerged for future priorities needed
to bring about the implementation of the bioeconomy in Europe. Synergies were identified to add efficiency to the process, and an analysis of impact assessment provided recommendations for improving impact in the European bioeconomy, in the ERA, and in realising the objectives of Europe2020 and the Innovation Union.
PLATFORM offered a framework for stronger coherence between various policies, ERA-NETs and funding
instruments in Europe and contributed to the preparation of an European strategy for the bio-based economy.
Spreading excellence, exploiting results, disseminating knowledge
Benefits resulting from PLATFORM
The output of the project is targeted towards the people directly involved in the project (consortium members), the whole group of participants in the Workshops and the wider KBBE community. To make the workshop reports and master class teaching materials available for the benefit of the wider ERA-NET community these were published on the website, shared through NETWATCH and promoted through using social media.
Organisations profited from human capital that is better equipped to run ERA-NET activities, it helped to
speed up preparation phases. Applicants to ERA-NET calls benefitted from more streamlined procedures and
more uniformity. Other bioeconomy actors profited because the individual ERA-NETs are, through the self-assessment, more aware of their position and possible roles. This helps to define the collaborations an ERA-NET
may want to seek to fully exploit the opportunities and chances. These benefits resulted from jointly being involved in the process of mutual learning and development of a common vision (human capital), from applying guidelines and recommendations that PLATFORM delivered, and from being involved in the implementation of ERA activities of which the horizon is longer than the duration of this project.
Face-to-face communication
The main approach for dissemination was the sharing of knowledge between people. The project involved
regular in meetings of representatives of the bioeconomy ERA-NETs and JPIs, who are at the same time representing major programme owners (Government policy departments, agencies and research councils) from eight European countries who share information, both formally and informally.
The workshops brought together a wider group of actors; more partners then only the coordinating partner of
the bioeconomy ERA-NETs were invited, and also representatives of Collaborative Working Groups of SCAR and KBBENET, ETPs and the Commission Services. As the project enrolled we will kept flexibility to
best suit the needs of the project participants given the policy context at the time. Bringing representatives
from different (types of) bioeconomy actors into the workshops increased the impact of the project on joint research programming, joint strategy building, and commitments to transnational activities.
The ERA-NET coordinators united in the Steering Committee played a key role in linking the projects’ activities and deliverables to the consortium partners within their ERA-NETs and vice versa; they transmitted the experiences and views of their whole network into the mutual leaning, assessment of ERA-NET impact, and development of a common vision. Also the invited Workshop participants added to this further outreach layer.
Linking in individual staff members through the Cyber Forum
The cyber forum was intended to be an inviting, well-structured and information-rich professional networking site. The cyber forum would ensure that all documents could be easy to retrieve, and that information exchange, discussions can proceed in between the Workshop meetings. It was a ‘members-only’ site and the target group consisted of individuals that are staff member involved in bioeconomy ERA-NETs, neighbouring ERA-NETs, the KBBE relevant JPIs, in Collaborative Working Groups of SCAR and KBBE-NET, and other groups to be specified and agreed upon by the Steering Committee. During the project it appeared that the cyber forum was superfluous, persons involved gave the preference to communicate more directly to each other through meetings, telephone and email contact. Half way the project it was decided to end the cyber forum and continue with other means of communication.
Interaction with a larger group of KBBE stakeholders
PLATFORM successfully sought opportunities for interaction with ERA and bioeconomy stakeholders outside its own events, including EURAGRI, SCAR, EIP, ERA and joint programming conferences and Bioeconomy Stakeholder conferences.
Broad-scoped dissemination
The project website was the general tool for spreading the work developed by the platform to the ‘external
world’. In addition the website was a ‘first contact’ tool for people that belong to the wider ERA-NET
community and could register for a cyber forum account.
In the last half year of the project a digest of what’s new was highlighted in a newsletter distributed by e-mail. The target group of the newsletter was broader than the group of active individuals who are taking part in the social networking by the cyber forum. It included all staff working in bioeconomy relevant ERA-NETs, the SCAR and KBBE-NET, Commission Services staff of relevant units, and colleagues within the national programme management organisations that are involved in (inter)national research programming in particular in research targeting bio-based.
Intellectual Property issues
There are no Intellectual Property issues associated with this project.
List of Websites:
Website:
http://era-platform.eu(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) or http://era-platform.net(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)
Contact details:
Coordinator
Christine Bunthof
T: +31 317 480996
E: christine.bunthof@wur.nl
Project office
Brenda Kuzniar-van der Zee
T: +31 317 482114
E: office.platform@wur.nl
Wageningen UR (University & Research centre), The Netherlands
