Work package 1 was dedicated to the project management whose efficient and timely coordination ensured seamless and quality execution of the project. The project management efficiently carried out monitoring and controlling of the project progress which resulted in timely achievement of the milestones and submission of high quality and comprehensive deliverables.
WP2 was implemented in M01-M03 and it resulted in a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the internal and external environment of the BioSense. Internal assessment comprised all relevant aspects of the BioSense including scientific, business, networking and dissemination, organisational, and financial performance. Also, DLO and MPNTR helped to provide unbiased and objective evaluation of the current status.
Assessment of the external environment comprised analysis of European and global leaders in research and innovation and their best practices, analysis of the latest research results and current scientific challenges, analysis of regional and European policies relevant for the research and innovation activities of the BioSense, and analysis and creating of database of stakeholders.
The outcomes of WP2 served as a valuable input for the activities carried out in WP3, namely long-term vision formulation, gap analysis, and strategy development. The gap analysis outlined in detail the envisaged and current state, the gap between the two, and suggestion of actions to be taken to overcome this gap, in five different categories – technologies, human resources, organizational structure, collaboration, and supporting services. According to the gap analysis and formulated vision, we have also developed strategy that evolves around six axes – science, people, infrastructure, innovation, ecosystem, and society, and it also includes objectives and key performance indicators.
The activities and results achieved within WP4 represent the major result of the ANTARES CSA project - extensive, detailed and robust business plan that integrates investment, organizational, financial, and execution plan in which the outcomes of WP2, WP3, WP5, and WP6 have been incorporated. The Business Plan comprises all our experience, visions and believes, and it represents a self-standing document that describes the essential elements of our vision for the seven years of ANTARES FPA project, and incorporates the effects of EC funding, national co-funding and internal growth, based on our ongoing activities and their evolution.
WP5 was led by DLO and it resulted in a significant transfer of know‐how and mentality from the leading European institute to the BioSense not only in terms of the research practice and to current trends and needs of European agriculture, but also in terms of business models and procedures. In addition, DLO has carried out an external gap analysis of the BioSense that was incorporated into WP3 tasks and afterwards into Business Plan.
WP6 promoted the project and the BioSense in various manners including different networking events, conferences as well as media promotions. The major result of the work package is public consultation process that gathered a number of stakeholders including flagship companies, distinguished research institutes, and key decision-making bodies whose input, obtained through the meetings, interviews, and questionnaires, has been incorporated in our vision, strategy, and ultimately in the business plan.
In other words, the activities within WP5 and WP6 allowed for an extensive knowledge transfer from the project partners to BioSense as well as an extensive interaction with stakeholders and in that sense synergistically supported the activities in WP2, WP3, and WP4.
ANTARES CSA as a year-long project has achieved very significant results and created a strong basis for future development of the BioSense. Namely, the project resulted in a very deep understanding of the current external and internal environment of the BioSense which allowed for extensive gap analysis and consequently judiciously formulation of our vision and strategy. All these results have been incorporated in the Business Plan that will be the implementation guide for transforming of the BioSense into a European CoE, and as such represents the major outcome of ANTARES CSA.
Business Plan formulation has brought another result - development of the range of the soft skills of the project team, which represents the major exploitable asset of the project. Namely, through the whole process of business plan development the team members acquired organizational skills business planning and project management skills, as well as research and analytical skills.
The core dissemination mechanism in ANTARES CSA was the public consultation process which played the crucial role in the identification of stakeholders’ needs and thus in the formulation of scientific and innovation development strategy of the new CoE and consequently in the development of the coherent and extensive Business Plan. Public consultation process was carried out through the various means including meetings, open panels, and questionnaires, and it attracted over 400 individual participants, companies, and institutions. Hence, the public consultation process has significantly extended the BioSense network of partners and potential users of its services.
To broaden visibility and raise the awareness of ANTARES project and the BioSense in terms of its activities and potentials, we have also used electronic (website, electronic media appearances, social media), non-electronic (press releases) and off-line and face-to-face dissemination methods (networking events).
ANTARES was recognized as a great success and opportunity for the whole Serbian research community, and as such attracted a significant attention form media, governmental bodies, and society. Some of the news releases about ANTARES project in leading national newspapers are shown in Figure 2.
Such success also contributed to the realization of the idea of foundation of the BioSense Institute by the Government of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.
