PlantHUB - Boosting technology transfer and responsible research and innovation (RRI) in plant sciences – captured academic, industrial and regulatory expertise to train Early Stage Researchers (ESR) in skills and competencies necessary to apply RRI in the area of plant breeding and production. The research projects addressed different angles of innovation in plant breeding and production. Research and Innovation (R+I) was performed in association mapping, marker-assisted breeding, high-throughput sequencing and imaging technologies, non-invasive phenotyping, data processing, intelligent lighting systems and isotope analytics.
PlantHUB objectives:
1.Tackling grand challenges with new technologies. New plant breeding technologies are key enablers to insert, desirable traits into plants. High-throughput genotyping and phenotyping platforms allow more efficient and highly targeted selection processes and thereby, shorten the breeding process from 10 to 2 years. However, technology platforms are knowledge and cost intensive. In PlantHUB we enabled technology access and identified frameworks for scalability in future public-private partnerships. We exploited the innovation capacity of a multidisciplinary, inter-sectorial research collaboration.
2: Closing the R&I divide. Collaborative research and knowledge transfer between five world-class universities, one public research organisation, one governmental organisation, seven companies incl. four SMEs: this brought together resources and knowledge from different fields, incl. molecular biology, genomics, bioinformatics, biochemistry, metabolomics, plant physiology, plant ecology, plant evolution, engineering and computational sciences. Programme-wide networking and integration activities initiated further collaborations, incl. 5+ follow-up collaborations and 4+ joint research proposals submitted to Horizon 2020.
3. Apply RRI. In PlantHUB we implemented RRI at different levels (1) train 10 ESRs to build participatory R+I actions (2) practice stakeholder and public engagement (3) train in bioethical considerations relevant to the R+I process.
4. Advancing higher education and career chances of young plant scientists and increase attractiveness of plant science research. For the skill and career development of ESRs we offered training in technical and research skills, technology transfer, innovation management, entrepreneurship, stakeholder & public engagement, Open Data management and bioethics. PlantHUB promoted transnational mobility and integrated a portfolio of training, coaching, networking activities that enables our ESRs to acquire an entrepreneurship perspective and skill set.
