Periodic Reporting for period 2 - INCREdible (Innovation Networks of Cork, Resins and Edibles in the Mediterranean basin) Reporting period: 2019-05-01 to 2021-04-30 Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project In the Mediterranean basin, non-wood forest products (NWFP) are an important source of wealth for the inhabitants of rural areas. However, their real potential is not always used or captured appropriately, nor it benefits local populations as much as it could. Allowing forest managers, local communities and entrepreneurs to sustainably leverage the potential of their NWFP would help activate rural economies, reduce rural abandonment and increase the capacity to manage and protect forests against natural hazards, such as forest fires. Making this possible requires improved practices as well as social, technological and policy innovations. A problem faced by actors involved in the value chain of a given NWFP in a given region may have already been solved in another region or a neighbouring sector. However, without a proper exchange platform or support, knowledge and technology transfer barely occur. This is mainly due to the absence of dedicated communication channels, to the geographical span of the Mediterranean basin and to language barriers. The main objective of INCREDIBLE is to facilitate regional and trans-regional cooperation, knowledge exchange and to promote a culture of innovation in five key NWFP: cork, resin, aromatic & medicinal plants, wild nuts & berries, and wild mushrooms & truffles. It identifies and shares common challenges, good practices and policies, success cases and relevant knowledge to help address the most pressing needs and greatest opportunities for innovation along the different value chains. It offers training and inspiration for innovative business development and will produce policy recommendations for better regulation of NWFP at regional, national and EU levels. Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far The INCREDIBLE thematic network succeeded in creating and animating five international innovation networks (iNets) on non-wood forest products (NWFP): cork, resin, aromatic & medicinal plants, wild nuts & berries, and wild mushrooms & truffles. Each iNet is present in four or five Mediterranean countries, either Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Greece and Tunisia, and currently involves between 300 and 500 stakeholders across the whole value chain.At the beginning of the project, the iNet stakeholders were consulted in a series of five scoping seminars (one per iNet) about the current situation of their sector. As a result, the project developed a narrative on each sector, to have a more complete map of each value chain and, most importantly, to compile a list of priority issues and problems to be solved, some of them sector-specific, others transversal. As expected, stakeholders in other regions already had solutions for most of the issues or could provide good practices or success cases that would foster the innovation required to solve them. In order to allow this exchange, INCREDIBLE organised a series of free events, in different locations, for any interested stakeholder: 45 one-day science to practice events (two of which were international training sessions) for practical knowledge transfer, and 15 (two or three-day long) interregional workshops, combining seminars and debates, field trips and farm-to-farm innovation activities. INCREDIBLE also organised three cross-cutting seminars to address transversal issues: territorial marketing, innovative business models and information and communication technologies applied to NWFP. A policy forum has also been organised to generate policy recommendations, both at the EU and national level, on improved governance on NWFP. Finally, nine entrepreneurs from five start-ups, the winners of the INCREDIBLE Open innovation challenge, have been supported through a ten-day business and social innovation acceleration service to help them improve and commercialise their business.To record all the relevant information exchanged in these events and to facilitate access to already existing knowledge, the INCREDIBLE thematic network developed the "Knowledge repository for Non-Wood Forest Products" (https://repository.incredibleforest.net) which collected 257 factsheets featuring innovations and best practices about NWFP from the Mediterranean basin. Moreover, policy makers have now access to the white paper "Non-wood forest products for people, nature and the green economy. Recommendations for policy priorities in Europe. A white paper based on lessons learned from around the Mediterranean" (https://doi.org/10.36333/k2a05) presented in a Policy forum event, to guide them towards regulations more suitable for the development of the NWFP sector. Most of these events were facilitated by a professional innovation facilitator, who supports the iNet members in having a fruitful and more dynamic relationship with the stakeholders.To achieve all this, the iNet coordinators, co-coordinators and local contact points were in constant communication with the stakeholders. They posted 35 blog articles in INCREDIBLE website, wrote more than 250 articles in other communication channels, sent 13 electronic bulletins, posted 930 tweets that generated 780 followers, and released five motion infographics about NWFP value chains and five videos to present the five start-ups supported by the acceleration service. All these achievements were celebrated in April 2021 in the Final conference, where, in addition, the attendees were invited to vote for their preferred finalist of the Knowledge contest. The winner and two runners-up received a grant to visit the INCREDIBLE consortium member of their choice in order to increase their knowledge and network on NWFP. Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far) The INCREDIBLE thematic network has succeeded in establishing five international innovation networks of more than 300 stakeholders each across the Mediterranean basin before the first half of the 3-year project. By the end of the thematic network, the stakeholders had the chance to participate in five scoping seminars, 45 science-to-practice events (of which two were international training sessions), 15 interregional workshops, 3 cross-cutting seminars, one policy forum and one final conference. The "Knowledge repository for Non-Wood Forest Products" (https://repository.incredibleforest.net) collected 257 factsheets featuring innovations and best practices about NWFP from Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Greece and Tunisia. For those not having the chance to attend the events, reports, infographics and testimonial videos are available on the project website (https://incredibleforest.net). Additionally, policy makers have now access to the white paper "Non-wood forest products for people, nature and the green economy. Recommendations for policy priorities in Europe. A white paper based on lessons learned from around the Mediterranean" (https://doi.org/10.36333/k2a05) to guide them towards regulations more suitable for the development of the NWFP sector. Finally, nine entrepreneurs and five start-ups have been supported through a ten-day business and social innovation acceleration service that would help them to improve and commercialise their business.Globally, the INCREDIBLE thematic network has helped to strengthen the importance of the NWFP sector in rural areas of the Mediterranean basin and has created five international communities of stakeholders that would be willing to continue collaborating in the future. Stakeholders gathered in Soria, Spain for the scoping seminar for the Wild Mushrooms & Truffles iNet Participatory mapping techniques at the INCREDIBLE General Assembly held in Padova, Italy in Decembe Fresh truffles were the focus of an interregional workshop in Ioannina, Greece. The INCREDIBLE Open Innovation Challenge will support innovative business ideas. INCREDIBLE Science to Practice event on cork held in Sardinia, Italy, September 2018.
