Second series of ALL-Ready regional workshops took place

Our successful series of regional workshops went into its second round. The three half-day workshops were again hosted in Seville (Spain), Budapest (Hungary) and Frankfurt (Germany) in a hybrid format, focusing on: “Accelerating Agroecology Transition: Your potential role and benefits of contributing to a European network of Living Labs and Research Infrastructures”.

Regional Workshop Seville (Lifewatch ERIC)

The main aims of the workshops were:

To continue the exchange on challenges that Living Labs and Research Infrastructures are facing in accelerating transitions to agroecology.
To generate insights on how a future European network can contribute to solve challenges that initiatives are facing in the transition process, and
To provide a platform for exchanging experiences and networking.

The workshops took place on the 11th of May in Seville (Spain), 12th of May in Budapest (Hungary) and the 22nd of June in Frankfurt / Main (Germany) and were organised by the Thünen Institute of Farm Economics, LIFEWATCH Eric (Seville), ÖMKI (Budapest), Biosense Institute, Ecologic Institute, ILVO, ENOLL and INRAE. All workshops were again held in a hybrid format and brought together participants from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia and Spain, representing a wide range of Living Labs and other open innovation arrangements, Research Infrastructures, and funding organisations. A fourth and final workshop will be held on the 29th of September in Helsinki, Finland, co-hosted by the University of Oulu and the Thünen Institute of Farm Economics.

During the main part of the workshop, the participants worked in small groups, to discuss topics, themes and issues that the European Network of Agroecology Living Labs and Research Infrastructures should address. The discussions focused on various subjects and thematic priorities. Debates revolved around different types of communication and networking activities, practical solutions for addressing funding gaps, needs for capacity building including regional gaps in competences and the role of local actors to support development of competences. Throughout the discussions, participants developed recommendations for the implementation of a European Network of Agroecology Living Labs and Research Infrastructures. These focused on the importance of removing barriers to participation of non-researchers, on taking into account different regional contexts and different target audiences, on balancing the representation of different stakeholders, on addressing water and soil-related challenges in agriculture, and the need to develop infrastructure to scale up the network over time. In addition, participants highlighted the potential role of the European Network in fostering a policy dialogue to increase understanding and engagement of policy stakeholders in Living Labs and in the agroecological transition in general.

The workshops also raised awareness of the future Horizon Europe Partnership on Agroecology and its current draft Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda. Further, valuable insights for the implementation of the European Network of Agroecology Living Labs and Research Infrastructures were given. The workshops provided a platform for networking among the initiatives. We would like to thank all participants for their time and valuable contributions.

Workshop reports will be made available after a summer break.