SKIN is coordinated by UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI FOGGIA

SKIN is an ambitious initiative of 20 partners in 14 countries in the area of Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs). It intends to systematise and bring knowledge to practitioners, promote collaboration within a demand-driven innovation logic and provide inputs to policymaking through links to the EIP-AGRI. SKIN will build and animate a community of about 500 stakeholders, with the strategic objective of setting up, at the conclusion of the project, a European association permanently working for the improvement of SFSCs efficiency and for the benefit of stakeholders and growth in the sector. The community will be built and animated around the identification of good practices in short supply chains across Europe. Partners will scout, analyse and classify a significant number of cases in different countries. “Best practices” (at least 100) will be systematised, processed into highly usable formats (including video and page-flows) and made accessible to stakeholders via the web (following the EIP AGRI formats) and through the set-up of regional nodes, to allow a deeper penetration of existing knowledge into practice.

HNV LINK is coordinated by CENTRE INTERNATIONAL DE HAUTES ETUDES AGRONOMIQUES MEDITERRANEENNES

"High nature value (HNV) farmland designates “those areas in Europe where agriculture is a major land use and where that agriculture supports, or is associated with, either a high species and habitat diversity or the presence of species of European conservation concern, or both”. They are an important component of European agriculture, notably in terms of biodiversity, cultural landscape, territorial cohesion, quality products and employment. However, abandonment, degradation, economic and social marginalisation are long-standing challenges for the associated farming systems which are still under considerable pressure.

FERTINNOWA is coordinated by PROEFSTATION VOOR DE GROENTETEELT

In European countries, the cultivation of fertigated crops experience scarcity of water, and the intensity of cultivation poses significant risks to water quality. The main objective of the FERTINNOWA thematic network is to create a meta-knowledge database on innovative technologies and practices for fertigation of horticultural crops. FERTINNOWA will also build a knowledge exchange platform to evaluate existing and novel technologies (innovation potential, synergies, gaps, barriers) for fertigated crops and ensure wide dissemination to all stakeholders involved of the most promising technologies and best practices.
A multi-actor integrated approach will be used through the FERTINNOWA platform which will involve various stakeholders (researchers, growers, policy-makers, industry, environmental groups etc.) at several levels including the socio-economic and regulatory level (national and European) with a special focus on the EU Water Framework Directive and Nitrate Directive.

HENNOVATION is coordinted by UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL

Using the laying hen sector as a case study, we aim to demonstrate the potential for practice-driven innovation networks, supported by existing science and market-driven actors, to develop practical cost-effective solutions to sustainability challenges. Multi-stakeholder networks will develop technical innovations to injurious pecking and the management of end-of-lay hens concerns based on practice, economics and scientific information. A generic “support package” of communication web based tools, facilitation guides and on-line training programmes, designed to help science and market- driven actors, will then be available to support practice-driven innovation networks in other livestock sectors. Finally we will develop policy recommendations that help realize the full potential of practice-driven innovation through multi stakeholder networks in livestock sectors.