Strengthening strategic advice and synergies between EU and national Research and Innovation agendas and investments

This destination will support the EU Commission priorities ‘Sustaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature’ and ‘A new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness’, which require innovative and agile governance models and tools to support transformative change within planetary boundaries.

R&I supporting decision-making is a key enabler for the Vision for Agriculture and Food that aims to secure the long-term competitiveness and sustainability of the EU's farming and food systems within the boundaries of our planet, as well as to meet the objectives set out in the Common Agricultural Policy.

Besides, the R&I supporting the bioeconomy, with a focus on bio-based solutions and the role of biotechnology, needs to be further strengthened, in line with the new EU Bioeconomy Strategy, the Communication on Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing and the Life Sciences Strategy.

There is also a need to unlock the potential of applied digital and data technologies to support sectors covered by this cluster in becoming more competitive, sustainable, resilient and inclusive in line with the evolving EU policies on cyber, data and data technologies and digital services, notably the European Data Strategy, the Europe’s Digital Decade Policy Programme, the AI Continent Action Plan and the upcoming EU digital strategy for agriculture. This destination will contribute to the development, support and take up of digital and data-based solutions to implement the European Green Deal, while fostering innovation and supporting start-ups, thereby supporting the EU Competitiveness Compass.

The destination supports the European Ocean Pact, aiming at bringing coherence across all EU policy areas linked to the ocean, supporting a resilient and healthy ocean and coastal areas and promoting the sustainable blue economy. In particular, land-sea connection areas are crucial for addressing the effects of climate change, such as sea level rise, coastal erosion, extreme events, and hydrological crises. When relevant, actions are encouraged to align with the EU Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters’, leveraging its digital infrastructures (such as the Digital Twin Ocean), stakeholder networks, and knowledge systems to enhance governance, environmental observation, and policy-support tools across terrestrial and aquatic systems.

This destination implements research actions to address water challenges in the EU and support the European Water Resilience Strategy by advancing the capacity for proper management of water sources.

In line with the global approach on R&I, this destination will foster and support regional and international initiatives, encourage international cooperation, contribute substantially to the implementation of key international treaties and to the work of various international bodies, assessments and other initiatives, and help achieve international commitments, notably under the Paris Agreement, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), and the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement.

Knowledge and advice are key to improving competitiveness, sustainability and resilience. R&I actions under this destination will support effective Agriculture Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) that are at the heart of the 2023-2027 CAP’s cross-cutting objective as a key mean to bridge the gap between science and practice. Synergies with the EU-CAP Network, and particularly the EIP-AGRI Operational Groups supported by the CAP, will be further exploited.

The European Research Area is further integrated, and the global efforts are well-coordinated for impact-oriented science on food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture-forestry, aquaculture and fisheries, and environment.

The Destination supports unlocking the unique assets for research and innovation of the EU outermost regions, in line with the EU strategy for outermost regions^[1].

Expected Impact: Proposals for topics under this destination should set out credible pathways to "developing innovative governance models and tools enabling sustainability and resilience", and more specifically to one or several of the following expected impacts:

• improved evidence-based knowledge, tools and science-society-policy interfaces support effective policy mixes and multi-level governance that are capable of anticipating a changing world, enabling a just sustainable transition for all, engaging society at large and balancing economic, social and environmental goals;
• competitiveness, sustainability and resilience of the economy are supported by more accessible and interoperable environmental observations and improved Earth Intelligence;
• productivity is boosted and transformative changes required by the European Green Deal are facilitated, leaving no one behind, thanks to enhanced digital and data technologies, flows of existing and new knowledge, solutions and skills among actors and communities, as well as maximised synergies between initiatives.

[1] COM(2022) Putting people first, securing sustainable and inclusive growth, unlocking the potential of the EU’s outermost regions.

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• strengthened coordination between European and national research and innovation programmes and agendas in the areas of the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR) Working Groups (WGs), resulting in a reinforced European Research Area (ERA);
• improved impact and visibility of the SCAR WGs through organisation, facilitation and reporting of SCAR WGs activities on the various themes of main relevance for European R&I activities and relevant policy initiatives, leading to enhanced R&I cooperation and information exchange between Member States and Associated Countries and synergies at national and EU level;
• SCAR WGs are supported in delivering their objectives as outlined in their mandates by various measures including through capacity building and support for SCAR WG cross-collaboration and inclusiveness;
• broad dissemination of the outputs of the SCAR WGs to relevant stakeholders, such as EU level and national policy makers, the research community and practitioners, which should also be available to the SCAR Steering Group and Plenary.

Scope:

The successful proposal should contribute to relevant R&I priorities in the thematic areas of the SCAR, in agriculture, fisheries, food systems, forestry, and the wider bioeconomy, as well as foresight. It should contribute to the European Green Deal priorities, the implementation of the new EU Bioeconomy Strategy, the objectives of the Vision for Agriculture and Food, the EU Forest Strategy, and other relevant upcoming initiatives and policies.

Proposals should:

• support the administrative and logistic organisation, the facilitation, and the reporting of the meetings and workshops of SCAR WGs, according to the needs and initiatives taken by the groups themselves;
• support the thematic work of the groups by preparing relevant analyses and outputs adapted to their needs (e.g., portfolio analysis, policy briefs, research studies etc.);
• encourage and facilitate cross-collaboration across SCAR WGs and support collaboration, information exchange and synergies with other EU-level R&I initiatives, such as partnerships, missions, and relevant projects, as well as support on interactions with relevant stakeholders and practitioners;
• allow for sufficient flexibility to support SCAR WGs groups based on their needs, and to balance support across WGs;
• use innovative and where applicable digital tools and methods for supporting SCAR WGs in all its domains.