Challenges faced by agriculture and rural areas and the long-term character of research activities call for a strategic approach to agricultural research and innovation. European Commission organizes a large conference to discuss how such a strategic approach could be implemented. The conference will close a half-year process kicked-off in Milan in June 2015.

Conference objectives

The objectives of the conference will be to:

• present the main elements of a long-term strategy for EU agricultural research and innovation;
• discuss its content, in particular several dimensions of the manner it could be implemented.

Conference structure

The conference will be structured in two parts:

• Pre-events (26 January and 27 January morning): four half-day pre-events and one launching celebration will be organised by European Commission partners to discuss particular issues of importance to prepare for the main conference debates. These pre-events are by invitation only and with limited capacity.
• Main conference (27 January afternoon and 28 January): Commissioner Phil Hogan will open the main conference on 27 January early afternoon. He will introduce the strategic approach to EU agricultural research and innovation which will be discussed throughout the conference. The conference will then consist of plenary sessions on 27 January and 28 January afternoons and of two rounds of parallel sessions on 28 January in the morning. As the core objective of the conference is to discuss how the strategy should be implemented, parallel sessions have been structured around horizontal questions. Concrete examples related to the different priorities included in the draft strategy document will be presented, allowing to build discussion on implementation on specific content. Participation in the main conference is open.

Conference audience

The conference is targeted at an audience of around 400 participants including scientists (agriculture, food and rural research mainly) as well as relevant science networks (ETPs, JPIs, ERAnets…), stakeholders (farmers, up and downstream industries and retailers, civil society organisations, European organisations), International organisations (FAO, OECD, CGIAR) and authorities (Member states and main partner third countries).

Conference information

For detailed information about the conference, including a detailed programme outline, please visit the website of the European Commission Horizon 2020.

The conference will be web-streamed through the event page: http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/news/designing-path-strategic-approach-eu-agricultural-research-and-innovation