Defra have released more information on the European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs) which can be found here. EIPs provide a platform for cooperation, by bringing together public and private stakeholders for a better link between science and practice at EU, national and regional level.
EIP-Agri grants are:
• of £5,000 to £150,000 (to fund the cost of running a project for up to 3 years).
• aimed at collaborative groups (known as ‘operational groups’) consisting of farmers, researchers involved in agriculture or food, agricultural or agri-food businesses and non-governmental organisations.
Only operational groups can propose and carry out projects supported by EIP-Agri grants. An operational group can vary in size but must include at least 2 members from different organisations and can be either new groups or ones that already exist.
EIPs are expected to open for applications in the summer.
What you can do now:
Register on the EU EIP-Agri Service Point website to meet people who may want to form an operational group, get project ideas and find out more information.
You can also let Defra know of ideas by emailing details (more information on the details required here)
NFU supports the idea of EIPs and Operational Groups as an important mechanism for getting a bottom up approach to innovation and knowledge exchange.
In NFU's CAP consultation response, we were clear that funds should be used to help genuinely facilitate farmers and land managers coming together with scientists to explore the sharing of information and knowledge or provide basic support for testing out new ideas through projects which adapt existing techniques and practices to new geographical and environmental contexts.
We are asking Government to make EIPs accessible to all farmers with a transparent application process and minimal administrative burden.
More details on EIPs can be found on http://ec.europa.eu/eip/agriculture/