EU CAP Network brokerage event ‘Partnering for innovation with impact in agriculture and rural areas’

The EU CAP Network brokerage event ‘Partnering for innovation with impact in agriculture and rural areas’ will take place in Prague, Czech Republic, on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 April 2025.
A call for expression of interest was open until 17 February 2025, 23:59 CET.

Background information

The EU Research and Innovation (R&I) programme Horizon Europe (and former programme Horizon 2020) and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) work in synergy under the common concept of the EIP-AGRI to stimulate co-creation and the exchange of knowledge and innovation in agriculture, forestry and rural areas.

More than 550 R&I projects at the transnational level have been funded under the Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe programmes. These projects have been co-creating innovative solutions that respond to the needs of end users, including farmers, foresters and advisors. At the 2024 EU Agri-Food Days, several examples of innovative solutions, generated by Horizon-funded R&I projects, were showcased.

By January 2025, about 4000 EIP-AGRI Operational Group projects (EIP-AGRI OGs), which are bottom-up innovation projects at the local level, had been experimenting, testing and applying innovative practices, processes, products, services and technologies. In May 2024, the EU CAP Network conference ‘EIP-AGRI Operational Groups: Innovation in practice’ was organised, including the EIP-AGRI ‘Innovation Awards’. The event showcased concrete innovative solutions that are ready to be used in practice, to enhance resource efficiency and sustainability in agriculture, forestry and rural areas. It provided a platform for networking among diverse stakeholders.

The EIP-AGRI aims to promote sustainable, resource-efficient, and competitive agriculture and forestry sectors in rural areas. It is tasked with building bridges between research and farmers, forest managers, rural communities, businesses, NGOs, and advisory services, helping to develop, share, and deploy innovation.

This EU CAP Network brokerage event supports:

• the preparation of high-quality proposals for the Horizon Europe Cluster 6 calls in the fields of agriculture and rural areas, creating linkages between EIP-AGRI Operational Groups and Horizon projects, and
• the identification of opportunities for scaling up and scaling out innovations developed under Horizon and the Common Agricultural Policy, thereby maximising their contribution to a more competitive, sustainable and resilient agriculture, and rural areas.

Objectives

The scope of the event will be related to selected topics that are included in the calls for proposals for the Horizon Europe R&I Cluster 6 work programme 2025. The topics are grouped into the following thematic areas:

• digital and data technologies
• sustainable, healthy and resilient crop and livestock production
• new business models and value chains
• circular water management and soil health

In addition to Horizon Europe, other funding opportunities will be explored to enhance further innovation and collaboration across the sector. These include the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Institute of Technology (EIT), the European Innovation Council (EIC), and other relevant European and national, private and public funding mechanisms.

During the event, participants interested in becoming project coordinators can attend a training session that will provide essential skills, insights into key responsibilities, and practical guidance on managing projects effectively.

The specific objectives of the event are to:

• facilitate the exchange of experiences and insights on the preparation of high-quality proposals for the Horizon Europe calls for Cluster 6, with a focus on the involvement of EIP-AGRI OGs in Horizon multi-actor projects (MAPs), and enhancing cooperation possibilities for EIP-AGRI projects
• create an exchange forum to foster collaboration and networking among MAPs and EIP-AGRI OGs, innovation brokers, advisors, farmers, and private and public funding organisations
• showcase innovations, stemming from Horizon and EIP-AGRI OG projects that address concrete needs from practice and that are suitable for further development, market uptake, up-scaling and commercialisation, addressing needs from practice
• increase participants’ awareness of available funding opportunities, including CAP, EIB, EIT, EIC and other mechanisms to further develop and scale up practical and innovative results

Main target groups

This event will be dedicated to matchmaking and networking among key stakeholders in agricultural and rural innovation. Target groups include representatives of R&I projects (EIP-AGRI OGs and Horizon-funded MAPs), National Contact Points (NCPs), farmers and organisations, innovation brokers, advisors, private and public funding organisations, EU R&I partnerships (Animal Health and Welfare, Agroecology Living Labs and Research Infrastructures, and Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking), businesses and networks, Managing Authorities (MAs), National CAP Networks (NNs), innovation support services, journalists, researchers including universities and spin-offs, venture capital, etc.

For more information, visit the official website.