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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - FACCE SURPLUS (SUstainable and Resilient agriculture for food and non-food systems)

Teaser

Summary

The objective of FACCE SURPLUS is to strengthen the European Research Area in support of different integrated food and non-food biomass production and transformation systems, especially by organising, implementing and cofunding with the EU a joint call for transnational research projects on the topic of sustainable and resilient agriculture. As this topic falls within the scope of the Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) of the Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCEâ€“JPI), this ERA-NET Cofund will contribute substantially to the delivery of the FACCEâ€“JPI SRA. It will thereby also contribute to the overall EU objective of building the European Research Area through enhanced cooperation, coordination and alignment of national research programmes.
The action FACCE SURPLUS also aims at implementing other joint activities such as organizing workshops, scientific events, clustering of research platforms and infrastructures in the field of food and non-food biomass production and transformation systems, and also additional joint calls without EU cofunding. Launching such joint calls on a regular basis would pave the way to the long term objective of FACCE SURPLUS to establish a self-sustaining joint programme for FACCE-JPI. This will include establishing links with ongoing FACCE-JPI actions as well as related EU and international initiatives. FACCE SURPLUS will also support innovation and value creation from biomass in a sustainable way.
The ERA-NET Cofund instrument is appropriate for that challenge, since it provides additional incentive to participating countries to engage financially on the field of sustainable and resilient agriculture, but also includes the flexibility to implement further activities to contribute to the establishment of a renewable bioeconomy in the ERA.

Work performed

\"During the second reporting period, FACCE SURPLUS started implementing its monitoring and communication procedures for the 14 projects funded in the frame of the co-funded call. In particular, FACCE SUPRLUS developed communication and dissemination material for those research projects and used these at the occasion e.g. of the European Biomass Conference and Exhibition in June 2017 in Stockholm where FACCE SURPLUS held a stand.

In September 2016, the common kick-off meeting of the research projects from the co-funded call was organized in Foulum, Denmark, in the auspices of the Aarhus University. This meeting was the opportunity to present the projects and to interact beyond the borders of single projects as well as with invited stakeholders, including representatives from the industry, from BBI JUâ€¦ Researchers were also trained in terms of communication in a workshop. The event was well attended (approx. 200 participants) and important lessons for future events could be drawn from a survey following the event.
In November 2017, the mid-term meeting of FACCE SURPLUS and these research projects took place in Paris. The meeting was structured in a very interactive way so to collect input from researchers and stakeholders, in particular with regards to the upcoming activities undertaken within FACCE SURPLUS.

As an outcome of the scoping workshop hold in Ghent in May 2016, FACCE SURPLUS launched its second call in January 2017 on the topic of \"\"Small-scale biorefineries\"\". 10 funders from 9 countries/regions joined the call with a total budget of approximately 6 million euros. 22 pre-proposals were submitted by the deadline of 07.03.2017, which were checked for eligibility. 21 consortia were invited to submit a full proposal by the deadline of 17.07.2107. These full proposals were evaluated by an international and independent expert panel, which was chaired by representatives from FACCE-JPI SAB and StAB. This panel presented a good balance between representatives from the academia and stakeholders (e.g. from industry). The funders followed the provided ranking list in order to select 8 full proposals for funding. The funded projects should start until April 2018 and will be monitored as the projects from the co-funded call and subject to similar communication support by FACCE SURPLUS. The strong cooperation with FACCE-JPI was further strengthened, as shows the involvement of SAB and StAB representatives in the activities of FACCE SURPLUS.

During the whole reporting period, the coordinator kept managing the consortium, with the help of regular (physical or virtual) meetings. Physical meetings were organized in Foulum (DK) in September 2016, in Rome (IT) in November 2016, Oslo (NO) in May 2017 and Paris (FR) in November 2017. With regards to the last reporting period of FACCE SURPLUS, all issues are being prepared much in advance so to make sure that FACCE SURPLUS is able to implement its DoA and reach its objectives until the end of the ERA-NET.\"

Final results

FACCE SURPLUS is expected to contribute to the aim of the Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change, FACCE-JPI, to tackle the Grand Challenge of ensuring global food security while respecting the imperatives of sustainable development. FACCE SURPLUS, in providing the means for a joint call, is one of the actions of the JPI aimed at aligning research programming among its members over the long term to increase the efficiency of research funding, cover gaps, avoid duplications and provide high-level innovative research in Europe. By requiring a dissemination plan from the applying researchers and supporting them in terms of communication and dissemination, FACCE SURPLUS ensures an improved valorization of research results and therefore a socio-economic impact, e.g. via stakeholdersâ€™ events.
The organization of common kick-off, mid-term and end-term meetings of the research projects funded in the frame of FACCE SURPLUS will ensure an optimal exchange of information among the researchers. The end-term meeting, planned for fall 2018, will be the opportunity to combine it with the common kick-off meeting of research projects funded in the frame of the first additional call organized by FACCE SURPLUS so as to allow a transfer of results between finishing and starting projects. This additional call might focus on biorefinery (â€œrefinery concepts for the multiple use of biomassâ€ is a priority of the FACCE-JPI Implementation Plan, which was identified as well-linked to FACCE SURPLUS), therefore outcomes from the research projects from the co-funded call, providing e.g. optimized land use to increase biomass production and transformation can bring an important added-value to such â€œfollow-upâ€ projects. Relevant stakeholders will also be invited at the common meetings, with the aim to facilitate the knowledge transfer and the use of developed technologies, methodologiesâ€¦
The strong synergies between FACCE SURPLUS and FACCE-JPI is ensured by the presence among the members (and persons working in) of FACCE SURPLUS of several organisations (and persons) active in FACCE-JPI, at the Governing Board level but also at the secretariat level. This synergy allows FACCE SURPLUS to gain visibility thanks to FACCE-JPI, and reversely FACCE-JPI can through FACCE SURPLUS implement part(s) of its SRA. The links with the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and Stakeholder Advisory Board (StAB) of FACCE-JPI have been made since the preparation phase of FACCE SURPLUS. In particular, the synergies with the StAB will permit to address specifically the socio-economic impact of FACCE SURPLUS.