In 2008, SCAR established the Collaborative Working Group (CWG) on 'Shared Infrastructures for European Agri-Food Research'. The group is coordinated by France with 16 European countries participating.

The main goals of the CWG are to work towards the strategic development of European research infrastructures in the SCAR domain and to bring about increased collaboration between the Member States and Associated Countries in this area. The work of the CWG also aims to exploit potential synergies, look for efficiency gains, perhaps reduction of possible redundancies, and possible savings through the sharing of infrastructures.

The group provided a comprehensive analysis of short-comings, gaps, obstacles and needs in the research infrastructures landscape and suggested possible solutions and approaches for overcoming existing difficulties for addressing future challenges [pdf 213 kb] .


The SCAR agreed that mapping activities should be carried out by building on EU AGRI MAPPING successful project from SSP-4 call “Mapping and foresight of the EU agricultural research capacity”, which already include this type of exercise.

This project was negotiated in cooperation with SCAR towards the delivery of a mapping report on European capacities in the field of agricultural research and recommendations on development that would be desirable in the enlarged Europe by the 2015-2020. The mapping report covers 33 SCAR countries.

The final meeting of EU AGRI MAPPING took place in December 2008. The final reports of the project can be found at www.agrifoodresearch.net.