Horizon 2020: creating knowledge to boost agricultural innovation between 2014-2020
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If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Between 2014 - 2020, Horizon 2020 supported research and innovation which answers farmers' and foresters' immediate needs, in particular multi-actor projects and thematic networks.
What is Horizon 2020?
Horizon 2020 had a budget of around 3.7 billion euros for 2014-2020, out of which at least 1.5 billion euros contributed to the research area agriculture and forestry. It was the largest source of public funding for research and innovation from the European Union. Around one third of the funding available was dedicated to answering societal challenges. One of the identified challenges was "Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine, Maritime and Inland Water Research and the Bioeconomy".
How did Horizon 2020 help farmers and foresters?
Horizon 2020 aimed to create solutions for problems which farmers and foresters currently face. Along with support to academic projects, it funded projects where researchers and practitioners built solutions together: these wer - and are still - called 'multi-actor projects'. Specific efforts werealso made to share knowledge and results that are ready to be put into practice, in particular via 'Thematic networks'.
How was Horizon 2020 funding made available?
Horizon 2020 worked through two or three year work programmes which included concrete calls for projects. These calls for projects were further divided into 'topics'. For most of the topics, you had to build consortia with at least three partners from three different countries. Every year the EIP-AGRI published a brochure guiding EIP-AGRI network members through the calls (including through calls of potential interest outside societal challenge 2): see brochures on calls 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020.
What is the multi-actor approach?
The multi-actor approach requires that end users and multipliers of research results such as farmers and farmers’ groups, advisers, enterprises and others, are closely involved throughout the whole research project period. This should lead to innovative solutions that are more likely to be applied in the field, because those who need the solutions will be involved right from the start: from defining the questions, to planning, to implementing research work, to experiments and right up until possible demonstrations and dissemination. Openness to involve relevant groups operating in the EIP context (such as rural development Operational Groups) has been strongly recommended in the Horizon 2020 bi-annual work programmes.
The EU had allocated around one billion euros to fund around 180 multi-actor projects of interest to agriculture, forestry and rural development in the seven years of Horizon 2020 (2014-2020).
Learn more about multi-actor projects
What are thematic networks?
Thematic networks are multi-actor projects which aim to:
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collect existing knowledge and best practices on a given theme and facilitate their use;
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develop easily understandable material for practice, such as infosheets in a common format and audio-visual material. The material should be available on a long-term basis and easily accessible to end users such as farmers, foresters, advisers etc.
Learn more about thematic networks
Learn more about the new Horizon Europe programme.
