A major innovation event – the Agri Innovation Summit –will take place in Lisbon, Portugal on 11-12 October 2017, bringing together a wide range of stakeholders to discuss how rural areas can best take advantage of current and emerging innovation opportunities.

Rural businesses, both farm and non-farm, can benefit from innovation and digitisation opportunities supported under the Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) and Horizon 2020. Creating linkages and complementarities between multi-actor innovation initiatives can further increase that potential for rural economies. Participants will discuss and provide input on how EU innovation policy tools can better support rural areas now and after 2020.

The event is designed to build on Point 7 on ‘Boosting Knowledge and Innovation’ of the Cork 2.0 Declaration. It is a joint initiative of a Portuguese Consortium, the Portuguese government, ENRD and EIP-AGRI networks.