Agri-Innovation summit Lisbon 2017

11 - 12 October 2017. Lisbon. The Agri-Innovation summit  (AIS) 2017 is a joint initiative of a Portuguese consortium, the Portuguese Government, the EIP-AGRI network and the European Network for Rural Development.

It gathered around 500 farmers, rural businesses, startups, Rural Development Programmes managing authorities, national rural networks, Horizon 2020 multi-actor projects, LEADER Local Action Groups, advisors and NGOs throughout the EU with the aim of:

• Promoting cross fertilization between multi-actor innovation initiatives, both under Rural Development Programmes and Horizon 2020
• Raising awareness about innovation and digitisation opportunities for agriculture and rural economies and how these may be supported under on-going Rural Development Programmes
• Providing input for EU innovation policies for agriculture and rural areas after 2020, following-up on Point 7 of the Cork 2.0 Declaration

The AIS 2017 program featured matchmaking, partner search and brokerage activities, thematic networking corners and a startup contest.

Extract of the programme. 
12/10 Plenary Session

Opening remarks:

• Luís Capoulas Santos - Portuguese Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development
• Phil Hogan - Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development

How to foster innovation - the past and the future

• Henrique Leitão - FC/UL
• Elvira Fortunato - FCT/UNL

12/10 Strengthening links between research and practice

12/10 Promoting innovation in rural areas – now and in the future : how can the current support system be improved and simplified?
This workshop focused on the perspective of rural businesses, and aims to provide inspiring examples of support tools and mechanisms that help such businesses to innovate and respond to emerging new opportunities and challenges. The workshop will identify specific needs and formulate recommendations on how to improve various policy tools to support business innovation in rural areas.

• ENRD Case Study on "Revitalising rural areas through digitisation - the experience of three rural digital hubs" 
• EU Rural Review Nº 24 – "Re-imagining Rural Business Opportunities" 

13/10 3rd BioHorizon Bioeconomy Stakeholder Workshop for Bio-NCPs

This workshop was organised by BioHorizon as a side event of the Agri Innovation Summit 2017 (AIS2017), a joint initiative of a Portuguese Consortium, the Portuguese Government, the EIP-AGRI network and the European Network for Rural Development.  The main objective of this workshop was to enable Bio-NCPs to better understand the regional bioeconomy developments in EU and how to promote synergies between Horizon 2020 and other EU funding in the bioeconomy field. Participants had an opportunity to hear first-hand experiences on the application of synergies and discuss difficulties on the implementation of this concept, as well as possible opportunities to explore it. A draft Agenda of this workshop will be available soon.

Video first day

Bilateral meetings
If you couldn't participate in the event, take a look at the opportunities that the participants shared