Webinars on building the European partnership on agroecology living labs and research infrastructures

Overview

The Commission organised a series of five webinars from 6 May to 25 June 2020 to open the conversation with EU and associated countries on how to build the candidate partnership on agroecology living labs and research infrastructures. Over 170 participants took part in these webinars.

Opening the process and building a shared understanding of agroecology, living labs and research infrastructures

Webinars 1 and 2

The first two webinars organised on 6 and 7 May 2020 aimed to open the process for developing the partnership and to build a shared understanding of the terms “agroecology”, “living labs” and “research infrastructures” in the context of the partnership.

Nathalie Sauze-Vandevyver (European Commission) and Javier Gracia-Garza (Agriculture and Agri-food Canada) opened the process by explaining the reasons behind the choice of agroecology and living labs as a focus for the partnership. Six speakers then provided various views on how to understand agroecology, living labs and research infrastructures. These presentations were an input into further discussions on how the partners and stakeholders wish to approach these concepts in the context of the partnership.

Getting inspired from examples

Webinars 3 and 4

The dialogue continued on 4-5 June 2020 with the presentation of eight practical examples from different parts of Europe that have some of the characteristics of agroecology and/or living labs. The purpose was to draw useful insights from the comparison of these initiatives and trigger a reflection on the key elements to consider for the living labs that will be set up under the partnership.

Starting co-creation in practice

Webinar 5

A fifth webinar was organised on 25 June 2020 to capitalise on the four previous webinars, start developing a joint vision and identify the actions to undertake in the future steps towards the preparation of the partnership.