Nella zona di Leitrim (Irlanda), un consulente ha lavorato con piccoli allevatori di bestiame, anziani e/o che lavorano fuori dall'azienda, aiutandoli a creare un gruppo di servizi di allevamento a contratto con lo scopo di aumentare il tasso di produzione e la redditività delle aziende. L'allevamento di giovenche a contratto consiste nell'allevare vacche per conto di un altro allevatore. Il consulente aiuta i membri del gruppo a prendere vitelli giovani da aziende lattiero-casearie più grandi e ad allevarli fino a un'età concordata, per poi riportarli all'azienda d'origine.
Il gruppo di allevatori a contratto di Sligo/Leitrim, nato nel 2015, ha stabilito collegamenti di benchmarking con il programma di redditività aziendale di Aurivo. Le giovenche allevate dai membri del gruppo superano di gran lunga le prestazioni delle giovenche allevate nelle aziende lattiero-casearie a livello nazionale. 
Il formato del gruppo di discussione consente agli allevatori di condividere esperienze e conoscenze; aiuta inoltre a creare fiducia per compiere il primo passo e poi sviluppare l'impresa.  Nello sviluppo della fiducia tra i membri del gruppo di discussione, il legame sociale (ad esempio, andare insieme al pub) sembra svolgere un ruolo importante.
Inoltre, la definizione di obiettivi di performance e la presentazione dei risultati delle aziende agricole sul raggiungimento degli obiettivi sembrano stimolare gli agricoltori a ottenere risultati migliori (non vuoi essere l'agricoltore che...).
Il consulente svolge il ruolo di attore libero, facilitando la rete. Lo ha fatto usando il suo istinto, superando diversi colli di bottiglia e facendo da mediatore tra gli agricoltori. 

Il gruppo operativo EIP-Agri "Citrus" (Spagna) mirava a sviluppare un'agricoltura di precisione per le colture di agrumi attraverso l'implementazione di una gestione efficiente dell'acqua e della fertilizzazione. Poiché il problema riguardava più attori, dagli agricoltori alla società in generale, la sfida è stata affrontata attraverso un approccio multiplo, considerando diversi strumenti tecnologici e coinvolgendo una grande diversità di attori: agricoltori, ricercatori, aziende tecnologiche, consulenti. Il gruppo si riuniva mensilmente ma, all'inizio, le persone erano molto riluttanti a partecipare a tali riunioni. Le conversazioni tra i partner erano difficili perché parlavano in lingue "diverse" e non capivano le esigenze l’un dell’altro. Ciascuno dei partner aveva un’idea diversa su come risolvere il problema. 

L'allineamento delle conoscenze è stata la chiave per far sì che tutti fossero desiderosi di lavorare insieme in questo progetto. Il consulente (e responsabile del progetto) ha svolto un ruolo cruciale nel favorire l'equilibrio fra interessi e prospettive diverse, fungendo da "interprete" e consentendo al gruppo di andare avanti. Il suo compito è stato quello di far nascere una conversazione, più che di arrivare alla soluzione tecnica. Alla fine, tutti sono stati coinvolti emotivamente nel progetto e hanno dichiarato che avrebbero lavorato insieme in modo sistemico. In un progetto complesso come questo, con partner con mentalità e prospettive diverse, è stato molto importante prendersi cura di tutti loro e ascoltare tutte le esigenze. 

Among the interconections of i2connect project there is the experience of an ERASMUS+ project, namely RAMONES-PL. One of the main result of the project there is a tracking and monitoring systems in farm advisory services.
The RAMONES-PL project customized and tested an open source issue tracking tool for the needs of monitoring the delivery of farm advisory services in Norh Macedonia and Hungary between 2021 and 2023.
We deliberately opted for open-source, free to use monitoring tool to record, track and evaluate the details of advisory service provision in the project, with the intention of making our methodology and results more adoptable and exploitable EU wide by other actors interested in utilizing our workflow.

Mantis Bug Tracker is a free and open source web bug tracking system.   
The main customization steps included:
• Creating projects containing national user groups (by countries/partner organizations) and users (farm advisors - reporters, supervisors - managers).
• Assigning the language variants by the users’ needs.
• Setting up categorizations and a system of keywords to indicate the type of service activity and other details, which makes it possible to filter the entered data by these items.
• Defining custom fields: adding single option selects for service activities, or multiple selects for the different countries of participants which statically lists the farmer clients that can be assigned to the specific users (farm advisors), so they can only see their own partners.

Laimburg Integrated Digital Orchard – LIDO è un laboratorio a cielo aperto per la frutticoltura e la viticoltura realizzato dal Centro di Sperimentazione Laimburg per promuovere l’innovazione nel campo della digitalizzazione e della robotica in agricoltura. 
LIDO, realizzato con il contributo del Fondo Europeo di Sviluppo Regionale (FESR), è stato inaugurato nell’ottobre 2022 ed è a disposizione di aziende e istituti di ricerca che possono utilizzare il laboratorio per testare e dimostrare al pubblico tecnologie esistenti e nuove. In questo modo, il Centro di Sperimentazione Laimburg promuove le innovazioni digitali in agricoltura e consente alle aziende agricole locali di partecipare in maniera attiva alla trasformazione digitale. 
In pratica, LIDO consente di testare e promuovere sistemi di irrigazione e fertilizzazione automatizzati, metodi innovativi di gestione delle colture, integrazione delle tecnologie dei sensori, applicazione stazionaria di prodotti fitosanitari, nonché modelli di previsione e sistemi decisionali avanzati: 
Il laboratorio di frutticoltura si trova in un meleto, che ha una superficie di 0,65 ettari, mentre quello di viticoltura si trova in un vigneto di 0,4 ettari. Entrambe le strutture sono dotate di fibre ottiche ed elettricità per garantire l’alimentazione e la trasmissione veloce dei dati. Inoltre, è presente un container con una postazione di lavoro direttamente nelle strutture, attrezzato per controllare e monitorare i dispositivi nei campi. I dati raccolti dai diversi sensori confluiscono in un database comune, che consente di comprendere meglio le relazioni complesse tra dati.

In this operational group, the advisor was the project manager. He was also the innovation broker, his presence through the project granted alignment with the initial proposal while undertaking the adjustments needed.
The operational group had a diverse composition: farmers, researchers, tech companies, advisor. In such complex structures is key to balance the different interests and perspectives. The advisor:
As an independent figure was an unbiased and reliable partner looking on everybody bests interests and mediated among conflicts and/or lack of trust among partners. For example, farmers were skeptical about the technology as they thought it was something to be sold to take advantage of them. With advisor intervention, farmers realized that technology was a useful tool.
Elicited effectively communication and understanding among partners. For example, the drone company spoke “telecommunication engineering” and citrus producers spoke “farmer”, the advisor “translated” them enabling fluid conversations.
Had technical knowledge and first-hand experience, so partners could relate to and identify with him. For example, the advisor is also a citrus farmer, so he is aware of the reality and potential problems. 
Unexpected challenges arose during the project. For example, COVID-2019 onset led to misconceptions (some partners thought the funding body would put the project on hold and that the milestones would be delayed), it also imposed limitations on face-to-face interactions and work…The advisor kept partners motivated and ensured compliance to tasks and milestones.
The ultimate success of the support provided is that the relationship built among GO CITRICS partners keeps them engaged to work together in future projects.

Το πρώτο Καλοκαιρινό Σχολείο του I2CONNECT με στόχο την υποστήριξη των γεωργικών συμβούλων και των διαδραστικών καινοτομιών πραγματοποιήθηκε στο Μεσογειακό Αγρονομικό Ινστιτούτο Χανίων το διάστημα 25-29 Ιουλίου 2022. Είκοσι έξι διδακτορικοί και μεταπτυχιακοί σπουδαστές παρακολούθησαν ένα γεμάτο δραστηριότητες πρόγραμμα, που κάλυπτε κρίσιμα θέματα, όπως τα Γεωργικά Συστήματα Γνώσης και Καινοτομίας (AKIS), τα δίκτυα, ο συντονισμός δρώντων. 
Οι εκπαιδευτές/ διευκολυντές αξιοποίησαν ποικίλες διαδραστικές ασκήσεις, προκειμένου να ενεργοποιήσουν και να ευαισθητοποιήσουν τους σπουδαστές για τους ρόλους και τις απαραίτητες δεξιότητες των συμβούλων. Οι σπουδαστές εξοικειώθηκαν με μεθοδολογικά εργαλεία, όπως το «σπιράλ καινοτομίας» και το «τρίγωνο της συν-δημιουργίας», χρήσιμα για τη διερεύνηση καινοτόμων δικτύων και οικοσυστημάτων, τα οποία εφάρμοσαν κατά την επίσκεψή τους σε αγροτική εκμετάλλευση. Οι σπουδαστές συμμετείχαν ενεργά σε ομαδικές εργασίες, διατηρώντας τον ενθουσιασμό τους καθ’ όλη τη διάρκεια της εκπαίδευσης. Σύμφωνα με την αξιολόγησή τους, το Καλοκαιρινό Σχολείο τούς πρόσφερε αυθεντική εμπειρία συμμετοχικής μάθησης πέρα από τις προσδοκίες τους και συνολικά οι διαδραστικές ασκήσεις στις οποίες συμμετείχαν εκπλήρωσαν τους σκοπούς τους. Οι σπουδαστές επωφελήθηκαν τόσο από την μεταξύ τους αλληλεπίδραση όσο και την καθοδήγηση και ανατροφοδότηση των διευκολυντών, συνολικά αποκομίζοντας πολύ θετικές εντυπώσεις. Παράλληλα πρότειναν ορισμένες βελτιώσεις εν όψη του Καλοκαιρινού Σχολείου στο Hohenheim το 2023, όπως περισσότερο χρόνο για εμβάθυνση στο AKIS, τις τεχνικές διευκόλυνσης και την επίσκεψη σε εκμετάλλευση, υποδεικνύοντας εντέλει την ανάγκη χρονικής επέκτασης της εκπαίδευσης. 

In Europe, ca 40.000 independent advisors play a major role in farmers decisions.  In i2connect, a start was made to make a search engine for , based on advisors' competencies. 
Although it was expected that advisors were happy to reach clients with such a database, the registration was below expectation, they perceive too much effort and too little effect. As solution to that, the Dutch database of the association of independent advsiors (VAB) is uploaded and later updated to the i2connect dbase: no effort for the advisor! The effect of double presentation (in NL and EU) was appreciated by the advisors; and it opens more possibilities, f.i. linking this dbase to more projects that support advisors. So a new approach with less/no effort and more effect. From june 2023, this approach is open for all EU organisations with independent advisors. Not only farmers, but also other stakeholders can use this tool to expore new ways of networking, in addtion to personal contacts.

The Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry of Slovenia (part of the SEASN network) organized the first "Cross Visit" within the i2connect project. The "Cross Visits" made for the agricultural consultants who have attended the i2connect training course on network analysis tools in interactive innovation processes. The "Cross-Visits" is an opportunity for selected consultants to go abroad and increase their knowledge from the training course by using it in practice together with colleagues from different parts of Europe, exploring examples of practical cases of interactive innovation. During the "Cross Visit" to Slovenia the participants analyzed an EIP project on sustainable grape production in vineyards. Find a suitable practical case of interactive innovation is probably the most important and also the most difficult step to do when organizing a "Cross-Visit", as the selected case is the heart of the whole event. The key players prepare a presentation of the practical case (project) and also a demonstration of the innovation in the field. After the presentation, the main focus was on understanding the interactive innovation process in this project, which is analyzed through interviews with key players. The result of the workshops are visual presentations (posters) of the practical case in the form of tools for network analysis. At the end, the participants also do a SWOT analysis of the case. The lessons learned from the case study and from the cross-visit itself are very valuable. The main objective is that the participants take home what they have learned, use this knowledge in their daily work and also transfer it to their colleagues.

Durante a Cross Visit do projeto i2connect em Portugal, um grupo de formandos, que já tinha concluído a sua formação em inovação interativa, embarcou numa jornada para explorar a agricultura portuguesa e aplicar os seus novos conhecimentos. O objetivo foi analisar o projeto "Segunda Via", que pretende criar um modelo moderno de gestão agrícola que combina lucro com práticas de conservação e restauração ecológica.

Uma lição essencial aprendida durante a visita foi a importância de equilibrar o lucro agrícola com a sustentabilidade ecológica. O projeto "Segunda Via" demonstrou o potencial de desenvolver explorações ambientalmente responsáveis que aproveitam o capital natural disponível nas suas terras.

Os participantes tiveram a oportunidade de aplicar na prática os métodos de inovação interativa e co-criação que tinham aprendido. A visita demonstrou como exercícios interativos e ferramentas de facilitação podem ser utilizados para gerir grupos de forma eficaz e promover redes produtivas.

No geral, a Cross Visit do i2connect em Portugal ofereceu aos formandos experiências inestimáveis. Eles testemunharam a integração bem-sucedida de práticas lucrativas e ecológicas no projeto "Segunda Via", enfatizando seu potencial de replicação em maior escala. A colaboração e a aplicação de métodos de inovação interativa foram evidentes, destacando a importância do trabalho em equipas interdisciplinares e da partilha de conhecimento. Equipados com essas lições, os formandos estão prontos para aplicar os seus conhecimentos e experiências ños seus  papéis de consultoria e aconselhamentos, promovendo abordagens interativas e inovadoras para beneficiar os agricultores e o meio ambiente.

What does cross-visit mean exactly, and how does it differ from an exchange of experiences? Of course, participants in this case also share their experiences and engage in active discussions. However, the idea of a cross-visit is that during this experience, participants reinforce the knowledge they acquired during their training about interactive innovation methods. This means that while visiting various projects, participants put their heads together to think about interesting solutions to existing challenges within presented initiatives. The Latvian cross visit was hosted by LRATC, the biggest rural advisory organization in Latvia that provides support, guidance, and training to farmers, rural entrepreneurs, and other individuals involved in rural development. At the moment LRATC employs around 430 employees who work all across the country in 26 branch offices and in the central office in Ozolnieki. The Latvian cross visit was focus on the main agricultural crops grown in Latvia, that include grains such as wheat, barley, oats, and rye. Other important crops include potatoes, rapeseed, and various vegetables. Latvia is also known for its high-quality organic farming and the production of organic crops. Livestock farming is an essential component of Latvia’s agricultural sector. Dairy farming is particularly prominent, with Latvian dairy products being well-regarded. Other livestock raised in the country include pigs, poultry, sheep, and cattle. In addition, the Latvian government places importance on rural development, aiming to support sustainable agriculture, improve infrastructure, and promote innovation in the sector. Funding programs and subsidies are available to support farmers, enhance productivity, and protect the environment. 

The aim of the Hungarian i2connect cross visit was that the advisors learn how to identify and analyse interactive innovation processes using the example of a Hungarian EIP-AGRI operational group (coperation between farmers). This Operational Groups called “lupine dream” aims at using sweet lupine produced in different growing regions as an alternative protein source in pig feeding and to investigate its economics. The group consists of an advisor, a research centre, a feed company and several agricultural producers. One of the producers hosted the foreign advisors as part of the i2connect cross-visit and shared its experiences in the project. The partners in the group found that the yield of lupine is significantly determined by the agroecological conditions. The quality of the soil is the most decisive factor during the vegetative development. 
By sharing the developments and innovations at domestic and international level, the network of the farmers continues to expand. This is a secondary benefit for all partners. The sharing of experiences during Cross-Visits and the use of specific analysis methods make it possible to get acquainted with the results in different European countries. This allows all participants continuous development and joint learning.

The project FInAL "Promotion of Insects in Agricultural Landscapes" is a large nationwide project with different project promoters at different locations. The project was developed in Rottal (Lower Bavaria), in Lower Saxony, in the Elm and in Brandenburg in the Havelländisches Luch. In terms of measures, farmers in the landscape laboratory have so far implemented 15 different measures on 181 hectares of these 900 hectares in the landscape laboratory. In addition to measures such as flowering areas or hedges, production-integrated measures are of course also very popular with farmers. That means insect-promoting catch crops in different varieties. But also, for example, cultivating maize-bean mixtures, growing legumes, and expanding crop rotation. This is a big issue because our area is very much dominated by maize. Maize causes problems in terms of erosion, and farmers are challenged from several sides to think about erosion, about biodiversity, about insect promotion. In projects like FInAL, it is clear the potential for building the capacity of farmers and improving their knowledge. So, they can become the leaders of innovation in their region.

At the end of April 2023, advisors from agriculture and forestry met for a i2connect Cross Visit in Bavaria. Using the example of the FInAL project "Promotion of Insects in Agricultural Landscapes", the participants carried out an innovation analysis. FInAL is a large nationwide project involving researchers of different scientific disciplines, farmers and other partners in three different regions in Germany. What is special about FInAL is that scientists and farmers develop the insect-promoting measures together in a co-design process and testing them in landscape labs. The video realized in i2connect project and available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcZz30Z3d8A presents the project and the most important results of the project analysis by the participants of the Cross Visit.

Living Labs (LLs) are a promising tool for the agricultural sector. They were used in the context of ROADMAP to reduce the risk of antimicrobial resistance through reduced antimicrobial use. This is a complex issue, and it requires many stakeholders to be involved. LLs are user-centered, open innovation ecosystems based on a systematic user co-creation approach integrating research and innovation processes in real-life communities and settings. LLs are of participatory nature as every participant’s expertise is actively brought into the process. End users are directly involved in developing innovations. They can be farmers, advisors, citizens, or authorities. They represent a wider community of end users making it easier to overcome barriers due to technical, social, or economic asymmetry of information or interactions between stakeholders. 
The use of antimicrobials in animal husbandry across Europe differs, but there is still room for reduction. EU and national regulations have been improving for years and livestock sectors have already been tackled with one-size-fits-all solutions. Further reduction can especially be achieved with locally and often societal-adapted solutions. By implementing 12 living labs in different countries and value chains, we aimed at developing and evaluating locally adapted solutions for the prudent use of antimicrobials. 
In ROADMAP, LLs are used to develop, discuss and test comprehensive approaches at different levels (individual farms, production systems, supply chains, sectors, advisory services) in a participatory way involving different kinds of actors, knowledge, and skills. 
They contribute to conceiving and assessing the proposed product, tool, or indicator in their daily routine.

i2connect coaching activity has been particularly successful in France. It is a complementary activity to the i2connect 3 day innovation support method training, that lasts a period of 6 months after the training, with the aim of offering a target-tailored support to the rural advisors in their individual innovation projects and processes. The i2connect coaching in France involved a group of 9 advisors, previously trained, and it was coordinated and facilitated by Idele, an applied research institute partner of i2connect project. The coaching meetings were helded online, at the beginning due to the pandemic restrinctions.  However, also after that period the participants preferred to have online meetings, that enabled people to attend them easily keeping an high quality of the discussion. After each meeting, the coordinators provided some brief minutes to the group. Participants particularly appreciated the possibility to discuss in a safe environment and to learn from other advisors that faced their same problems and challenges in a peer-to-peer approach. After two years from the first coaching meeting, 5 advisors of the group have been keeping on asking for meetings, even if the coaching period was supposted to last only 6 months. This is a clear sign that the activity was succesfull and that coachs and participants have been able to create a long lasting and strong network.

AgriTech Makeathon is one of the i2connect's supported 13 pilot projects. These are short projects, offering the opportunity to the participants of the i2connect training program to put their training into practice. Particularly, Agritech Makeathon is an workshop which aims to create new, viable, state-of-the-art technology-based, innovation-driven ideas for a topical issue in agriculture, fisheries, forestry or food sector within 48 hours. The event took place in Latvia and was organized by LRATC (Latvian Rural Advisory and Training Centre). The main idea was bringing together different actors where some are creating the environment for others to create and thus helping to address real challenges in agriculture, fishery, forestry, and food sector.  During the event, participants looked for creative solutions to specific issues ending up with projects and products. In order to achieve the desired results, participants were supported by professional mentors and had the opportunity to use Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LULST) technical equipment. Farmers, fishermen, foresters, advisors, scientists, engineers, programmers, entrepreneurs, marketers, designers, students, business and finance professionals, local government representatives participated in the Makeathon. Each Team owned, without limitation, the intellectual property rights of the content of the Product created, invented and/or developed. Participants were facilitated by the coordinators who have participated in i2connect national trainings, that used methods from the i2connect toolbox, such as the Spiral of Initiatives, the Triangle of Co-creation, Network Analysis, Energy Timeline and peer-to-peer consultation. 

Nella regione Campania è stato implementato uno strumento di monitoraggio del sistema di consulenza per verificare la conformità delle attività realizzate. Ai fini dell'attività di monitoraggio, l'organismo di consulenza è tenuto a elaborare e rendere disponibili i dati utili alla valutazione e al controllo del servizio di consulenza erogato: visite aziendali, moduli di consulenza effettivamente erogati, elaborati tecnici e reportistica aggiuntiva. La documentazione tecnica disponibile per i controlli tende a dimostrare l'efficacia delle attività di consulenza svolte e la loro coerenza con le norme specifiche che regolano il territorio in cui vengono svolte. Accedendo al portale della Regione Campania al seguente indirizzo: 
"http://psrgarem2.regione.campania.it/Pages/ElencoOrganismi", l'utente autenticato accede al servizio.Per ogni azienda agricola, i consulenti/organizzazione di consulenti sono tenuti a compilare le date delle visite aziendali e a caricare gli output. Una volta caricati gli output, la piattaforma offre la possibilità di scaricare il modulo di soddisfazione del cliente, che deve essere compilato e firmato dall'azienda agricola consulente e caricato nuovamente nel sistema. Tutti i dati presenti sulla piattaforma possono essere visualizzati e scaricati, in tempo reale, dalla Regione Campania. Questo sistema di monitoraggio della consulenza è stato analizzato durante le attività di i2connect perché offre l'opportunità di valutare la qualità dei servizi di consulenza e delle attività svolte. Inoltre, i dati raccolti sono stati utilizzati per la definizione delle opzioni di costo semplificate per gli interventi del Piano Stragetico della PAC.

L'approccio delle "cartoline parlanti" è stato utilizzato in alcuni Gruppi Operativi della regione Emilia Romagna (Italia). L'idea è quella di creare una cartolina con un QRcode che permetta alle persone di conoscere i principali obiettivi e risultati dei progetti in modo semplice, semplicemente ascoltando un breve audio. Ogni cartolina dura circa un minuto. Questo strumento di comunicazione permette di raggiungere un gran numero di attori e di informare con parole semplici i partner e gli stakeholder del GO. Inoltre, combinando un linguaggio non scientifico con le TIC, può aiutare a coinvolgere gli agricoltori, la società civile e i giovani nei progetti di innovazione.

L'iniziativa "FILÒS IN BUS" è un approccio di comunicazione interattiva realizzata nell'ambito del progetto del Gruppo Operativo (GO) PRATI_CO "Parmigiano Reggiano: L'impronta di carbonio biologica dell'Agrotecnica". Il nome "filòs" evoca momenti di relax trascorsi in conversazione tra vicini, parenti e amici. Il viaggio FILòs IN BUS ha riproposto questo concetto finalizzato a un'esperienza collettiva in cui una trentina di partecipanti, tra cui consulenti, ricercatori, agricoltori e giornalisti, viaggiano insieme in autobus durante una visita di un giorno alle aziende agricole partner del GO. Il viaggio presso le aziende agricole e le visite aziendali rappresentano anche l'occasione per condividere conoscenze sui territori, sui prodotti locali e sugli altri attori locali coinvolti nella filiera del Parmiggiano Reggiano. Durante il viaggio in autobus, i partner del GO hanno modo di discutere le attività e i risultati del progetto, concentrandosi su questioni di interesse comune (fertilità del suolo, impronta di carbonio, sequestro di carbonio, ...) attorno alle quali condividono pratiche e conoscenze scientifiche. Questo processo ha favorito la creazione di un team all'interno del GO, attraverso un maggiore coordinamento e interazione tra i partner, lo sviluppo di conoscenze collettive e la comprensione comune dei risultati in corso del progetto e dei suoi risultati. Inoltre, le visite incrociate nelle aziende agricole hanno sostenuto i processi peer-to-peer tra gli agricoltori. Questo tipo di strumento può aiutare a superare le barriere/esitazioni/ritardi nel dialogo e consente una discussione aperta tra una moltitudine di attori.

Some practical cases that we analysed through the field peer review (Finland Discussion Groups, Dan Tehnike, Hungarian Gray Cattle and SUAS) show that It is important that effort and time is put into building and supporting relationships between advisors and farmers, as this is how trust and mutual respect is earned and maintained. 
Issues may occur in keeping farmers motivated and continue attending meetings, sharing their ideas and to experiment on their farms.
Trust and respect is key to overcoming this for an advisor and to sufficiently support their individual clients and groups.
There needs to be an enhancement of networks between advisors and farmers which enables lead actors for
innovation projects to emerge. The challenge may be that advisors can be “too disconnected” with a target group and find it difficult to identify these relevant actors. Ensuring an active, responsible role for all partners enhances the sense of ownership of the network and boosts the critical thinking of the participants.
For this good practice to be transferable, advisors and their  organisations must engage with a strong network of farmers and listen to their needs. They must have sufficient soft skills such as leadership,
communication, facilitation, and group/network behaviour, to build a trusting relationship with farmers. It is vital that as a facilitator, the advisor understands, empathises with and is motivated by the needs of the group. They should create and environment which develops a level of sharing amongst the participants of minor and major difficulties they may be facing. There must be a sharing of interests between advisor/facilitator and participants, so that an idea may be understood, enhanced and nurtured by all parties.

'In i2connect project partners reviewed 9 practical cases and identified, categorised and described 18 good practices.
This good practice may allow actors to see or hear or read about an innovation in a similar situation and can offer information on feasibility and actual returns of investment. It is similar to benchmarking. This may be done by a desk-based review of written/video cases, or by visiting real life examples. It may show the consequences, both positive and negative, of the innovation for the operations and for the business model.
Advisors and farmers need to take into account that each innovation project is unique with its own set of variables. This requires openness about the pros and cons of the innovation. Also, this practice was seen to be successful when farmers and other entrepreneurs can relate the innovation project to their own situation and draw realistic consequences from that. This good practice may reassure entrepreneurs about the possible consequences of an innovation, reduce their fear of risk and contribute to the decision making process.

'The i2connect project aims at empowering advisors to support interactive innovation, among others by providing them with a range of inspiring “good practices”. So far, partners reviewed 9 practical cases and identified, categorised and described 18 good practices. The active involvement of farmers in research and experimentation is a strong way of giving them ownership of the whole innovation process and increases their likelihood of adopting a solution and influencing other farmers.
This practice puts the farmers in the centre of the innovation project: at initial stage, the advisor establishes a dialogue with farmers to identify their ideas and needs; during implementation phase, farmers are involved in decision-making (research protocols, steering committees…) and eventually in the dissemination of results.
This requires various attitudes and skills from advisors: be open-minded and take into account ideas from farmers; accept to change research protocols according to farmers' needs and constraints; play the role of mediator between farmers and researchers; be highly responsive, as farmers need quick answers to their questions.
Farmers may gain more knowledge by being actively involved in the project, and learn by doing, seeing and advocating for a workable solution. This good practice may increase the farmers’ sense of ownership to the project and the solutions tested.

Cross visits (CVs) are one of the key activities in i2connect project, aiming at bringing together advisors from different parts of Europe to learn about different realities in terms of interactive innovation through studying interesting cases of innovation. This will facilitate sharing of experiences (peer to peer learning) from different contexts between fellow trainees with the main goal to understand the background of the innovation process, role of advisors in it and to transfer this knowledge to their work environment and beyond. After all, CVs are meant to serve as an inspiration that provides insights, tools and “language”, that become valuable when advisors are back on the job and encounter difficulties. During CVs advisors get opportunity to use the knowledge about the tools for network analysis, gathered through previous i2connect training course on interactive innovation, in an ongoing innovation processes in multi-actor groups. Each CV lasts 3 days in which a team of advisors from different parts of Europe and with different backgrounds, preferably gender balanced, visit an interesting interactive innovation case with the aim to learn from it and at the same time to assess each other contexts, practices and motivations. Visiting team consists of advisors, trained by i2connect trainers in the training courses. A total of eight CVs are planned in the period of 2 years (2022 - 2024) with approximately 15-20 participants per CV. Each CV is organized in 8 steps: STEP1: Kick off; STEP 2: Field visit - demonstration of innovation in the field; STEP 3: Workshop - applying tools in practice; STEP 4: Reflection on the case; STEP 5: Social activity; STEP 6: Feedback session; STEP 7: Sharing of experiences between participants; STEP 8: Wrap up.

i2connect coaching is an activity complementary to the i2connect 3day innovation support method training, that lasts a period of 6 months after the training. The goal is to offer a target-tailored support to the rural advisors in their individual innovation projects and processes. The coaching period intents to improve the transfer of the training content into practice. A stand-alone training can give an impulse, offering additional coaching to the participants can increase the chance that new behaviour and problem-solving strategies are adopted.
The i2connect aims at a shifting towards the co-creation mode, offering a space for a common learning and co-creation experience. The focus is on positively strengthening the coachee's autonomy and self-control powers. The goal is making it a habit to reflect on actions for facilitating group processes for innovation. In the i2c context, the coaching topic is usually the participants’ innovation processes where they are involved. 
Partly, in group coaching or collegial coaching sessions, the focus can also be on deepening the training contents (innovation support tools and approaches), mainly by - applying one of the tools from the seminar (like the spiral or story telling),
- introducing a further tool for dealing with difficult situations in innovation processes) or
- story telling (for deeper reflection of an innovation process and for dissemination of best practice of innovation support work). The i2 connect coaching activities has been helding online, in three modes: i) Individual coaching, ii) Peer coaching in small groups; iii) Collegial coaching with the seminar group.

It is common knowledge that awareness of multi actor innovation processes should start in the education of future advisors. In this respect, i2connect summer schools aim at creating facilities to make formal/vocational education profit from what the project  delivers. Moreover, this project activity aspires to create further opportunities for teachers and future advisors to connect with the network of professionals in innovation support, and to stimulate active involvement in multi actor innovation processes. In the framework of the i2connect project, three summer schools will be held, organized by AUA (Greece), UHOH (Germany) and Teagasc (Ireland) in the summertime of 2022, 2023 and 2024, respectively. It is foreseen that each summer school will host 20 participants of a 3-day  duration, plus two online events (introductory and closing). Participants comprise students, coming from all over Europe and being at various levels of their studies, mainly at agronomy and rural development–related Higher Educational Institutes. At the end of the training, the Summer Schools participants will be able to: distinguish between different innovation and advisory approaches; describe their role as advisor, especially in an interactive innovation process; select among communication methods/tools that promote interactive innovation; give examples of the steps of an innovation process; portray the different actors’ roles in an innovation process/network; practice some networking/facilitation skills; and learn how networking can effectively lead to change.

Σύμφωνα με τη συστημική σκέψη η καινοτόμος διαδικασία είναι δύδκολη και πολύπλοκη και η επιτυχής ανάπτυξη και εφαρμογή των καινοτομιών απαιτεί τη συμμετοχή πολλαπλών δρώντων, που σχηματίζουν δίκτυα προκειμένου να επιτύχουν τους σκοπούς τους. Επίσης,  υποστηρίζει ότι σε μια καινοτομίας οι εμπλεκόμενοι φορείς είναι όλοι ιδιοκτήτες της προβληματικής κατάστασης που τους απασχολεί, αν και από διαφορετικές οπτικές γωνίες. Είναι επίσης πηγές συμπληρωματικής γνώσης, διαφορετικών προοπτικών, αξιών, συμφερόντων και πρακτικών που -αν συνδυαστούν- μπορούν να οδηγήσουν σε καινοτόμες λύσεις. Ωστόσο, αυτή η ποικιλομορφία συνεπάγεται την ανάγκη για νέους τρόπους κινητοποίησης και συντονισμού των δρώντων, που διευκολύνουν την κοινωνική μάθηση. Αυτό σημαίνει νέες λειτουργίες για τις υπηρεσίες υποστήριξης της καινοτομίας σε σύγκριση με τις "συμβατικές" συμβουλευτικές υπηρεσίες όπως: την οικοδόμηση οράματος, τη διάγνωση, την πρόβλεψη, το σχηματισμό, τη διευκόλυνση δικτυώσεων, την τεχνική υποστήριξη, τη διαμεσολάβηση σε συγκρούσεις, την ανάπτυξη ικανοτήτων. Συγχρόνως, δημιουργούν νέα καθήκοντα για τους συμβούλους, οι οποίοι χρειάζονται νέες γνώσεις και δεξιότητες για να διευκολύνουν τις διαδραστικές διαδικασίες και νέα μεθοδολογικά εργαλεία για να παρέχουν συμβουλευτικές υπηρεσίες προσαρμοσμένες στις ανάγκες του πελάτη τους.Στο πλαίσιο αυτό, το έργο I2CONNECT δημιούργησε τρία θερινά σχολεία για την περίοδο 2022-2024. Αυτά υιοθετούν μια μη-κατευθυντική, συμμετοχική και προσανατολισμένη στην επίλυση προβλημάτων εκπαιδευτική προσέγγιση, με στόχο την υποστήριξη της μάθησης των εκπαιδευομένων πάνω στις αρχές και τις μεθόδους της διαδραστικής καινοτομίας, αξιοποιώντας  συμμετοχικές μεθόδους.

The complex challenges that agriculture and forestry sector have been facing request new approaches for advisors. Yet, even when an advisor recognizes the importance of interaction innovation and knows how to realise successful interactive innovation projects, it needs an enabling environment, i.e., the backup of his or her organisation. The managers in advisory organisations are important actors in the enabling environment. Therefore, i2connect organized two days Excellence Class meetings for managers with the aim of developing a bottom up process including:
• Human resource aspects, i.e., the skills and competences that their advisors need for interactive innovation;
• Organisational aspects, i.e., the consequences of interactive innovation for the work organization;
• Financial aspects, i.e., the impact that interactive innovation will have on the organisation’s business model and continuity.The Excellence Class meetings contents  have been decided through surveys and interviews to managers of advisory services. In total i2connect project will involve 80 managers from all over Europe.

i2connect strives to empower advisors and organizations in the realm of innovation support services by fostering interactive innovation processes. To achieve this, i2connect utilizes a multi-level networking and peer-to-peer learning approach, incorporating field reviews, training repertoires, and cross visits. These activities provide valuable learning opportunities and the chance to test different approaches.
To ensure that lessons learned are not forgotten and have a greater impact, i2connect has developed an online reflection tool. It guides partners through a structured process, consisting of four key questions:

Il tool dell'AKIS è uno degli strumenti forniti dal progetto i2connect. Si tratta di un triplice strumento dedicato a supportare le autorità di gestione, i valutatori e altri esperti nell'analisi degli AKIS, attraverso la raccolta di dati e informazioni rilevanti sia sulla situazione dell'AKIS nel suo complesso, con particolare riferimento ai servizi di consulenza, sia sulle interazioni tra gli attori. Lo strumento comprende (a) una linea guida per l'analisi dell'AKIS; (b) un questionario, per intervistare gli attori privilegiati dell'AKIS, volto a indagare gli aspetti rilevanti di uno specifico AKIS (strategie politiche, strumenti e organismi, infrastrutture di R&I, servizi di consulenza, ecc) e (c) una matrice relazionale per una rapida valutazione delle interconnessioni all'interno di uno specifico AKIS. Questo strumento risponde alla generale mancanza di strumenti pratici e pronti all'uso per l'analisi degli AKIS e del loro funzionamento, con un livello di dettaglio rilevante per gli utenti finali (nazionale/regionale/sub-regionale), ed è quindi particolarmente prezioso in vista della profilazione degli AKIS per la progettazione di strategie e/o interventi. In particolare, consente di delineare le aree più importanti di indagine e di reporting sullo stato, il funzionamento e le componenti (attori e flussi) degli AKIS e di diagnosticare o valutare lo stato delle interazioni tra i diversi tipi di attori. Le tre componenti di questo strumento possono essere utilizzate, congiuntamente o separatamente, durante le analisi ex-ante, in corso ed ex-post. Il loro uso sistematico consentirebbe di consolidare i dati, di condurre valutazioni comparative tra Paesi e di creare una base di riferimento trasversale per studi futuri. 

A cross-analysis of 29 country reports on Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) in Europe was conducted between 2021 and 2022 in the frame of the i2connect project. The objective of the study was to provide an overview of the AKIS landscape in Europe by examining key elements such as AKIS actors, policy and funding, coordination mechanisms, and linkages between member states. The analysis involved qualitative descriptions and comparisons of these elements.
A quantitative analysis was performed to characterize agricultural and forestry advisory service providers in the countries. Data from 27 member states was collected through the online survey platform "EUSurvey." The survey questions were based on previous work from the PRO AKIS project, covering aspects such as advisory service provider types, main clients, advisory topics and methods, human resources, funding, and linkages with other AKIS actors. The survey targeted two main categories of advisory service providers: independent advisors and advisory organizations dedicated to providing advice, either fully or partially. 
To ensure accessibility, the survey questions were translated into the national languages of European countries using machine translation. National AKIS experts, proofread the translations and distributed the survey based on availability and access to advisory service providers. The use of a common online survey platform offering national language translation facilitated centralized data collection.  Then, the collected quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results were shared with project partners and made publicly available through a report, as well as disseminated through workshops and conferences.

In Hungary, advisory service supported the development of a long lasting and long-distance solution based on IoT technology, in order to monitor the motion, geolocation and other environmental parameters of Hungarian Grey Cattle wandering around large areas of the Hungarian Kiskunság Puszta. The innovation is not only achieved at the technical level, but rather by the mode of delivery, as the solution is offered as part of a farm advisory service package, which includes an online software for real time visualizing several parameters of the tracked animal, integrated with a breeding management information system and a farm logbook platform, connected to the national bovine identification registry.
The project is a classic example of multi-actors cooperation involving a private agricultural advisory services owned by public partner, animal production farm managed by farmer, commercial IT companies involved in development of the monitoring system design and establishment, market actors, administrative bodies.

The advisory service played a major role throughout all the project phases, embedding the farmer, with his own need, in a network of well-established partners aiming at an increase of competitiveness of farms.Two specific aspects are very relevant for a holistic approach to agricultural advisory services provision: a) IT services are a part of commercial advisory package, not separate services requiring some additional payment; b) there is a combination of public policy instruments with provision of high quality agricultural advisory services at an individual farmer/client level: the costs of commercial advisory package are covered in 90% by support for farm advisory provided by RDP 2014-2021

Nell'ambito del progetto Agroinnowacja, la semina di una coltura di cattura per il foraggio ha permesso ai sei agricoltori partner di produrre foraggio di alta qualità e di tenere più bestiame sulla loro terra, migliorando i margini lordi e le prestazioni del bestiame, fornendo al contempo benefici ambientali. Viene utilizzata la tecnologia strip-till per seminare il mais il giorno in cui viene raccolto il raccolto, massimizzando così l'uso della terra. La cooperazione tra diversi attori (consulenti, agricoltori, ricercatori, fornitori di input e un imprenditore) è stata fondamentale per il successo del progetto. L'idea del progetto è venuta dagli agricoltori nei gruppi di produttori ed è stata finalizzata con i consulenti sulla base dell'esperienza degli agricoltori tedeschi. Poiché il consulente era a conoscenza di una miscela per una coltura di cattura da utilizzare come fonte di alimentazione animale sviluppata dall'Università, ha deciso di creare il progetto. Il consulente principale è presidente di una società privata di consulenza agricola che organizza e fornisce servizi ai gruppi di produttori in Polonia. I consulenti di AgroIntegracja lavorano con gli agricoltori dei gruppi di produttori da molti anni e hanno costruito un livello significativo di fiducia, che permette loro di identificare rapidamente le problematiche. Al contempo, la collaborazione con esperti di spicco permette loro di consigliare efficacemente i gruppi di produttori. Il consulente avrebbe voluto coinvolgere l'Università in una fase precedente per essere sicuro di definire la corretta metodologia di lavoro al momento della pianificazione del progetto. Tuttavia, ci sono state difficoltà nel cooperare con l'Università a causa delle procedure formali. 

Having a strong network as an advisor is an important aspect of knowledge transfer and exchange. In fact, networking of advisors is important both for advisors and for farmers. For the former the networking and cooperation in the partnership deliver better results than working on their own and enable opportunities for new ideas/solutions to arise. For the latter (as end-users of advice), it means that the service provided in this way is based on a broader professional and methodological basis and that the advisor can interact with others bringing in new knowledge and experience. It is important to create this environment to enable advisors to 
i)create and build a broad network; ii) use new and better communication channels to expand existing networks; iii) improve advisors' time management (especially advisors' ability to network in addition to their daily work); iv) create opportunities to network outside their own work area, avoiding isolation; v) raising awareness of the importance of networking; vi) provide soft skills training and involve advisors in meetings, webinars, info days, demo events, using social media and group messaging. 
Also advisory organizations can play a crucial role in supporting networking and providing the necessary supportive environment.

Secondo la legislazione italiana, i professionisti che vogliono esercitare la libera professione devono essere iscritti ad un ordine professionale, a condizione che superino un esame nazionale che permetta loro di essere nominati agronomi dei forestali. Di solito queste associazioni sono organizzate a livello regionale o subregionale. Il CONAF le riunisce tutte e, secondo la legislazione nazionale, è il loro organo di autogoverno. Il suo mandato principale è quello di rappresentare gli interessi generali dei suoi associati. In un quadro così ampio porta avanti qualsiasi iniziativa che, coerentemente con i suoi obiettivi statutari, promuova lo sviluppo della professione. Ad esempio promuove la formazione dei propri associati e svolge studi, indagini e ricerche, anche in collaborazione con altre istituzioni pubbliche o private, che possano ulteriormente sostenere lo sviluppo professionale. Può prendere qualsiasi iniziativa, anche giudiziaria, per la tutela del titolo e delle prerogative della professione.
Spetta al Consiglio Nazionale definire le linee guida e i criteri per le attività delle associazioni regionali o subregionali, così come l'obiettivo da perseguire da parte dei dipartimenti che costituiscono la sua struttura organizzativa. Questi dipartimenti sono le unità organizzative del Consiglio Nazionale, sono coordinati da un Consigliere Nazionale ed elaborano la proposta di qualsiasi documento che riguarda l'attività del Consiglio. Ci sono 12 dipartimenti, ognuno dedicato ad un settore professionale. Il Consiglio Nazionale promuove, realizza e gestisce, direttamente o attraverso la collaborazione con altri soggetti pubblici o privati, servizi e attività di interesse proprio o di altri ordini professionali.

Il progetto For.Italy, sviluppato come azione del Programma Rete Rurale Nazionale, si basa sulla collaborazione tra le diverse Regioni italiane e rappresenta il primo e importante risultato della cooperazione interistituzionale attivata grazie al "Testo Unico sulle foreste e sulle filiere forestali" (D.Lgs. 34/2018).
Il progetto, che coinvolge 9 Regioni con capofila il Piemonte (Piemonte, Basilicata, Calabria, Liguria, Lombardia, Sardegna, Sicilia, Toscana e Veneto), ma è stato sviluppato con il contributo attivo di tutte le altre amministrazioni regionali che ne hanno condiviso le finalità, beneficeranno comunque dei suoi risultati, vuole proporre a livello nazionale i migliori e più efficaci strumenti e le migliori pratiche che hanno contribuito localmente alla definizione di una più efficiente e sostenibile organizzazione dei lavori forestali, con l'obiettivo di sostenere l'attuazione su tutto il territorio nazionale del Decreto Ministeriale sulla Formazione Forestale (D. D. 4472 del 29.04.2020) e promuovere la diffusa ed efficace attuazione delle misure cofinanziate con il fondo FEASR per il prossimo periodo di programmazione.
Nell'ambito del progetto, a partire dal 2021, saranno realizzati 6 cantieri dimostrativi e informativi sulla formazione forestale e 7 corsi di formazione per Istruttori forestali in abbattimento e preparazione (distribuiti uniformemente nel Nord, Centro, Sud Italia e Isole principali) con l'obiettivo di formare 90 nuovi istruttori forestali che potranno essere impiegati su tutto il territorio nazionale nella realizzazione di corsi di formazione in ambito forestale promossi a livello regionale.

Considering the different types of farming systems and farmers, proposals should examine how farmers make their decisions and who influences them most. The aim of the activities is to analyze the role of advisor in the AKISs. Considering the impact of face-to- face interaction, projects should identify the key factors in the creation of trust between farmer and advisor to enable effective knowledge transfer and exchange. Explore the relationship between advisors and researchers and between advisors and farmers, identifying the main elements facilitating the flow of information in both directions. Particular attention is related to advisors' potential to boost innovation, focusing on practice needs into research activities, participating and intermediating in farmer- to-farmer learning processes and interactive innovation projects. A network within AKIS may permit increase knowledge, development of relationships amongst the people sharing professional interests. A strong relationship within a network can be challenging for advisors, through a constant availability to other actors, and consequently the need to continuously update skills and knowledge to satisfy clients by anticipating their needs and demands, thus gaining respect and trust. Challenges may occur in the ability to anticipate the needs of other people, especially farmers who may have a lack of time in keeping up to date. This good practice has been shown to enhance the processes of inspiration, idea generation, and motivation of the actors within an innovation project. With the use of this good practice, farmers argue that there are different levels of learning from the enhancement of knowledge, which makes farmers think differently about the future of farming.

ProAgria ha creato una rete di facilitatori, per condividere le esperienze di conduzione, gestione e facilitazione dei gruppi di discussione e apprendere gli uni dagli altri. Il gruppo è guidato da Anu Ella, una consulente/facilitatrice che provvede anche alla formazione dei facilitatori. Anu ha capito subito che i facilitatori dei gruppi di discussione avevano bisogno di formazione. Anche se il suo background è nell'agricoltura e nell'insegnamento, ha riconosciuto la necessità di intraprendere formazione in psicologia per ampliare le sue competenze. 

In ProAgria in Finlandia viene usato un approccio di mentoring per formare e sviluppare nuovi facilitatori di gruppi di discussione. I nuovi facilitatori assumono il ruolo di assistenti alle riunioni dei gruppi di discussione come parte della loro formazione. Un nuovo facilitatore può essere un facilitatore assistente per un massimo di due anni dove agisce come apprendista e il facilitatore esperto agisce come mentore. Assumendo il ruolo di assistenti alle riunioni dei gruppi di discussione essi acquisiscono familiarità con il processo. 

La rete dei facilitatori rappresenta uno spazio sicuro per praticare le loro tecniche di facilitazione e per riflettere e condividere le loro esperienze. Il gruppo si incontra due o tre volte all'anno e gli incontri sono molto motivanti per i nuovi facilitatori. Usano WhatsApp e MS Teams per condividere informazioni o fare domande. Hanno anche un libro sulle abilità di facilitazione che viene condiviso con i nuovi facilitatori. Una parte fondamentale della formazione dei facilitatori è la partecipazione ai viaggi di studio e l'osservazione dei gruppi di discussione all'estero. 

In Finlandia, gli agricoltori partecipano a "gruppi base" di discussione in cui condividono conoscenze e pratiche, concentrandosi su uno specifico argomento. I membri dei gruppi  possono anche partecipare ad altri gruppi di discussione a breve termine incentrati su altri argomenti di interesse come le risorse umane o la gestione finanziaria, in cui vengono confrontati e analizzati i risultati e i dati dell'azienda. Possono anche partecipare a viaggi di studio all'estero ed essere membri di un gruppo internazionale. Il numero medio di agricoltori in un gruppo è di 8-10. Un membro del gruppo viene scelto come "agricoltore monitor" per l'anno per aiutare a mantenere la coesione tra i membri del gruppo. La maggior parte delle riunioni del gruppo si tengono nell'azienda agricola dell'agricoltore monitor. Ogni anno il gruppo stabilisce degli obiettivi e decide su quali questioni osservare e concentrarsi per l'anno successivo. Una caratteristica chiave del modello di gruppo di discussione in Finlandia è che utilizza due facilitatori o un facilitatore e una coppia di lavoro (consulente). Il vantaggio di avere due facilitatori è che imparano l'uno dall'altro e ognuno porta una prospettiva diversa al gruppo, oltre ad avere diversi stili di facilitazione. Un facilitatore assume il ruolo di organizzare la riunione e di impostare il gruppo WhatsApp, mentre l'altro conduce la discussione. Un aspetto critico della metodologia è la riflessione e dopo ogni incontro del gruppo i facilitatori riflettono sull'incontro per identificare cosa ha funzionato e cosa potrebbe essere migliorato. I costi di pianificazione dei gruppi, lo sviluppo del loro modello, i costi dei consulenti e 2/3 dei costi di partecipazione degli agricoltori sono coperti con fondi UE.

Visite di studio, programmi di scambio internazionali e incontri digitali possono essere buone opportunità per permettere a consulenti e agricoltori di imparare dall'esperienza di altri colleghi di altri paesi ed approcciarsi a nuove idee e nuovi modi di fare le cose che possono essere rilevanti per loro.
In Finlandia, sono stati istituiti gruppi di discussione internazionale. Nello stabilire questa buona pratica, la sfida principale che i consulenti/facilitatori hanno dovuto superare è stata quella di identificare i contatti e costruire una rete di consulenti e facilitatori di gruppi di discussione in altri paesi. I facilitatori di ProAgria hanno cercato i contatti rilevanti attraverso internet e attraverso un'agenzia di viaggi agricoli. Durante la fase iniziale, i facilitatori di ProAgria hanno trascorso molto tempo viaggiando in altri paesi per incontrare i consulenti e i gruppi di discussione e disegnare un modello di gruppi di discussione internazionali.
I facilitatori preparano un piano dettagliato e un obiettivo per il viaggio di studio, oltre a fornire agli agricoltori informazioni sull'azienda prima del viaggio di studio. Ogni membro del gruppo ha un ‘agricoltore amico’ nel paese ospitante. Gli ‘agricoltori amici’ visitano le fattorie degli altri per condividere conoscenze ed esperienze e passare un po' di tempo a lavorare nelle loro fattorie. Le visite avvengono in più volte, in modo da facilitare la costruzione di un rapporto di mentoring reciproco duraturo, lo scambio in profondità e l’apprendimento reciproco. Gli ‘agricoltori amici’ sono abbinati in base alle somiglianze delle loro aziende. Al termine della visita il consulente facilita una discussione collaborativa con gli agricoltori in visita e in patria, per condividere la loro esperienza, le nuove conoscenze e il sapere con il gruppo.

Providing opportunities for social and informal interaction among partners is a good way to improve the performance of both advisors and farmers, reducing anxiety and fuelling the search for new and better idea. To reach this goal, advisors should create a safe, trustworthy environment to share in depth information and experiences (both successes and failures) and on farm practices. Key factors for a successful social interaction are i) the advisor’s sensitivity for group processes combined with general knowledge of the topic at hand, ii) knowing which people to invite and how they match within a group; iii) keeping the balance between the responsibility of the group members and the intervening as the advisor. There are challenges in making sure the information is relevant for every partner, and the timing of this information being shared. The correct time in which ‘new information’ is encountered, there is a certain level of symmetric information exchange between partners, creating an atmosphere of mutual respect. Farmers may also encounter challenges in discussing one's own experiences in a group scenario which can be helped where there is social dimension.

Functional communication channels between research and advise are crucial in ensuring that the required knowledge will reach the farmers in the right way. In this sense, a close collaboration between research and advice is the key to provide farmers with up-to-date knowledge. Both of them are necessary to transfer knowledge to farmers. On one hand, researchers create innovative solutions, on the other hand, advisors can transfer them and interpret the farmers response, as they understand best the "language of farmers". 
Considering that, some good elements to have an efficient flow of information between researchers and advisors are: i) feeding a constant and continuous flow of knowledge; ii) building long-term relationships, outside of funded projects and fully integrated advisory and research projects; iii) using support mechanisms/actions (e.g. enabling continuous exchange between research and advisory, internal newsletters, podcasts, videos, workshops and team meetings, vouchers, etc.); iv) having clear visions and clear divisions of tasks between advisors and researchers and v) trusting in each other's work.

Ce projet vise à mettre en place un dispositif innovant de concertation entre partenaires qui contribuent à développer les pratiques innovantes et agro écologiques mises en œuvre par des agriculteurs du Sud Aveyron. Il vise à favoriser l'émergence, la conception et le développement d'Innovations agro écologiques locales en s'appuyant sur une première thématique : "l'autonomie alimentaire".
Le projet réunit plusieurs acteurs agricoles et régionaux. Le défi consiste à développer des techniques innovantes et agro écologiques en coopération avec plusieurs acteurs, à les évaluer,  discuter, optimiser et diffuser à l'aide de méthodes appropriées.
L'objectif est de mettre en œuvre conjointement des solutions innovantes et agro-écologiques. L'approche consiste à aborder et à mettre en œuvre les problèmes dans le cadre d'un projet équilibré, en particulier avec la participation des agriculteurs. Les résultats sont le partage des connaissances et les activités techniques :
- Un partage régulier des productions et observations de chaque partenaire (Résultats des essais, observations des systèmes agricoles, apprentissages des formations).
- L'organisation d'événements communs
- Plusieurs essais sur le terrain, démonstrations et séminaires techniques 

Le rôle de la vulgarisation : Le chef de projet/conseiller a eu un rôle important en tant que personne de contact, communicateur, réseauteur, organisateur, facilitateur, médiateur d'idées; Le conseiller et le chercheur principal ont été des coachs de l'ensemble du projet ; La facilitation des échanges entre agriculteurs, conseillers et chercheurs a permis à la communauté du projet d'avancer et d'atteindre un niveau supérieur de compréhension et d'action communes.

The “AKIS Meeting Place”, organised by the Swedish Rural Network, is the large meeting of the year for actors and organizations being part of the entire agricultural knowledge and innovation system (AKIS) and members of the AKIS-network. The last edition provided the participants with deliberations concerning definitions of AKIS, presentations of various knowledge hubs within the innovation system, tools for improving communication and marketing, and young farmers presented their thoughts on the AKIS systems and their future needs. The meeting ended with the arrangement of an interactive workshop and smaller participants working groups. The workshop's mission was to encourage the members to develop an action plan about: How actors and organizations working within the entire knowledge and innovation system should go from words to actions. The participants identified and prioritized the three most necessary actions and needs, which will guide the work in the coming year. The Innovation Coach kept track of and facilitated the work within the network, and together with the members, they designed activities for fulfilling the needs, organize workshops, follow-up events, and create interactive activities enabling various members of the network to initiate multi-actor collaborations. The advantages for the members and participants in the annual meeting are the receival of external monitoring, description of the current situation, and the opportunity to express their needs. The network is members-driven creating participation and ownership. According to the actions and needs defined at the annual meeting, 4-5 physical activities will be organized around Sweden. Each activity has a specific theme based on the actions and needs listed.

Since the 1st of December 2021, the Rural Network provides an Innovation Coach (IC) service. This new position has never previously been used as a method of boosting interactive innovation. The fundamental idea of using an IC is to encourage and support the AKIS. Role definition and responsibilities were broad and freely designed, leaving the IC the opportunity to act. 

The IC attends the Innovation Support Team’s meetings, as well as meetings between this Team and the External Advisory Selection Committee, to understand the assessments and reasons for rejections. The innovative ideas not fitting EIP-Agri support are the target group: the IC assists and supports them in finding other types of funding or collaborative partners for their innovative idea. 

The research struggles to liaise with practitioners, because of the different ways of communicating and their inability relating and understanding each other. The same applies to the research and advisory sectors since they lack close ties. The IC is a neutral party between the various actors, able to bring them together in interactive activities, initiate collaborations, and communicate their knowledge and needs. To play this role effectively, the IC should possess knowledge of the sectors, have a practical background in the different parts of the innovation system, and know how to communicate with the various actors. The key to the success of the IC in Sweden is due to her complementary and multi-sectoral background in Innovation Science research, the 10 years of experience in advisory, and her practical experience running agriculture enterprises. The result is a good understanding how the various sectors are organised, why the actors act the way they do, and how they think and communicate.

The Innovation Support Team consists of four experts with complementary knowledge in Green Industries. Expertise in horticulture, plant cultivation, animal production, technology, and energy. When the EIP-Agri support was new, the Team played a more active role by meeting potential innovators and providing information about the support and the application process. This included marketing, particularly the support at various events, agricultural meetings, and fairs.

The current priority is to provide skills and knowledge to support actors in their application process and the development of their idea from the ground. The Innovation Team assists applicants in finding available research results, knowledge, and experiences concerning the innovative idea. The Team promotes knowledge exchange, creates synergies, and facilitates collaboration by suggesting potential partners and innovators. Among other things, connecting actors by supporting the universities in getting in touch with practitioners, and practitioners finding economic and technical collaborators for executing their innovative idea. The Team handles all received material and information about innovative ideas with confidentiality.

The Team supports applicants by answering incoming questions, providing information about the selection criteria, and what application requirements to meet. Finally, it assists applicants in formulating the application, but not in writing it (as a matter of fairness). The Team guides the application process, thus ensuring the project plan's credibility, and guaranteeing a competent group qualified to administrate, execute, and finance the project plan.

In Sweden, applications for Project Support by operational groups are evaluated approximately 4-6 times per year by an External Advisory Committee (RÅK). The Committee consists of 7 external reviewers with different skills and complementary knowledge within Green Industries and the Innovation System. Under the leadership of the Swedish Board of Agriculture, RÅK reviews applications for Project Support and provides the Swedish Board of Agriculture with its recommendation for decision. RÅK does not have a decision-making mandate but gives advice. Experts can be member of the Committee as long as they want to, and their skills and knowledge are of use in the assessment process. Over the years, experts can leave, and new experts come for various reasons. The Swedish Board of Agriculture is also looking into the possibilities of procuring companies or organizations (which send a suitable person for the assessment).

Each member of RÅK performs an individual assessment of all the applications, without being in contact with other experts. Then, RÅK and the Swedish Board of Agriculture meet and discuss the individual assessments, and each member of RÅK explain and justify the assessments. Dialogues and discussions result in a joint assessment of each application.

The Committee rejects applications that lack of information about entering the market, that is a clear marketing plan, business plan, and potential customers description. If the Innovation Group does not have a marketing plan, the Committee assesses the project as an idea, not as an innovation. RÅK members examine the criteria concretely based on their expertise in the field and the submitted material and provide their perspectives on the application and innovation.

In Sweden, the EIP-Agri support is divided into Group Support and Project Support and characterized by frequent decision-making rounds and the absence of targeted application periods. Meaning innovative ideas can be submitted for assessment at any time of the year. The separation of support creates flexibility for applicants, as they can apply for one or both supports. The division facilitate the entry into the EIP-Agri support system, because less documentation is required. The whole application processes can become an administrative burden for a small farm seeking support for an innovative idea, because the application for Project Support is high demanding for the applicant. The Swedish Board of Agriculture assesses the applications for Group Support approximately once a month. The Operational Group must consist of at least two of the following actors: researchers, advisers, or entrepreneurs within the industry, to be funded. Project support is intended to assist in the implementation of an innovative idea and the management of an innovation project. Assessment rounds occur approximately 4-6 times per year by an External Advisory Committee (RÅK). The Committee does not have a decision-making mandate but an advisory mission. The recognized strengths of the division are the facilitation of the formation of OGs with complementary knowledge and expertise and encouraging the Operational Groups to start working on a common purpose and developing a joint plan for reaching the goal. The Group Support application makes the Operational Group more prepared and experienced in writing applications and facilitates the production of the more complex application for the Project Support and the realization and execution of the innovative idea.

The "Project Manager Meeting" is an annual event run by the Swedish Rural Network and at the beginning of the year. The meeting is organized to bring together experienced managers of previously EIP-Agri-supported projects and managers of newly approved projects. Researchers, innovation financiers, and other actors involved in the innovation system in Sweden attend the meeting to network and initiate collaborations. 
Information is provided about the general purpose of EIP-Agri, the funding opportunities, and the various supporting channels for applicants throughout the application process. Previously funded innovation project managers are invited to inspire and motivate managers of recently accepted project. They present their innovation project, the journey from an idea to a product or service in the market, raise the advantages and disadvantages within the process, the challenges and difficulties, explain how certain things were managed and implemented, and answer questions and concerns. Every year around 80-90 participants attend the Project Manager Meeting.
The Annual Project Manager meeting serves as an effective dissemination activity, and it is a good practice for enabling an environment for interactive innovation. Furthermore, the annual meeting is a mean to support managers of recently accepted projects in their expectations about the EIP-Agri and functions as a preparation for the application process. It is an opportunity for sharing knowledge and experiences, and a possibility for networking. It strengthens the self-confidence of managers of recently accepted project managers and supports them in not falling into typical pitfalls during the application process.

Dan Technikes è un evento annuale, interamente gestito da consulenti, che nasce dall'idea di due persone, un consulente e un agricoltore legati da una lunga amicizia. Viaggiando nei paesi vicini per conoscere le nuove tecnologie e mantenere aggiornate le loro conoscenze, hanno avuto l'idea di organizzare un evento in Slovenia che permettesse agli agricoltori di socializzare, assistere a dimostrazioni e ricevere una consulenza indipendente per sapere come (e quali) tecnologie possono migliorare le prestazioni e la sostenibilità della propria azienda, prima di acquistarle. L'idea è stata subito sostenuta, anche finanziariamente, dal responsabile del servizio pubblico di consulenza e dall'autorità comunale locale, in quanto incontra l'opinione pubblica sul tema della sostenibilità ambientale.
Per raggiungere gli obiettivi definiti, è stata coinvolta una varietà di attori con diverse conoscenze e competenze pratiche (agricoltori, ricercatori/accademici e fornitori/produttori di attrezzature), che consente di far fronte a molteplici esigenze degli agricoltori. La novità sta nel fatto che questi soggetti sono indipendenti, il che significa che nessuno è legato alle aziende che producono le attrezzature che sono oggetto di dimostrazione, e che l'evento è principalmente incentrato sullo scambio tra pari. Questo consente di sviluppare relazioni di fiducia che vanno oltre l'evento dimostrativo e permette agli agricoltori di contribuire attivamente all'organizzazione dell'evento, esprimendo esigenze e idee, direttamente o attraverso i consulenti, e mettendo a disposizione la propria esperienza e le proprie attrezzature.

Given the pluralistic situation of advisory services in the EU, which is reflected in the heterogeneous interests and needs of individual advisors, and a particular trend towards small-scale entrepreneurial units driven by privatization, the challenge of designing an attractive, user-friendly and professional database that meets all needs is quite significant. The i2connect AS database is an EU-wide directory of professional advisory organisations and individual actors that provide knowledge services to actors in agriculture, forestry, horticulture and related fields along the agro-food value chain, as well as to other related actors in rural areas. It aims to (a) provide information on existing practical cases and training opportunities across Europe, (b) identify advisory service providers in agriculture and forestry, and (c) exchange and networking among advisors engaged in interactive innovation. Moreover, it is a good opportunity for advisors or organizations to make themselves visible within an EU-wide network of innovation advisors, to be connected and develop synergies with other advisors and organizations, develop their professional capacity being updated about opportunities taking place across Europe.

O Grupo Operacional Oleocolza nasceu de uma necessidade detetada pelos advisors junto dos agricultores. A indústria Portuguesa do biodiesel, estava interessada em obter sementes de colza para a sua fábrica, e estava a comprar sementes de toda a Europa. No entanto, sabiam que esta cultura teria grande potencial em Portugal, nomeadamente nos vastos campos do Alentejo. Verificou-se que os agricultores portugueses desconheciam esta cultura e as suas especificidades. Assim, foi criado um grupo multiactor, composto pela indústria, que partilhava as suas necessidades, especificações necessárias e know-how, um grupo de advisors, agricultores do Alentejo e investigadores.
E este é um dos pontos-chave deste projeto: envolver todos os atores da cadeia de valor na Inovação interativa. A transparência, partilha e empenho de todos os atores da cadeia, desde a produção, consultores, investigadores e a indústria, para um bem comum: avaliar o impacto das diferentes variedades na capacidade de produção da COLZA no Alentejo e testá-la como cultura de rotação.
Quanto à inovação interativa, o papel dos advisors foi determinante, promovendo fóruns de discussão, com troca de conhecimentos, que teve um impacto muito maior do que a transferência de conhecimentos, ou seja, a partilha de experiências e métodos culturais foi mais valorizada do que os conhecimentos provenientes da academia. Por outro lado o papel dos advisors foi fundamental como facilitadores e impulsionadores de inovação. 

L'AKIS italiano è caratterizzato da una governance multilivello e necessita di organismi di coordinamento, a livello interregionale e transregionale, finalizzati a definire una visione comune e a sostenere l'attuazione delle politiche, mediando le diverse posizioni e articolando la domanda sulle politiche e sui programmi di R&I. La Rete Interregionale per la Ricerca Agraria, Forestale, Acquacoltura e Pesca è stata istituita spontaneamente dagli organismi regionali nel 1998 e da allora ha svolto un ruolo sempre più cruciale nel coordinare la progettazione e l'attuazione della legislazione, delle politiche e dei programmi europei, nazionali e regionali in materia di R&I agricola e di servizi di consulenza in Italia. È composta dai rappresentanti delle amministrazioni responsabili della progettazione e dell'attuazione delle politiche di R&I e consulenza agricola a livello regionale/P.A. (Trento e Bolzano). È organizzato per gruppi tematici (temi/settori) e la sua segreteria è tenuta dalla Regione Toscana. Le attività sono garantite da incontri periodici, dall'organizzazione di eventi di discussione, spesso con il coinvolgimento di altri esperti e rappresentanti del MIPAAF e dalla redazione di note e pareri. La Rete ha svolto efficacemente un significativo lavoro di coordinamento, promozione e indirizzo della ricerca pubblica, attraverso l'articolazione della domanda, per meglio indirizzare i bisogni dei diversi territori, la definizione degli obiettivi e delle azioni prioritarie di ricerca e sperimentazione.

Nell'ambito del progetto Agroinnowacja, la semina di una coltura di recupero per il foraggio ha permesso ai sei agricoltori partner di migliorare i margini lordi e le prestazioni del bestiame. Ognuno dei sei agricoltori che hanno partecipato al progetto agisce come ambasciatore per diffondere i risultati. Condividono le loro esperienze, i cambiamenti apportati alla loro azienda e i risultati ottenuti, con altri agricoltori nei gruppi di produttori a cui partecipano. Ogni gruppo di produttori ha circa 20 agricoltori, che sono influenzati dall'agricoltore ambasciatore. Alle riunioni del gruppo di produttori il consulente presenta l'idea al gruppo e l'agricoltore ambasciatore condivide le sue intuizioni e la sua esperienza nell'attuazione di quell'idea e nell'ottenimento dei risultati. La diffusione del successo e dei risultati ottenuti in questo progetto sta avendo un impatto reale sugli altri membri dei gruppi di produttori. Gli agricoltori ora si avvicinano ai consulenti per chiedere se possono far parte di un progetto e sono disposti a cooperare e lavorare con gli altri per sviluppare e implementare nuove soluzioni. Un canale interessante che è diventato molto efficace per commercializzare e promuovere i risultati dei progetti innovativi di ricerca e sviluppo è You Tube. Video di alta qualità e ben prodotti sono creati per mostrare il progetto e i risultati e poi messi su YouTube. Questi video sono poi condivisi da influencer agricoli che stanno usando con successo le soluzioni proposte, traducendosi in migliaia di visualizzazioni da parte delle persone target. Il successo di questo approccio di marketing ha dimostrato al consulente che non è necessario avere più di sei agricoltori coinvolti in un progetto per avere un impatto.

La Rete Rurale Nazionale (RRN) italiana è ben inserita all'interno degli AKIS in quanto svolge un ruolo chiave nei servizi di supporto all'innovazione dalla programmazione 2007-2013. Un gruppo di circa 30 esperti è organizzato per settori di competenza e base territoriale. Ciò consente di abbracciare diversi tipi di azioni per sostenere la progettazione e l'attuazione delle politiche, oltre a promuovere l'effettiva partecipazione della pluralità di attori degli AKIS a diversi livelli (nazionale, regionale e sub-regionale). La promozione dell'innovazione nell'agricoltura, nell'alimentazione, nella silvicoltura e nelle aree rurali è una delle quattro priorità della RRN ed è fortemente correlata all'attuazione del PEI-Agri, in particolare attraverso:
- la creazione di reti, l'articolazione della domanda e la facilitazione dei flussi di conoscenza e dello scambio tra i diversi AKIS nelle aree rurali e nei settori correlati.
- supporto metodologico e operativo e intermediazione istituzionale per la progettazione e l'attuazione delle politiche AKIS: formazione e informazione; cooperazione per l'innovazione e servizi di consulenza.
- informazione, comunicazione e divulgazione sulla ricerca e l'innovazione in agricoltura, compresi i GO.
- Fornitura di strumenti e materiali di consulenza e formazione.
- Ricerca, monitoraggio, statistiche e valutazione dell'attuazione delle politiche, degli approcci e dei casi di innovazione.
Per la PAC 2023-27, la RRN ha svolto un ruolo cruciale nel sostenere i decisori politici attraverso la promozione di una riflessione comune, mediando il dialogo, a livello nazionale e regionale, al fine di raggiungere una visione condivisa della strategia AKIS e delle logiche di intervento.

The proper writing of a proposal and identification of the best fitting funding schemes is an enabling condition for a sound project implementation and effectiveness. This implies the need of mediating the possible different views of the partners on the project and translating them into the proposal, as well as maintaining a dialogue between the writer and the farmers/other. Besides, crossing across different sources of funding, application arrangements and deadlines requires certain skills and ability. The advisors must be familiar with "several languages'': farmers, academic and project writers. Often it is difficult to transfer the knowledge/information between partners with different educational levels and experience for this reason a skilled person should be involved for the definition of the full proposal. By involving a writer to prepare the project proposal, the partnership could rely on the professional knowledge of the substantial, administrative and procedural requirements to apply the specific scheme. This could help them to navigate across the different opportunities for funding and properly complete the application in a timely manner. The writer should have the ability to listen to the emerging needs and expectations of farmers, advisors, and other partners, and to build- up a strong case around their ideas but also providing their own ideas, to design the sounding intervention logic of the project. Writing project proposals and access to funding is profession that requires special qualified and methodological knowledge, and having good proposal writing skills contributing to a well-designed and documented intervention logic of the project helps the implementation of the innovation process and expected results.

Field peer reviews carried out within the i2connect project show how important the involvement of farmers and foresters in all project decisions and activities is, as they can make a difference and enable agricultural innovation to go further. When partners listen to each other, without imposing their own vision/solution, sharing their views on the problem to be addressed and the goals to be achieved, the ideas of individuals are reformulated, resulting in a new shared understanding and framework for action, which leads to a common sense of ownership of the problem, and it contributes to strengthening the commitment of actors and increasing the possibility of producing positive action and results. In some reviewed cases, farmers took risks on a personal and economic level since the proposed solution from research was not reasonable form them and they tried to find a different solution. As an example, in Agrosyl operational group, researchers wanted to impose their solution, but the farmer was not equipped to apply it. There were misunderstanding among farmers and researchers and communication difficulties. Researcher did not understand the farmer's need to make the innovative solution more feasible in the field. The Chamber of Agriculture play the role of mediator inviting partners to interact and become aware of other's ideas. In Futter Nova 11 case, the farmers were steering the project, looking for an appropriate solution and were willing to try new ideas. Where advisors encourage farmers to take lead roles in the project, this has a huge knock-on effect for the group and other farmers.

RAMONES-PL (Rural Advisory Monitoring and Evaluation System linked to Precision Learning) is an ERASMUS+ project that aims to strengthen rural advisory services based on management, monitoring and evaluation methods and tool designed to support performance assessment and precision learning until the definition of total quality certification scheme. The project is characterized by an overall end-user driven and transdisciplinary approach reflected by a partnership mostly composed by advisory organizations and using cross-fertilization of tacit and codified knowledge to design robust and evidence-based assessment methodologies on advisors’ performances and competences. 
The project is on-going and it already delivered some useful and ready-to-be-put-in-use tools for advisors: 
•    a Rural Advisory Services dictionary of competences: a tool that covers competences needed to perform specific tasks and CAP topics, based on capacities that are common to an organization and the related indicators to monitor such competences;
•    an e-Learning Platform containing a series of e-learning packages tailored to the need of field advisors, according to the preliminary data collection steps of the project, such as the identification of the most frequent activities, the dictionary of competence, and the questionnaire to access importance and proficiency level of advisors regarding certain service areas;
•    a tracking and monitoring platform of advisory activities, a tool to timely keep log, monitor and assess performances of advisors based on robust scientific quality standards. It enables clients feedback, work-based learning and knowledge-based development of precision e-learning programmes.

Il monitoraggio tempestivo e la tenuta di un registro della fornitura di servizi di consulenza a livello di azienda è estremamente importante per la gestione, il controllo e il monitoraggio dell'attuazione della misura 2 del PSR 2014-2020.
Inoltre, la raccolta di dati rilevanti e di informazioni qualitative permette di valutare il funzionamento, gli effetti e la soddisfazione dei servizi di consulenza a livello aziendale e di sistema. Tutto questo, in una prospettiva di sistema è cruciale, perché significa fornire prove sullo stato dell'arte e sulle prestazioni dei consulenti all'interno degli AKIS. Il "Management and Monitoring Tool for Advisory Services" è stato sviluppato sotto la responsabilità della Regione Campania per tutti questi scopi. 
Le funzionalità sono impostate per consentire all'AdG di tenere un registro di tutte le attività amministrative e di consulenza ed essere costantemente in contatto con loro, dalla selezione dell'organizzazione di consulenza fino al pagamento finale. L'applicazione web permette di condividere i piani di consulenza e le relazioni sui servizi forniti per ogni azienda agricola beneficiaria; i dettagli e i tempi delle attività e dei metodi di consulenza; i questionari di soddisfazione degli agricoltori; le procedure di controllo; le richieste di pagamento.  I consulenti agricoli riportano benefici in termini di semplificazione delle procedure amministrative. Lo strumento sta dimostrando la sua utilità anche per la  pianificazione degli interventi sull'uso e potenziamento dei servizi di consulenza per la PAC 2023-27, fornendo informazioni di base rilevanti per definire, ad es. costi semplificati, tempi e modalità da prevedere per i diversi servizi di consulenza in relazione ai temi della PAC. 

The vast quantity of information which is embedded in diverse actors in a Multi-actor (MA) project provide a basis for continuous flow of relevant information to inform decision making, improve relevance and motivation of actors and participants in their numerous activities and tasks. The i2connect project supports advisors to help farmers and rural enterprises through interactive innovation or a more effective bottom-up approach. Over the five years of the project a lot of activities are planned and implemented through the various Work Package Tasks. As the i2connect project is participatory and its actors and participants are people with diverse backgrounds and experiences.
These experiences which are relevant to interactive innovation support by farm advisors provide many topical insights and are recorded every 4 months on the i2connect share drive are documented in an annual report as a project deliverable.
These topical insights may come from other projects, activities, experiences or events and reflect the huge knowledge reservoir and flow of information that exists with the project partners. Over 100 topical insights were collected in the first 2 years and 40 have been published.

La Field Peer Review consiste nella revisione di un processo di innovazione di un caso pratico, con particolare attenzione alle funzioni di supporto all'innovazione, da parte di colleghi (pari: agricoltori, consulenti, ricercatori, ecc.) di un altro caso di innovazione, con lo scopo di riflettere su approcci, metodi e strumenti, nonché norme, regole e pratiche abilitanti che facilitano la partecipazione attiva, l'interazione e l'apprendimento cooperativo tra diversi attori, stimolando così l'innovazione e il cambiamento. Nell'ambito del progetto i2connect è stata istituita e testata una metodologia di Field Peer Review.
La Field Peer Review viene effettuata attraverso la visita sul campo, l'osservazione e le interviste effettuate dai pari con diversi gruppi di attori di un caso di innovazione interattiva. Una procedura chiara e un quadro analitico sono stati sviluppati per permettere ai revisori di concentrarsi su aspetti ben definiti (servizi di supporto, efficacia del supporto all'innovazione, condizioni interne ed esterne che permettono a specifici attori di svolgere funzioni di supporto) che sono difficilmente considerati, andando oltre quello che può essere un semplice scambio di pratiche. La Field Peer Review potrebbe essere implementata da AdG,organismi di consulenza, reti (ad es. le reti della PAC) per: i) analizzare il ruolo dei diversi attori nei processi di innovazione, in particolare i fornitori di servizi di supporto all'innovazione, ii) implementare un efficace sistema di M&E (peer-to-peer) per processi di innovazione interattivi, iii) implementare un sistema di apprendimento continuo tra pari che permetta agli attori rilevanti di scoprire idee innovative e consentirne l'adozione in modo co-creativo.

La collaborazione tra il CREA (Consiglio per la Ricerca e l'Economia Agraria) e il CONAF (Consiglio dell'Ordine Nazionale degli Agronomi e Forestali) è pluriennale e stabilita da protocolli d'intesa all'interno dei quali il CONAF e i Centri di Ricerca del CREA (12) intraprendono attività specifiche di scambio di competenze e conoscenze e di collaborazione. Nel quadro della RRN 2014-2020 e di alcuni progetti europei H2020 (i2connect) ed Erasmus+ (RAMONES-PL), di cui il CREA è partner, questa collaborazione implica: la raccolta di informazioni per la valutazione di AKIS e servizi di consulenza; eventi informativi e formativi congiunti relativi ad aspetti specifici tecnico-scientifici ed economici delle pratiche agricole e sulla PAC; webinar che permettono ai partecipanti di ottenere crediti formativi e sono integrati all'interno della formazione permanente obbligatoria. Un gruppo di lavoro congiunto conduce uno scambio sistematico di conoscenze ed esperienze per la co-definizione di un quadro metodologico per il monitoraggio e la valutazione della performance, di una metodologia per i costi semplificati e per l'identificazione di pratiche rilevanti di supporto all'innovazione e alla diffusione dei servizi di consulenza. Una rete di ricercatori e consulenti mira a raccogliere, sulla base di metodologie trasparenti e scientifiche, informazioni aggiornate sul patrimonio fondiario e sulle rendite per la stima e l'analisi degli indicatori strutturali e socio-economici rilevanti e per la fornitura di servizi di consulenza. I benefici per CREA e CONAF riguardano l'aumento dell'evidenza e l'orientamento basato sull'impatto della ricerca e le maggiori capacità dei consulenti di interagire meglio all'interno degli AKIS e della PAC.

Im Rahmen des i2connect-Projekts erstellten über 30 Partner aus 27 Ländern eine Bestandsaufnahme der landwirtschaftlichen Wissens- und Innovationssysteme (AKIS) ihres jeweiligen Landes im Zeitraum 2020/21. Um den Prozess in Gang zu bringen, skizzierte der Aufgaben-Koordinator ein einfaches "hypothetisches AKIS-Diagramm". Dies half allen Autoren der AKIS-Berichte, ein gemeinsames Verständnis des Konzepts und der Aufgabe zu entwickeln. Das AKIS-Diagramm zeigte fünf Kategorien von AKIS-Akteuren, die durch fünf verschiedene Farben gekennzeichnet waren. Zusätzlich stellte das Diagramm die Verbindungen zwischen den identifizierten Akteuren entweder mit einer durchgezogenen geraden Linie (starke Verbindung) oder einer gestrichelten Linie (schwache Verbindung) dar. Inspiriert durch das hypothetische Diagramm entwarfen die jeweiligen Autoren des AKIS-Berichts ihr eigenes AKIS-Länderdiagramm auf der Grundlage der Literatur und ihres eigenen Wissens. Anschließend nutzten sie ihr entworfenes Diagramm als Visualisierungsinstrument, um Experten zu AKIS-Akteuren auf nationaler, regionaler oder lokaler Ebene sowie zu deren Verbindungen zu befragen. Auf der Grundlage der Ergebnisse aus den Experteninterviews überarbeiteten die Autoren ihr AKIS-Diagramm, das sie in den Abschlussbericht aufnahmen.  Die Visualisierung der AKIS-Akteure und Wissensflüsse mit Hilfe des Diagramms half den Autoren, die AKIS-Situation in ihrem Land klar und präzise zusammenzufassen. Darüber hinaus diente das Diagramm als guter Einstiegspunkt für die weitere Untersuchung der Rollen der Akteure und der komplexen Verknüpfungen, die ein umfassendes Verständnis von AKIS auf nationaler/regionaler/lokaler Ebene ermöglichten.  

ASSAM - Agenzia per i Servizi al Settore Agroalimentare delle Marche (IT), è un ente pubblico riorganizzato nel 1997 e ben inserito all'interno dell'AKIS locale da decenni che funge da punto focale locale di collegamento tra sistemi agricoli e ricerca scientifica. 
Fornisce una moltitudine di back-office e servizi agli operatori agricoli: laboratorio agrochimico e analisi sensoriali sui prodotti; assistenza tecnica; ricerca e divulgazione; formazione professionale per studenti, consulenti e agricoltori; certificazione e tracciabilità dei prodotti, pianificazione dell'irrigazione e delle acque reflue; servizi fitosanitari e agrometeorologici e; intermediazione dell'innovazione. 
Nell'ambito del PSR 2024-2020, l'ASSAM è stata delegata ad applicare il ruolo di broker pubblico dell'innovazione per aiutare l'emersione di problemi/bisogni dal campo, svolgendo un'animazione territoriale per facilitare il dialogo tra gli attori rilevanti (ad esempio, info day, giornate di ricerca e innovazione) e diffondere soluzioni innovative (ad esempio, open day), fino a sostenere la costituzione di gruppi operativi (OG) a livello regionale e lo scambio di esperienze con altri a livello interregionale ed europeo (ad esempio, giornate di networking). 

Il portale web www.innovamarche.it è utilizzato principalmente come strumento di lavoro per fornire e condividere informazioni scientifiche, tecniche e di divulgazione. 
ASSAM è partner in 12 delle 42 OG regionali della Regione Marche, dove le sue funzioni vanno dalla ricerca e applicazione di pratiche e tecniche agricole alle analisi di laboratorio fino alla comunicazione e diffusione dei risultati. 

Negli ultimi anni l'interesse intorno ai Biodistretti è aumentato, in Italia, anche grazie alle recenti iniziative normative, che li riconoscono come "Sistemi produttivi locali caratterizzati dalla presenza di forti filiere biologiche" e al crescente interesse intorno agli approcci territoriali alle misure agro-ambientali stimolato dalla prossima PAC. Un Biodistretto può essere definito come un progetto multifunzionale radicato a livello locale e basato sui valori dell'agricoltura biologica. Coinvolgono aziende agricole, istituzioni, attori della catena di approvvigionamento e consumatori, così come qualsiasi altro attore che desideri essere coinvolto. Ognuno di essi potrà essere promotore di iniziative che porteranno all'elaborazione di attività che, partendo dalle filiere alimentari locali, soddisfino le esigenze del territorio. Gli obiettivi sono lo sviluppo dell'agricoltura biologica locale, l'accorciamento delle filiere agroalimentari e la loro integrazione con altri settori (es.: HO.RE.Ca.), l'educazione alimentare e la formazione continua degli operatori. Lo scopo più ampio è quello di generare reddito attraverso l'agricoltura locale, in modo da beneficiare la società locale nel suo complesso. I biodistretti possono assumere diverse forme societarie e, se conformi ai requisiti di legge, possono accedere a finanziamenti specifici. La loro natura di soggetto aggregatore facilita il collegamento degli agricoltori con gli enti di formazione e gli attori a monte della filiera e favorisce la comunicazione lungo questa. La loro presenza è quindi un valore aggiunto nei GO (es. TERRITORI BIO), o nelle iniziative di Cooperazione a beneficio dei produttori locali (es. Biodistretto della Val di Vara).

Tik įdiegtos žinios tampa inovacijomis, todėl itin svarbi trišalė partnerystė: ūkis, konsultavimas, mokslas. Blogai, jei žinios lieka tik akademinėje bendruomenėje. LŽŪKT kartu su pagrindinėmis šalies žemės ūkio mokslo, studijų institucijomis ir žemės ūkio eksperimentinę veiklą vykdančiais ūkiais įkūrė EIP veiklos grupę ir priėmė sprendimą įgyvendinti projektą.
Įgyvendinus projektą, pasiekti kompleksiniai rezultatai: įkurtas centras Inovacijų vartai, kurį sudaro Inovacijų paramos tarnyba, Tiksliojo ūkininkavimo paslaugų ir kompetencijų centras su technologijų demonstravimo paviljonu bei laboratorija, taikomųjų inovacijų tyrimų rezultatų informacinė sistema TITRIS (https://titris.lzukt.lt/); suformuotas eksperimentinių ūkių tinklas.
Inovacijų paramos tarnyba - LŽŪKT struktūrinis vienetas, kuris renka, kaupia ir sistemina informaciją apie inovacijų poreikį, įgyvendintas inovacijas, jų rezultatus. Ji atlieka mediatoriaus funkciją - surinkus poreikį inovacijoms, inicijuoja inovacijų projektus, ieško projektams finansavimo šaltinių, organizuoja bendradarbiavimą.
TITRIS - nemokama, atvira taikomųjų inovacijų tyrimų ir rezultatų informacinė sistema, kurios objektas - nekomerciniai mokslo tyrimai ir praktikų sukurtos inovacijos, turinčios įtakos tvariai žemės ūkio gamybai. 
Laboratorijoje atliekami dirvožemio tyrimai: dirvožemio sudėtis, mėšlas, srutos, nuotekų vanduo, paviršinis ir gruntinis vandenys.
Įsigytas mobilus tiksliosios žemdirbystės technologijų demonstravimo stendas leidžia klientams pademonstruoti visą tiksliojo ūkininkavimo ciklą ir paskatinti ūkininkus drąsiau taikyti inovatyvias technologijas ūkiuose.

IKMIS / Integruotos augalų apsaugos informavimo, konsultavimo ir mokymų informacinė sistema
IKMIS sudaro 4 elektroninės paslaugos, kuriomis nemokamai gali naudotis turintys augalininkystės, sodininkystės, daržininkystės ūkius, konsultantai ir visi žemės ūkio entuziastai. IKMIS sukurtas, bendradarbiaujant Lietuvos žemės ūkio konsultavimo tarnybos (LŽŪKT) specialistams ir mokslininkams. Lietuvos hidrometeorologijos tarnybos stočių duomenys integruojami į LŽŪKT meteorologinių stočių tinklą, susiejami su ligų ir kenkėjų prognozavimo moduliais ir matematiniu būdu apskaičiuojama ligų ar kenkėjų pasireiškimo tikimybė. Augalų apsaugos produktų, ligų, kenkėjų ir piktžolių kataloguose vartotojui prieinama aukštos kokybės vaizdinė medžiaga, padedanti greičiau atpažinti ligą, kenkėją, lengviau pasirinkti juos naikinančius Lietuvoje registruotus augalų apsaugos produktus. 
Vegetacijos metu ūkininkų pasėlius stebi, augalų apskaitas pagal mokslininkų parengtą metodiką atlieka, duomenis ir rekomendacijas kas savaitę teikia LŽŪKT augalininkystės konsultantai.
Vartotojams yra galimybė naudotis ir IKMIS mobiliąja aplikacija, pritaikyta visoms išmaniųjų telefonų operacinėms sistemoms. 
IKMIS pateikiama augalų apsaugos produktų duomenų bazė, į kurią informacija gaunama tiesiai iš Valstybinės augalininkystės tarnybos prie ŽŪM informacinės sistemos. 
Europos audito rūmų atstovai, 2019 m. vertinę Integruotos kenksmingųjų organizmų direktyvos reikalavimų įgyvendinimą Lietuvoje, pateikė išvadą, jog IKMIS yra puikus pavyzdys, kaip stebint pasėlius, prognozuojant kenkėjų ir ligų plitimą, informuojant apie tai ūkininkus, gilinti jų žinias, didinti galimybes taikyti integruotą augalų apsaugą.
 

Im Bundesland Baden-Württemberg in Deutschland werden Beratungsdienstleistungen in Form von Modulen durch private Beratungsorganisationen angeboten und durch die öffentliche Hand ko-finanziert. Allerdings gibt es immer noch viele, häufig kleine Betriebe, deren Betriebsleiter*innen keine professionelle Beratung in Anspruch nehmen. Um deren Interesse zu wecken und die Hemmschwelle gegenüber einer privatwirtschaftlich organisierten und kostenverursachenden Beratung zu senken, hat das Landwirtschaftsminiterium das Instrument des 'Betriebs-Checks' entwickelt. Dieses ermöglicht es allen Betrieben, eine kostenlose Standortbestimmung und Entscheidungshilfe für die Betriebsentwicklung in Form einer ca 15h professionellen Beratung zu erhalten. Seit 2015 haben jedes Jahr bis zu 100 Betriebe teilgenommen, und eine Befragung zeigt eine große Zufriedenheit mit dem neutralen Blick von außen und der Einschätzung von Richtungsentscheidungen. Beratungsergebnissen. Dennoch bleiben die zeitnahe Umsetzung der empfohlenen Folgeschritte und die Inanspruchnahme weiterer Beratung auf eine Minderheit der Beratungsnehmenden beschränkt. Es ist anzunehmen, dass die Einschätzung der Wirkung und des Mehrwerts dieses niedrigschwelligen Instruments erst nach einigen Jahren Laufzeit besser ermessen werden kann.   

i2connect ist ein H2020-Projekt, dessen Hauptaufgabe darin besteht, eine Dynamik des Wandels bei Unterstützungsdiensten im Bereich Innovation zu schaffen, indem Berater und ihre Organisationen befähigt werden, Land- und Forstwirte in interaktive Innovationsprozesse einzubinden und zu unterstützen. Um die Partner dabei zu unterstützen, aus den Projekterfahrungen zu lernen und diese Erkenntnisse auf Projektebene zu nutzen, wurde ein Reflexionsinstrument entwickelt. Das Tool bietet eine einfache, harmlose Unterstützung (eine Vorlage mit einer Liste von Fragen), um die eigenen Überlegungen zu strukturieren und Schlussfolgerungen für das Lernen auf individueller und Projektebene zu ziehen. Die drei Hauptfragen lauten: 1) Was sind Ihre Beobachtungen und Lernerfahrungen in Bezug auf "interaktive Innovation"? (2) Welche dieser Erkenntnisse würden Sie gerne mit anderen in i2connect diskutieren? (3) Welche Schlussfolgerungen ziehen Sie aus Ihren Erkenntnissen für (a) eine nächste Veranstaltung im Rahmen von i2connect und (b) für Ihre berufliche Arbeit? Es wird erwartet, dass auf der individuellen Ebene wiederholte Reflexionen über verschiedene Veranstaltungen im Zusammenhang mit interaktiven Innovationen der reflektierenden Person helfen, sich des komplexen Umfelds einer interaktiven Innovation bewusster zu werden und die eigenen Handlungen und die dadurch ausgelösten Reaktionen besser zu verstehen. Auf der Projektebene helfen solche systematischen und strukturierten Überlegungen, Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede, Synergien und Konflikte in den individuellen Überlegungen zu erkennen, um daraus weiterreichende Konsequenzen für die Projektebene zu ziehen.  

Er is een veranderende structuur van de landbouwsector die ook nieuwe eisen stelt aan de ondernemersvaardigheden van landbouwers. Als gevolg daarvan veranderde de manier van denken over innovatie en kennisoverdracht, en dus ook de kijk op landbouwvoorlichting en -adviesdiensten. Het doel van dit document is om de 'innovatieadviseur' te identificeren en een overzicht van vereiste vaardigheden en competenties te bieden.
Een grondige literatuurstudie vormde het uitgangspunt, maar er werd ook een interviewgids voor semi-gestructureerde interviews opgesteld en naar de leden van het consortium gestuurd voor hun input en feedback. Interviews werden gehouden met zowel leden binnen het i2connect consortium, als met externe experts. 
Aangezien er een breed scala aan terminologie wordt gebruikt voor wat we in i2connect 'de innovatieadviseur' noemen, worden er verschillende visies op terminologie gepresenteerd. Er wordt een overzicht gegeven van de functies en bijdragen, alsook van de verschillende types en paradoxen in het functioneren van innovatie-intermediairs. De geïdentificeerde persoonlijke competenties van de innovatieadviseur zijn geanalyseerd en gesorteerd aan de hand van de structuur 'Kwalificaties van een adviseur' van Gerster-Bentaya et al. (2009).
Naast de competenties van innovatieadviseurs op persoonlijk niveau, werden ook verantwoordelijkheden en eisen voor het organisatieniveau geïdentificeerd. Drie verantwoordelijkheden kwamen naar voren (het creëren van een veilige ruimte, het creëren van een uitdagende ruimte en het stimuleren van leren en over grenzen kijken), waaronder verschillende vereisten werden geclusterd. 
Tot slot werden de implicaties voor de beleidsvorming beschreven.

Die "Eierfall-Herausforderung" ist eine großartige Teamaktivität, die Zusammenarbeit, Kreativität und Problemlösung erfordert. Die Aufgabe besteht darin, ein Ei vor dem Zerbrechen zu schützen, wenn es aus einer großen Höhe (mehrere Meter) fallen gelassen wird. Jedes Team baut mit den wenigen zur Verfügung gestellten Materialien eine Konstruktion, die das Ei so schützt, dass es einen solchen Fall übersteht. Zu den benötigten Materialien gehören: rohe Eier, Plastikstrohhalme, Klebeband, Zeitungspapier und andere geeignete Materialien nach Wahl. 
Diese Übung wurde im Rahmen eines Workshops über interaktive Innovation während des Kick-Off-Meetings des i2connect-Konsortiums vorgestellt. Nach der Übung wurde eine Nachbesprechung durchgeführt, in der die Mitglieder erörterten, was während der Teamübung gut und was schlecht gelaufen war. Die Mitglieder waren in der Lage, die Gruppenaktivität mit einem interaktiven Innovationsprozess in Verbindung zu bringen und identifizierten mehrere Schlüsselelemente, die für ein erfolgreiches Ergebnis des Prozesses entscheidend sind, wie z. B. ein gemeinsames Verständnis und eine gemeinsame Vision des Ziels und der Aufgabe, gegenseitiges Vertrauen, Engagement, Moderation, Zusammenarbeit usw. 
Die Aktivität war sehr nützlich, um den interaktiven Innovationsprozess zu veranschaulichen, eine kreative Arbeitsatmosphäre zu fördern und den Teamgeist zu stärken. Die Aktivität könnte angepasst und in verschiedenen Kontexten als einfache, aber anschauliche Übung eingesetzt werden, um das Verständnis für den interaktiven Innovationsprozess zu fördern. 

As with all change management and strategic developments in the corporate world, effective communications both internally and externally in interactive innovation cases are vital and the good practice in interactive innovations projects is that this is planned and managed throughout the project. It is crucial to have a leader who can mobilize people, facilitate open discussion and ensure knowledge exchange among all involved parties. It enables the whole project community to move forward and ultimately achieve a greater impact as they share the same goal and are committed of using a variety of already well-established communication tools and channels. The risk of difficulties and conflicts arises when the involved actors do not share the same expectations and have insufficient or irregular communication. Different actors need to listen to each other, discuss their own ideas to find and agree on a common view and understanding. Framers make the difference since they have a real need to share ideas, experiment, communicate to find solutions. Researchers, advisors, and others have different interests when joining an innovation project. The main challenge still remains to find a common view/interest, redefine each actor's own expectations (less satisfying but can lead to something new). A clear benefit is that projects are more likely to overcome resistance when people share experiences they feel at the idea or solution came from themselves. There is nothing like a good debate among peers to help people change their minds. A good facilitator sets a higher standard of learning by listening, seeing, doing, and telling. Good communications also help actors to see their problems through others eyes which is part of the solution to most problems.

Glavni cilj projekta TRAS.IRRI.MA je izboljšati upravljanje z vodo in povečati trajnostnost v pridelavi sadja z uvedbo inovativne in okolju prijazne tehnike. Ker je cilj projekta zagotoviti, da znanje o inovativnih pristopih pri upravljanju z vodo doseže čim več kmetov, je diseminacija najpomembnejši del projekta, pri čemer imajo kmetijski svetovalci glavno vlogo. Med projektom je bila na testnih kmetijah preizkušena cela paleta sodobne tehnologije za upravljanje z vodo. Po testnem obdobju so bili izbrani najboljši modeli upravljanja z vodo oz. kmetije z najboljšimi rezultati. Na teh kmetijah se izvajajo brezplačne demonstracije, kjer se lahko kmetje in svetovalci naučijo, katera orodja za upravljanje voda obstajajo, kako delujejo, kakšne so njihove prednosti in kako jih uporabljati. Tehnologijo lahko vidijo med uporabo, hkrati pa lahko izmenjajo izkušnje in pridobijo znanje od kmetov in svetovalcev, vključenih v projekt. Učinek takšnega načina razširjanja je že dokazan, saj številni kmetje prosijo svetovalce za pomoč pri nakupu tovrstne tehnologije in uporabi na terenu. Svetovalci pravijo, da so nekateri kmetje odprti za inovacije, zato je z njimi enostavno vzpostaviti dialog; izziv so predvsem tisti kmetje, ki so manj pripravljeni na inovacije in potrebujejo več podpore s strani svetovalcev, da začnejo razmišljati bolj inovativno. V ta namen so svetovalci v sodelovanju z raziskovalci za kmete izdelali smernice in protokole upravljanja z vodo, katerih namen je izboljšati ozaveščenost kmetov o potrebi prilagajanja podnebnim spremembam. Cilj je doseči čim več kmetov, ne samo v regiji Basilicata, ampak tudi v drugih regijah Italije.

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is essential as basic training and learning is not sufficient to support a long-term career due to the frequency of change in both hard and soft skills. Advisors may not only need technological or practical skills (hard skills), but may need training in the area of soft skills such as facilitation practices, networking, problem solving etc. Advisors who are professionally and methodologically trained with the basic knowledge, skills and attitude may enhance relationship building and trust within his or her environment. Within peer reviews, advisors identified the lack of training or support resources available, and actively pursued their own self development through training and access to information. This knowledge and or methodological skills may build confidence of the advisor. Through upskilling, advisors were able to provide farmers with the technical information needed for the innovation project, as well as the soft skills needed to facilitate this which was hugely satisfying. When managing and disseminating interactive innovations, it may be important for advisors to be skilled and confident in facilitation techniques. This may be implemented through training workshops and courses, self-directed learning, institutional support materials, practice, networking and many other ways.

Institutions may act as a support for interactive innovation projects with the increasing recognition of the roles of various types of intermediaries within these types of projects. Innovation brokers/ facilitators (advisors) may seek assistance from institutions at all stages innovation projects. It is the role of the advisors to advocate the support from institutions and to facilitate this for their clients to help create an enabling environment. The enabling environment of a project plays a key success factor in the support of interactive innovation. Without the support of institutions, advisors are maybe less able to work efficiently and creatively. Advisors may have a broad and vast knowledge of agriculture, yet some innovation projects may be specialized and require very specific knowledge or skills. Advisors must acknowledge that assistance may be required for specialist project where advisors may naturally not have access to the resources required for this project. Advisors may need assistance in terms of knowledge, development techniques, testing strategies and implementation of the innovation product. Participants and individual actors are likely to have a variety of skills, knowledge, attitudes and viewpoints on the direction of the project, but are unlikely to have all these which are needed for the innovation. A strong institutional involvement provides a depth of resources, relationship support and knowledge back-up, though this may fall apart due to lack of communication, unclear roles and tasks or clarity of ownership of responsibilities. The advisor must act as a facilitator and assist both clients and specialists to efficiently communicate and support an enabling environment where ideas may develop and grow

Having a diversity of actors in an interactive innovation project group is important, it provides an added interest and improved learning environment. Diversity can be achieved through age, gender, race, educational background, experience, attitude and many other qualitative personal traits and social and demographic point of difference. Diversity adds value to a multi-actor group by helping to provide a wider perspective on a problem or to bring new energy to group. The inclusion of a range of relevant actors in projects also supports innovation through improved ownership among the actors and their cohorts. It also brings a broader and deeper perspective, with more knowledge and potential to find solutions. This diversity amongst actors may allow for a social learning environment and may prevent or to avoid cognitive, information, managerial, or system gaps within an interactive innovation project or group. Advisors as facilitators of groups need to ensure that acceptance of diversity is cultured and valued by actors by incorporating activities which overcome unconscious bias and promote equality and inclusion. The advisors may need training to deal with diversity related issues and to demonstrate the value of diversity in terms of interactive innovation support.

Within the AGROSYL operational group, headed by the Chamber of Agriculture, farmers were involved in the search for solutions, through scientific protocols and analyses, to integrate trees in livestock farming, and support feed autonomy and animal welfare, while improving the climate resilience.

The initial idea started from the ground, but the concept and the methodology were set up by research institutes, following a top- down approach. This gave rise to a lot of discussion among the partners, especially on the research protocols. Initially, the work on different tasks was very compartmentalised without exchange between the partners. There was misunderstanding among farmers and researchers. The biggest difficulty occurred when a breeder who was not equipped to follow the scientific indications (use the mechanisation for harvesting the mulberry production) changed the protocol to make it more feasible in the field. Researchers did not understand his initiative and this created a chill. The Chamber of Agriculture assumed the role of mediator, trying to make the researchers understand that the laboratory aspect does not fit the reality on the field. In 2019 an advisor/facilitator turned the approach to the project from top-down to bottom-up, introducing brief but frequent meetings, creating WhatsApp groups on different topics, inviting partners to do sessions and assist in experimentations in the field. In this way, the vision of each party changed and communication became more fluid and concrete. In the meantime, the initiative taken by the farmer not to follow the protocol and let the animals graze in mulberry plots proved to be very conclusive, determining the success of the project, whose results were widely recognised, also abroad.

In interactive innovation support it is vital to create a common understanding of the real needs of farmers who are both actors and target participants. Advisors and their organisation must continuously identify and review needs of these farmers. Advisors goals, activities and planned outcomes should address the real short and long term needs, while recognising that the needs of farmers may differ from person to person and group to groups. This practice is supported by advisors who listen, record and report the changing needs and do not assume that they know the needs already; asking farmers to express their needs regularly. The advisor should ensure that the solutions are practical and meet the real needs of the farmers for a successful uptake of the solution. Advisors are skilled in consultancy, however in interactive innovation support requires skills in listening, questioning and in participatory management. Visuals, on-farm trials and practical demonstrations support and energise interactive learning and adoption. Assumptions about the real needs of farmers are dangerous and should be evidence based. Participants are likely to have a mix of the knowledge, skills, resources and motivation needed to solve the problem, the challenge for the advisor is to get them to work as a team. It requires needs analysis exercises that should form part or all formal advisor training.

An interactive innovation project should have clearly expressed needs, goals and actions agreed by participants and owned by the group. Adviser should use warm participatory approach (e.g. brainstorm) to identify and record the needs of the group and to prioritise needs and agree steps to find solutions, plan actions and work together as a group.

SUAS is one of the 12 successful groups chosen from across Ireland under the new EIP initiative. The key objective of the five- year pilot is to develop practical and innovative solutions that will address the complex agricultural, environmental and socio- economic challenges associated with the land management of commonages and hill farms in the Wicklow/Dublin upland. The enclosed land in the Wicklow Dublin uplands is of high value for biodiversity and is of European conservation importance for habitats and birds.
 

The SUAS project is based around the idea of commonage management groups, which can be effective to deliver best practice management, a sustainable stocking rate and appropriate timing of grazing using proper breeds are needed to deliver best practice management of the uplands. To achieve this, ongoing knowledge exchange between advisors and farmers is needed for successful upland management. The main principles and ideas of the project are integrated into two SUAS Actions. 1) The establishment of Commonage Groups (CGs), with their own constitutions, which will take responsibility for the development, implementation and delivery of their own Commonage Management Plans (CMP); Development of CMPs, with the integration of environmental (biodiversity and water) and farming activities into a single document/guide. 2) The implementation, monitoring, updating and reporting of the CMP and Farm Management Plans, including the review of annual biodiversity performance data, the review of annual farm performance data and the review of water quality programme. The use of an auction-based payment scheme to incentivise the CGs to develop their own solutions to problems they identify on their commonage.

Le projet Star'Terre se distingue, car il n'est pas seulement un projet agricole, il relie l'agriculture, l'alimentation, l'entrepreneuriat et l'innovation. Cette plateforme intercantonale d'innovation agroalimentaire vise à créer un écosystème pour valoriser la production et le savoir-faire agroalimentaire du territoire en rapprochant les secteurs agricoles et non agricoles. Cela se fait en favorisant la collaboration entre les organismes publics et privés au sein des différents écosystèmes ; en effet, il ne s'agit pas seulement de conseillers agricoles ou d'agriculteurs, mais d'acteurs de l'ensemble du système agroalimentaire du territoire. L'idée ici est de soutenir les porteurs d'initiatives et de projets de consommation locale qui ont besoin de ressources ciblées pour émerger et rester viables et de créer des synergies entre les soutiens entrepreneuriaux et agricoles pour plus de valeur ajoutée aux producteurs, ainsi que de mettre à disposition du secteur agricole des soutiens et des outils peu connus. La plateforme a été développée lors d'un projet pilote (PHR - consommation locale dans la région lémanique) mis en œuvre avec le soutien du Secrétariat d'Etat à l'économie (SECO) dans le cadre du programme PHR-Economie, un instrument de la Nouvelle politique régionale (NPR) suisse. L'objectif était de créer des incitations au développement économique régional, de tester et de renforcer les échanges économiques et les flux alimentaires entre les zones urbaines et rurales de la Suisse. L'idée, après l'expérimentation de cet instrument, était de pérenniser la démarche. 

"Digital farmer" is a Telegram channel created and administered by a farmer (winemaker) and exclusively addressed to farmers to inform them, in real time, about available innovations, including the results of operational groups, or about webinars and online workshops through which they can keep up to date. Since December 2019, Giuliano Preghenella has been sharing news that he considers interesting for the toolbox of an agricultural entrepreneur and that, according to him, are underestimated by the media in the sector.  
The tool immediately raised interest, and grew on its own thanks to the tam tam of subscribers and the sharing on other social networks (Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook). According to the creator, the ideal "Digital farmer" reader prefers to receive only one news item per day, preferably always published at the same time (around 8 am, peak time for visits during the day), from Monday to Saturday. The news is re-posted via social networks and a website, thus multiplying the circulation of knowledge. The channel has around 650 subscribers, including university and agricultural schools students, who find the news published interesting for their studies. Through public and private interactions, subscribers ask to exchange views or learn more about specific issues. 
In the past two years, the channel has provided the opportunity to transfer expertise from researchers and advisors to farmers, thus facilitating the transfer of successful experiences and the creation of a network that, thanks to the facilitated and continuous learning stimulated by "Digital farmer", promotes professional development, bottom-up innovation and the bringing between research and practice.