Report Fifth Meeting of the Subgroup on Innovation and Knowledge Exchange (SoIKE)

The report describes the different sessions of the fifth meeting of the Subgroup on Innovation and Knowledge Exchange (SoIKE). This includes a welcome and introduction with presentations from Hugo Almeida, Unit D1 ‘Rural areas and Networks’ of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) and Orsolya Frizon Somogyi, Deputy Head of Unit F2 ‘Research and Innovation’ (DG AGRI).

In Session I on 'News from Members States', SOIKE members updated each other on the latest news and developments from their countries.

In Session II on 'SoIKE members – learning from failed initiatives in implementing the EIP-AGRI', SOIKE members shared failed or less-successful experiences in implementing EIP-AGRI in their Member States during small discussion groups, discussing learning points that could be drawn for the future.

Session III was on 'Future networking activities on innovation and knowledge exchange'. In the introduction of this session, Magdalena Mach, Unit D1 ‘Rural areas and Networks’ (DG AGRI), presented the booklet with ideas for future networking activities for the EIP-AGRI Support Facility. These topics were collected from SoIKE and EU CAP Network assembly members, the EIP-AGRI Support Facility team and DG AGRI policy units.

Following this introduction, SoIKE members were invited to prioritise topics for discussion by voting for those that they found the most relevant for the next Annual Work Programme in four breakout groups. Discussions were based on the question ‘What could be the scope of the networking activity under this topic?’ and collected inputs from participants regarding possible objectives and types of activity.

A summary of the discussion of these topics is also mentioned in the report.