INICIATIVAS INNOVADORAS is a consultancy company specialized in promoting innovation and facilitating cooperation as key factors in the development of organisations. Iniciativas Innovadoras has broad experience in different EU Programmes (Interreg, Eco-innovation, ICT-PSP, FP7 and H2020), participating either as partners or supporting public and private organizations. Only in the last three years Iniciativas Innovadoras has participated in more than 30 projects in different topics (agriculture, local and rural development, R&D&i, business cooperation, environment). The activities covered are technical, financial and administrative management and coordination as well as dissemination and exploitation tasks. INI has also participated in technical activities related to innovation in different fields, such as stakeholder identification and involvement, diagnosis and benchmarking, participatory methodology design and implementation, business inventories, or workshops facilitation.

Contact: SONIA OLZA – solza@iniciativas-innovadoras.es

Website: www.iniciativas-innovadoras.es

Social media: Twitter, LinkedIn.

Country: Spain

Wageningen University & Research (WUR) is a leading international university in the Netherlands that focuses on the connection between food, feed, health, and the environment. The university has a strong reputation in the fields of life sciences and natural resources, and offers undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate programs in these areas. WUR also conducts research in collaboration with industry, government and non-profit organizations. The university also has a strong international focus, with students and researchers from all over the world. WUR is renowned for its research in the field of sustainable food production, with a focus on reducing the environmental impact of agriculture.

Contact: JOCHEM EVERS  –  jochem.evers@wur.nl

Website: www.wur.nl/en.htm

Other links of interest: Centre for Crop Systems Analysis

Country: Netherlands

The University of Kassel Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences is the only full faculty worldwide which specialises in organic agriculture. The ecological plant protection group’s areas of expertise include plant pathology, molecular and phenotypic pathogen population analyses, soil health management with suppressive composts, and plant population ecology.

The University of Kassel will run a two year field experiment with mixtures under organic conditions, while supporting the network of field experiments across 13 sites in the capacity as co-leader of WP2. Additionally, UniKassel will contribute to WP1 and WP6 with a multi-actor case study involving a network of farmers, millers and bakers working to integrate mixtures successfully into the value chain.

Contact: ODETTE WEEDON – odetteweedon@uni-kassel.de

Website: Department of Ecological Plant Protection

Other links of interest: Agrobiodiversity Toolbox

Country: Germany.

FNCuma leads the federative network of Cuma de France, i.e. more than 10,000 cooperatives for the use of agricultural equipment (Cuma). These Cuma bring together one out of two farmers, who together invest in equipment to use this equipment on their farms. FNCuma carries out field actions and studies, thus helping to improve the functioning of these groups and local dynamics. It brings its expertise in many areas (agricultural equipment, rural space management, employment, etc.) to institutions and works jointly with professional agricultural organisations.

Contact: TEDDY LAURENT – teddy.laurent@cuma.fr      

Website:  www.cuma.fr

Other links of interest: www.entraid.com

Social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube.

Country: France

CREA is the leading Italian research organization dedicated to the agri-food supply chains. It operates as a legal entity under public law, and is supervised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests (Masaf). Its scientific activity covers agricultural crops, livestock, fishery, forestry, agro-industry, food science, and socio-economics. It has full scientific, statutory, organizational, administrative and financial autonomy. CREA is committed with the great challenges of the twenty-first century related to food production sustainability, following the principles of the circular, bio-based economy through a multidisciplinary approach that includes innovation transfer.

CREA’s research Centre for Animal Production and Aquaculture (ZA) deals with livestock production, innovations in animal products, conservation of livestock biodiversity, optimisation of livestock farm technologies, and improvement of forage and protein crops for livestock feeding.

Contact: LUCIANO PECETTI – luciano.pecetti@crea.gov.it     

Website: www.crea.gov.it

Social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube

Country: Italy

Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) is the oldest and biggest public institution of higher education in Mozambique, located in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. This university is a comprehensive and multidisciplinary institution based on training, research and extension services. Established on 21 August 1962, UEM is ranked among Africa’s top 35 universities (Aicu 2021). 

 Its vision is to be a university of national, regional and world reference in the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge and extension, underscoring research as a foundation to teaching and learning processes and extension. The university’s mission is to produce and disseminate scientific knowledge and to promote innovation by means of research, which acts as a foundation to teaching and learning processes and extension, imparting humanistic values to generations of students so that they can face day-to-day challenges for the development of society.

Contact: SEBASTIAO FAMBA –  sebastiaofamba@gmail.com 

Website: http://www.uem.mz/

Country: Mozambique

INTIA, the Institute for Agri-food Technology and Infrastructures of Navarra, is a public company attached to the Department of Rural Development. Environment of the Government of Navarra, Spain. INTIA’s goal is to bring innovation and new technologies to agri-food sector to help improve both viability and sustainability and to maintain alive the rural environment while respecting the environment and offering quality food to society.

With over 30 years of experience in the agri-food sector in Navarra, INTIA has specialized advisors on many fields, with a broad and integrated vision of food systems through all the value chain, including agrarian assessment.

INTIA in the project will work in one of the case studies with the implementation of trials with these crops, to identify barriers to the implementation of intercrops, and will work in conducting workshops with the agricultural sector.

Contact: Lucía Sánchez García  –  lsanchez@intiasa.es  

Website: www.intiasa.es 

Other links of interest: Newsletter, Online magazine.

Social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube.

Country: Spain 

The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is the largest university in Greece. The main campus is located in the centre of the city of Thessaloniki, and covers an area of about 33.4 hectares. It comprises 10 faculties which consist of 40 schools and 1 single-School Faculty. About 88.283 students study at the Aristotle University, 77.198 in undergraduate programmes and 6.588 in postgraduate programmes. There are also 3.952 at Doctoral level). There are 1.682 faculty members. There are also 311 members of the Special Laboratory Teaching Personnel (S.L.T.P.). Faculty members are also assisted by 144 members of the Special Technical Laboratory Personnel (S.T.L.P.). The administration office consists of 278 permanent employees and 256 employees under a private law contract of indefinite duration.

The Aristotle University supports research projects in a wide range of disciplines related to the environment (natural and built), computing, new technologies and nanotechnology, telecommunications, industrial technologies, transport, biotechnology, biomedicine and health, agriculture and food science, forestry and fishery, education and language, history and archaeology, social studies and economics. The research policy of the Aristotle University focuses on promoting quality, and encouraging excellence.

AUTH has several research units and experimental stations which will contribute to IntercropVALUES and especially the Laboratory of Agronomy which combines plant physiology and agronomy sciences to tackle agronomy and crop diversification issues. The Laboratory of Agronomy studies species mixtures (such as cash crops (cereal-grain legume intercrops), cover crops and forage stands) and develops novel approaches (functional analysis and in-field phenotyping) to design species mixtures rules and to assess genotype / environment / agricultural practice interactions. The Laboratory of Agronomy works with the University farm to co-design (with agricultural partners) new species mixtures management practices, new agroforestry systems, innovative cropping systems and support tools for sustainable crop management and assessment of ecosystem services.

Contact: CHRISTOS DORDAS –  chdordas@agro.auth.gr  

Website: www.agro.auth.gr

Other links of interest: Newsletter.

Social media: Twitter, Facebook.

Country: Greece 

The Université Catholique de Louvain or UCLouvain is a Belgian French-speaking multi-site university present in six Belgian cities, which gathers 22 research institutes in health science, science and technology and human science sectors. The partners involved in the IntercropValuES project are part of the Earth and Life Institute, and more specifically of the Sytra team, which is dedicated to analysing food systems and highlighting transition pathways.

UCLouvain is leader of the WP6 (co-led with KULeuven), which aims at mapping the barriers to the use of intercropping along the value chain, identifying solutions to address these barriers and at proposing new market avenues.

Contact: CÉLINE CHEVALIER – celine.chevalier@uclouvain.be

Website: https://sytra.be/

Social media: Twitter.

Country: Belgium 

The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences is an institution under the Ministry of Rural Affairs. SLU develops the understanding and sustainable use of biological natural resources. This is achieved by research, education and environmental monitoring and assessment, in collaboration with the surrounding community. SLU activities by a strong link between education and research. SLU has 2800 fulltime employees and 3800 undergraduate students. 

Contact: GEORG CARLSSON –  georg.carlsson@slu.se 

Website: www.slu.se 

Country: Sweden 

IFOAM Organics Europe is the European umbrella organisation for organic food and farming. For 20 years, we have been and continue representing organic in European policymaking and advocating for a transformation of food and farming. Our work is based on the principles of organic agriculture – health, ecology, fairness and care. With almost 200 members in 34 European countries, our work spans the entire organic food chain.

The tasks of IFOAM throughout the project will be as follows:

1) Disseminate knowledge about intercropping among the general population in sciencesociety foodquality;

2) Transfer the knowledge acquired during the project to the various value chain groups and to consumers,through digital tools adapted to each group according to their knowledge, interest, language and usual media source,

3)Strengthen communication between the various value chain actors involved in the project and jointly identify the mostappropriate exploitation routes and strategies for the project results, to generate impact beyond the project.

Contact: AMBRA DESIMONE –  ambra.desimone@organicseurope.bio 

Website: www.organicseurope.bio 

Other links of interest: Newsletter.

Social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube.

Country: Sweden 

Roskilde University was founded in 1972 with the objective of providing research and education at the highest level in the fields of technical science, natural science, social sciences and humanities. The university is characterized by i) pushing boundaries for knowledge through a problem-oriented approach, ii) focusing research and education on fields where the university has international or national status, iii) bringing university and society closer together. RUC has 950 employees and around 8000 students.

RUC is WP1 leader but contribute across WPs – especially to WP6 and also WP3. RUC’s interdisciplinary tradition will primarily contribute to the ambitious actor driven approaches providing inputs on holistic and participatory planning methodologies while having comprehensive experience working with mechanistic understanding of soil-plant interactions, carbon sequestration, nutrient conservation, food quality and co-creational meal practices in the team. The RUC team look forward to connect actors along the agricultural value chains including producing, transforming and bringing goods and services to end-consumers as well as support to active collaborative social networks and institutional adaptation. 

Contact: HENRIK HAUGGAARD-NIELSEN –  hnie@ruc.dk 

Website: www.ruc.dk 

Social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.

Country: Denmark 

Founded in 1425, KU Leuven is Belgium’s largest university and one of the oldest in Europe. With fifteen different faculties, the University promotes research and education in a variety of disciplines.

Located in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Division of Bioeconomics, the Sustainable Food Economies Research Group focuses on sustainability of the food chain, including global food production and demand.

Co-leader of work package six and lead of Task 6.3, Proposing new market avenues. Contributing to economic and social sciences research in work packages one, five and seven.

Contact: ERIK MATTHIJS –  erik.mathijs@kuleuven.be  

Website: https://ees.kuleuven.be/en/bioecon

Country: Belgium  

Since 2019, the University of Bonn is one of only 11 German Universities of Excellence and the only German university with six Clusters of Excellence. With a strong record of disciplinary excellence and a number of Transdisciplinary Research Areas, the University of Bonn supports the achievement of excellence – since 1818. As one of only eleven Universities of Excellence in Germany, they are the only university with as many as six Clusters of Excellence. Recent decades have produce more winners of the Nobel Prize and Fields Medal than any other German university. The University of Bonn has a 200-year history of combining excellent research in a range of disciplines with research-led teaching. 

Contact: SABINE SEIDEL –  sabine.seidel@uni-bonn.de  

Website: www.uni-bonn.de 

Country: Germany 

The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, or simply BOKU, founded in 1872, is an education and research centre for renewable resources in Vienna, Austria. BOKU combines expertise in the fields of natural sciences, engineering and biotechnology as well as social and economic sciences. In research and teaching, it focuses on the conservation and development of protection for habitats, economy and living standards the management of natural resources and environment the protection of food and health. BOKU sees itself as an innovation leader in the green economy, with the goal of integrating sustainability into all processes in society. It is a member of the Euroleague for Life Sciences (ELLS), the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), the European University Initiative (EPICUR), the Austrian-African Research Network (Africa UniNet) and numerous other international cooperations.  

Contact: JOSEF EITZINGER –  josef.eitzinger@boku.ac.at  

Website:  

Country: Austria 

The main mission of the University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Agriculture (UNSFA) is to offer higher education, research, professional and advisory services in the area of agriculture by developing interdisciplinary approaches in education and integral research. The Faculty is structured around eight departments/institutes, 11 chairs, 21 research groups, 32 laboratories, 6 research centers and 4 experimental stations. The Faculty participates in more than 40 international projects: 6 Horizon Europe projects, several COST actions, IPA, DTP, bilateral and other EU projects.

International cooperation is one of the strategic pillars of the UNSFA and great importance is given to networking with leading research centers and the mobility of the Faculty’s researchers. The Faculty of Agriculture is dedicated to the implementation of its multidisciplinary and applied research and the strategic collaboration with s stakeholders, which fits into the internationalisation agenda of UNSFA.

UNSFA team will be involved in establishing CICS no. 9 and setting up field trial under the framework of WP2. The researchers will be also involved in analyses of soil health under the WP3 and assessment of added value of the intercrops in WP6 as well as raising awareness and dissemination of the obtained results in WP7.

Contact: BRANKO CUPINA  –  branko.cupina@polj.uns.ac.rs 

Website:  polj.uns.ac.rs

Social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube.

Country: Serbia  

The sugarcane research centre in Réunion (Station d’essai et de génétique de la canne de La Bretagne) was created in 1929 by the Syndicat des Fabricants de Sucre de La Réunion. It became CERF (Centre d’Essais de Recherche et de Formation) in 1974, and in 2009 the research centre celebrates its 80th anniversary. Since its creation, eRcane has been producing new high-yielding varieties, through an experimental selection programme that focuses on criteria for the sustainability of growers’ incomes: maintaining high performance during successive harvests, tolerance to diseases, insects, etc. 

Over time, new skills have been added in both agronomy and industry. 

 eRcane’s areas of excellence are known in many other producing countries. eRcane provides technical support in these countries and exports Reunion’s know-how, both agronomic and industrial. 

Contact: ALIZE MANSUY –  alize.mansuy@ercane.re  

Website: www.ercane.re 

Country: France 

Created on January 1, 2020, the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) is a major player in research and innovation. INRAE carries out targeted research and resulted from the merger of INRA and IRSTEA. It is a community of 12,000 people with 273 research, experimental research, and support units located in 18 regional centres throughout France. Internationally, INRAE is among the top research organisations in the agricultural and food sciences, plant and animal sciences, as well as in ecology and environmental science. It is the world’s leading research organisation specialising in agriculture, food and the environment. INRAE’s goal is to be a key player in the transitions necessary to address major global challenges.

Faced with a growing world population, climate change, resource scarcity, and declining biodiversity, the Institute has a major role to play in building solutions and supporting the necessary acceleration of agricultural, food and environmental transitions.

INRAE is involved in the different research-innovation-action activities of IntercropValuES, through the piloting or co-piloting of workpackages and tasks as well as the animation of a case study in France.

Contact: LIONEL ALLETTO –  lionel.alletto@inrae.fr  

Website: www.inrae.fr 

Other links of interest: Newsletter, online magazine.

Social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube.

Country: France  

The National Teacher Training School in Agronomy (ENSFEA) is one of the 12 national higher education institutions under the French Ministry of Agriculture. It offers degrees at Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD level on a wide variety of fields (agri-food, agronomy, landscaping, education…). Its model is unique in France since it is in charge of teachers’ training and provides support to the professional and vocational schools in agriculture.

In IntercropVALUES, ENSFEA will coordinate with INRAE, UMR SADAPT, the tasks which are closely linked and both based on the innovation tracking method to analyze existing innovative organizations and collective and identify innovative machines designed by farmers, and study their use and their emergence trajectory

Contact: LAURENT BEDOUSSAC –  laurent.bedoussac@inrae.fr  

Website: www.ensfea.fr 

Other links of interest: Online magazine.

Social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube.

Country: France  

AgroParisTech, “Paris Institute of technology for life, food and environmental sciences” is a higher education teaching and research institute (’Grande Ecole’) in the fields of agronomic sciences and techniques, the agri-food sector, forestry, management of spaces and natural resources and land management and development. 

Contact: CASSANDRE LEVERRIER –  cassandre.leverrier@agroparistech.fr 

Website: www.agroparistech.fr 

Country: France 

Business Lolland Falster is a knowledge-, project facilitating and networking company, located on Lolland-Falster, that helps local companies to grow, evolve and adapt to new markets and regulations. In more recent years, Business Lolland-Falster has an increased focus on GreenTech and sustainability.

A wide variety of in-house services is offered for member-companies, which includes – but not limited to educational courses, certifications, network meetings and workshops.

Additionally, Business Lolland-Falster helps companies invest and expand in the local area, including attracting the required labour force.

BLF will develop cropping strategy advices and further insights into plant protein food quality and process requirements. Cooperating with a local group of farmers and processing facilities, it is expected, that BLF will bring further insight to value chain propositions throughout the project.

Contact: BENJAMIN PLENSOU –  bp@businesslf.dk 

Website: www.businesslf.dk

Social media: LinkedIn, Facebook.

Country: Denmark

Rete Semi Rurali is an Italian NGO, representing over 30 national and regional organisations promoting agrobiodiversity, participatory research and plant breeding in organic and agroecological farming systems.

Rete Semi Rurali is the responsible partner for the Italian Co-Innovation Case Studies (CICS), and will facilitate knowledge transfer and dissemination activities on intercropping within a network of farms in Northern and Central Italy.

Contact: MATTEO PETITTI –  matteo.petitti@semirurali.net 

Website: www.rsr.bio 

Other links of interest: https://rsr.bio/notiziari/

Social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube.

Country: Italy 

FiBL is one of the world’s leading organic farming research and technology transfer centers dedicated to sustainable agriculture with 150 staff members. FiBL’s research team works together with farmers and farmer organizations to develop innovative and cost-effective solutions to boost agricultural productivity while never losing sight of environmental, health and socio-economic impacts. It focuses on soil and crop sciences, socio-economic and animal sciences. FiBL has many international projects and initiatives participating in 46 projects under the EU’s Framework Programs. 

Contact: RAPHAEL CHARLES –  raphael.charles@fibl.org 

Website: www.fibl.org 

Country: Switzerland 

China Agricultural University (CAU) is one of the top ranked key national universities in China. China Agricultural University is authorized to award academic degrees at BSc, MSc, PhD and Post-PhD levels. The educational programs cover a broad spectrum in both natural and social sciences, across the fields of food and agriculture, livestock, soil and water, engineering, economics, environment and energy, management, science, literature and law. In addition, CAU has also conducted several successful joint educational programs with the US, Netherlands and UK, further strengthening CAU’s role in the world educational community.

CAU is involved in WP2 and WP7 and focusses on the effects of maize/soybean intercropping on ecosystem functions and services.

Contact: LONG LI –  lilong@cau.edu.cn 

Website: https://en.cau.edu.cn 

Other links of interest: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/6hC0r1QTIB5pjJM-7TUqnw

Country: China  

Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) was established in 2012 through the merger of the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) with Barony, Elmwood and Oatridge Colleges. Through these institutions, we can trace our lineage back over 100 years. Today, SRUC is on a journey to become Scotland’s enterprise university at the heart of our sustainable natural economy. Our mission is to create and mobilise knowledge and talent – partnering locally and globally to benefit Scotland’s natural economy.
To achieve this, we draw upon SRUC’s longstanding strengths in world-class and sector-leading research, learning and teaching, skills and training and consultancy (through SAC Consulting).
A natural economy is fuelled by responsible use of our natural resources: people, land, energy, water, animals and plants. It is an interlinked, shared, living system that creates opportunities and prosperity. It is multi-scale, dynamic and resilient through creative management and mindful custodianship. By focussing on the sustainable natural economy, SRUC will strive to lead the way in delivering economic, social and environmental benefits for all, in Scotland, and beyond.

SRUC Leads Work Package 3 Managing intercrops in cropping systems: GHGs, soil health and machinery studies. SRUC leads the work on measuring greenhouse gas emissions and co-leads work on soil heath indicators. SRUC will establish intercrop field experiments on the ACE Platform at Aberdeen in 2024. Working with SAOS we will also lead a Co-innovation Case Study on intercropping for high value food and drink products in Scotland.

Contact: CHRISTINE WATSON –  christine.watson@sruc.ac.uk 

Website: www.sruc.ac.uk 

Other links of interest: Newsletter.

Social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube.

Country: Scotland  

Scotland’s experts on farmer co-ops and food industry collaboration, SAOS provides a range of specialist information, development and consultancy services. SAOS was established in 1905 and is owned by around 60 member co-operatives with a collective turnover of around £1.5 billion and 25,000 members.

Our work allows Scotland’s farming, food and drink businesses to benefit from the commercial advantages that can be achieved by working together more effectively, enabling them to contribute to the success of Scotland’s food and drink industry and its rural economy.

SAOS’s main role in the project is as an industry partner, to support innovative agri-food chains and the production of a case study

Contact: JIM BOOTH –  jim.booth@saos.coop 

Website: https://saos.coop/ 

Other links of interest: Newsletter.

Social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube.

Country: Scotland