The i2connect project aims to fuel the competencies of advisors who will support and facilitate interactive innovation processes in response to multiple challenges in European agriculture and forestry. The strategy in i2connect is to use the existing advisory networks and the experiences of success in different contexts to create a broader network and a momentum of change enabling a new culture of bottom-up innovation support. The over 40,000 advisors are critical actors supporting agriculture and forestry on the ground and must be involved in this project to interactively support innovation with particular emphasis on EIP-AGRI's 2020 target of 3,500 operational groups and beyond. An inventory will be made of the current state of advisory practices in Europe. Best practices throughout Europe will be analysed in an interactive way to guide the development of approaches and tools, and studied as part of the training program for advisors. A pool of trainers will be taught to work with these materials by training and coaching advisors. Some advisors may cross visit teams in order to study interesting cases abroad. The project will also look into the ‘enabling environment’: Ways in which managers of advisory services, research actors, policy makers and others can create favourable conditions. These activities feed into a professional network with many local branches, supported by the project through a moderated online platform for mutual coaching and sharing experiences. i2connect brings together 32 organisations (beneficiaries and third parties).
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