Agro-Food News published: BAFN Newsletter 3
By Ms. Elke DALL on Jul 21, 2007
Status: Public
The Balkan Agro Food Network (BAFN) published its newsletter. You can subscribe and unsubscribe to it contacting europroject@bafn.eu.
The main topics are:
- BAFN news: expert panel meetings and BAFN birthday
- European News: conference news, update on the enlargement process and an example project
- EU Funding: KBBE results of the second call and outlook on the third call, results of see-era.net Pilot Joint Call and REGPOT-3
- WBC Opportunities: Training offers
- Useful information: conference in Turkey and JRC enlargement actions
BAFN news
BAFN Expert panel meetings
Four meetings gathering representatives from the scientific community from Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, FYROM and Serbia have been organised between the 25 June and the 16 July 2007. The objective was to discuss the first BAFN reports and to prepare answers to two main questions:
- Which scientific fields within agri-food research could be suitable for EU funding ?
- Which instruments could efficiently support agri-food researchers from the WBC ?
In order to validate the conclusions of theses meetings, a consultation of the researchers and industrialists who registered into BAFN database will be organised. After this consultation, a final Position Paper will be adopted and presented in Athens in February 2008.
Read more: www.bafn.eu/panel
BAFN turns one !
Balkan Agro-Food Network started one year ago. Since May 2006, 500 research groups and 430 companies have been identified. The database is a success with nearly 300 research groups, more than 750 researchers and 160 companies. Concerning the survey on the research capacities (mapping report) only 215 answers have been collected. More answers need to be provided to improve the solidity of the survey, in particular in Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina and FYROM.
European news
Example of projects financed by the EU
Between 2002 and 2006, organisations from the WBC participated in 14 research projects financed under the thematic priority “Food Quality and safety”. One project will be presented in each issue of BAFN newsletter.
The Specific Targeted Research Project DIEPHY (Dietary Exposures to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and DNA Damage - Coping with carcinogens in foods) started in February 2004 and ended in January 2007. The objective of the project was to develop a new approach to assess the damage caused by carcinogen agents on people’s cells, and the protective effects of certain natural substances. One of the 7 participants of this project was the Department of Occupational Medicine of the Belgrade Clinical Centre.
Read more www.imp.lodz.pl/diephy
Climate change and energy identified as major challenges for agri-food research
A conference on the future of agricultural research took place in Brussels on 26 and 27 June. The conference was opened by Mariann Fischer-Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development and Janez Potočnik, Commissioner for Science and Research. The conference was based on a report prepared for the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR). Among the different challenges that have been discussed at the conference climate change and energy scarcity emerged as the two major items.
Read more http://ec.europa.eu/research/conferences/2007/scar/index_en.htm
Enlargement process: Latest news around WBC
Serbia: In June, following the progress made by the new government in its cooperation with the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia, Serbia has been invited by European Commission President José Manuel Barroso to resume talks on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement. This agreement will be an important step towards candidacy for EU accession.
Kosovo: A EU presidency statement issued in June insists on how essential a new UN resolution is to settle the problem of the status of Kosovo. EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security policy Javier Solana has expressed EU readiness to participate in the status discussions and to take a key role in the implementation of the future resolution.
FYROM: A report issued by European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee in June 6th underlines the progress made by FYROM in several areas, including the protection of minorities and agreement on the use of Albanian language in public institutions. This progress is considered as a positive step towards EU European membership, even if reforms regarding the fight against corruption, the judiciary system and the police are still necessary.
Croatia: Croatia will benefit from a yearly 142 million EU funding until its accession to EU, told Danuta Hübner, EU Commissioner for Regional Policy in Zagreb on June 5th. This instrument is due to prepare Croatia to the European Cohesion Policy. It will cover several investments including transport infrastructures, education, environment and cross-border co-operation.
Read more
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/press_corner/newsletter/index_en.htm
EU funding
FP7 cooperation programme: first results and future opportunities
- The first FP7 call for proposals in the area of agri-food (FP7-KBBE-2007-1, budget of 192 M) closed on 02 May 2007. The European Commission received more than 410 proposals. Only 62 proposals - 48 small projects and 14 large projects - will be funded. These results confirm that the FP7 is very competitive with a success rate of around 15%.
- The second FP7 call for proposals dedicated to agri-food (FP7-KBBE-2007-2A, budget of 110 M) concerns 23 large projects. It will close on the 11 September 2007 (stage 1). The teams that pass the first stage of the evaluation will be invited to submit a full application for the 19.02.2008.
- The third call (FP7-KBBE-2007-2B budget of 96 M) is scheduled to be published on the 6 November 2007. The deadline might be the 19 February 2008. These dates are indicative only and will be confirmed later. The call concerns small projects only with 35 research projects and 14 Coordination and Support Actions. The call will be made available to the researchers who registered on bafn.eu as soon as possible.
Read more
www.agrifoodresearch.net/news
Results of SEE-ERA.NET Pilot Joint Call
As indicated in our previous newsletter, the EU project Southeast European ERA network (SEE-ERA.NET) organised a call for proposals targeted at 3 sectors (agri-food, ICT and environment) with a deadline on 31 March 2007. More than 320 proposals have been evaluated and 32 projects will be financed (success rate of 10%) for a total funding of around 800 k. Among the 32 projects retained, around 15 projects are relevant to the agri-food sector. Greece is leading with 5 co-ordination. The co-ordinators of other projects are from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, France, Serbia or Slovenia. Details on each project is published on SEE-ERA.NET website.
Read more
www.see-era.net/pub/news/view?id=5022
FP7 capacity programme: call REGPOT III
Under the call for proposal REGPOT 3 (deadline 24 April 2007, budget of 8 M) 107 proposals were submitted. The overall success rate is around 10% with 11 projects retained: 7 from Serbia, 1 from Croatia, 1 from FYROM and 2 from Ireland. The Evaluation Summary Reports will be sent to the co-ordinators by the end of July and the results of the call should be officially published in September. Similar calls will not be issued for the year 2008 but for 2009. Yet, calls similar to REGPOT 1 and REGPOT 2, as well as REGIONS 1 and REGIONS 2, will be published at the end of 2007 with deadlines in February or March 2008.
Read more
www.bafn.eu/news
WBC opportunities
Training from the EU-Balkan-FABNet project
The first training session organised within the FP6 project EU-BALKAN-FABNet took place in Tirana on the 24 and 25 May 2007. Experts from Belgium, Greece and Italy delivered the training to 12 Albanian attendees. The next training session will be organised in Zagreb in October 2007.
Read more
www.balkan-fabnet.eu
On-line training for WBC researchers
The Austrian Science and Research Liaison Office sponsored an e-training course for researchers from the Western Balkan countries. The course has been prepared by the Irish company Hyperion. It lasts 35 minutes and provides very useful information for those who want to get acquainted with the FP7. All you need to benefit from the training is a broadband Internet connection !!
Read more
www.hyperion.ie/fp7-balkans.htm
Useful information
International congress on food and nutrition
Istanbul (Turkey), 25-26 October: The recent advances and the scientific challenges for food and nutrition will be discussed during this three day meeting, which is expected to gather some of the best experts from around the world. Particular attention will be given to the theme “Food, Agriculture and Fisheries” of the EU 7th Framework Program.
Read more
www.tubitak.foodcongress.org/
JRC enlargement and integration action 2007
The activities relative to the JRC enlargement process in 2007 offer many opportunities to the Western Balkan Countries for experts in the area of food industry: workshops, courses and temporary job opportunities.
Read more
www.jrc.ec.europa.eu/enlargement/action2007
Source: BAFN Mailing