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WINETWORK project is described in EIP Agri Newsletter of jully 2015

The WINETWORK project has the ambition to stimulate collaborative innovation in the wine sector. The project will implement a methodology that has been successful in promoting demand-driven innovations in previous regional and European projects. This approach is mainly based on the interactions between a network of facilitator agents, several regional technical working groups and one European scientific working group. A participatory approach is used to translate results from science and practical knowledge into technical datasheets that are used to prepare materials adapted to end-users. A bottom-up approach is also used to identify a demand-driven innovation agenda.

The WINETWORK project will implement these approaches in ten regions from seven countries representing more than 90% of the EU wine production (France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Hungary and Croatia). The main topic addressed in the network concerns the control and the fight against diseases that jeopardise the future production potential of the EU (Grapevine Trunk Diseases and Flavescence Dorée). As these represent a threat for the economic viability of the entire sector, these topics have been previously identified as a priority by winegrowers, scientists and decision-makers. Since many winegrowers are testing innovative and sustainable approaches to fight these diseases, it is very beneficial to capture these ideas and to share them between EU countries. Innovative practices will be synthesised, tailored and translated to become fully accessible to winegrowers and innovation support services. The project will then deliver a vast reservoir of existing scientific and practical knowledge related to sustainable vineyard management. It will also document a methodology that can support all agricultural sectors to enhance innovation driven research. WINETWORK involves 11 partners who excel in their field representing the entire innovation chain, from science to farmers. The role of the technical relay partners will be to contribute to the collection of data at national level by organising workshops and discussions with as many stakeholders and practitioners as possible (winegrowers, nurseries, public bodies etc.) and to run "pilot actions" in a specific region of interest. This will consist of transferring the project results to local stakeholders (training workshops), including the assessment of such actions. WINETWORK is funded by the European framework Horizon 2020 for 30 months.

Sources: ec.europa.eu/.../agriculture/network-fight-grapevine-diseases