European research resources in the forest-based sector remain fragmented due to multiple uncoordinated activities. ForestValue2 is to contribute i) to provision of a shared and robust knowledge base to make Europe’s transition to being the first climate neutral continent by 2050 a reality, and ii) overcoming the fragmentation of public research efforts in the EU and to reinforce work on research priorities that call for a stronger coordination and collaboration. Encouraging wide engagement, in particular early-stage researchers and EU widening countries, the CSA will strengthen the ERA. ForestValue2 brings together 14 owners and managers of national and regional RDI programmes in 11 Member States of the European Union - FI, IE, DE, ES, SI, LV, PL, SK, IT, EE, RO - and in one Associated Country (NO) with an aim to coordinate national and regional R&I programmes by pooling national resources and contributing to the alignment of national research and innovation policies. The project has four main objectives: 1) Identification of common research and innovation priorities agreed among the participating national and regional R&I programmes in the area of forest-based bioeconomy, taking into account international developments where relevant; 2) Implementation of a joint call(s), resulting in the funding of transnational collaborative R&I projects; 3) Implementation of other joint activities supporting the market, regulatory or societal uptake based on forest science results; 4) A multi-actor approach in addressing Global Challenges, including relevant contribution to the SDGs. Six of the partners come from the widening countries, whilst at the same time representing the BIOEAST Initiative. ForestValue2 will address “improving access to excellence” through a portfolio of actions that aim at building up R&I capacities especially in EU13 and Ukraine and Republic of Moldova, to enable them to advance to the competitive edge at European and international level.

The aim of the “ERA-NET Cofund on Sustainable Crop production“ (SusCrop) is to strengthen the European Research Area (ERA) in the field of crop research, in particular in relation to crop production. The SusCrop partners, a consortium of European programme managers and programme owners, will provide a joint call for proposals in the R&D area of sustainable crop production. It will be co-funded by the partners of the consortium and the European Commission and will address the following research topics: • Enhancement of predictive breeding technologies and development of new genotypes leading to new phenotypes and crop varieties • Development and exploitation of novel integrated pest and crop management methods and practices • Improvement of resource-use efficiency of crops and cropping systems • Systemic research on agricultural crops as part of an ecosystem (“plant as a meta-organism”) The potential of further joint funding activities of the consortium without cofunding of the EC will be proved and implemented as appropriate. By a broad range of accompanying measures that go beyond these funding activities, it will further contribute to: • Harmonise data collection on sustainable cropping to deliver a database that can be mined to build models and indices of sustainability and resilience • Develop methods of assessing the sustainability and resilience of cropping systems at different levels (e.g. field, farm, landscape) using ICT-based knowledge technologies Additionally it will provide a strategic direction for a sustainable crop production for the future and will work in close collaboration with the Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE-JPI).

The overall objective of the proposed Cofund action “ForestValue - Innovating the forest-based bioeconomy” is to promote increased innovation and competitiveness of the forest-based sector in Europe and support its transformation from a resource-intensive to a knowledge-intensive, productive, resource-efficient and resilient sector. Sustainability and modernisation of forestry systems and downstream value chains including innovative business concepts and production technologies will be needed to develop the forestry sector and the European bioeconomy, of which forestry accounts for a large share. The aim of ForestValue is to comprise the joint implementation of a trans-national call for proposals for research, development and innovation in the forest-based sector with a clear financial commitment from the participating national (or regional) research programmes and the EU. The topics of the planned ForestValue joint call will contribute to transforming the global economy from a dependence on fossil and non-renewable raw materials to a sustainable “bio-based economy”. The primary purpose is to allow the partners in the consortium to successfully implement and fund a co-funded joint call in the field of forestry and the wood sector. ForestValue builds on the success of three forest-based ERA-NETs: WoodWisdom-Net (running since 2004, the present phase running under the FP7 ERA-NET Plus Scheme 2012-2017), SUMFOREST (Tackling the challenges in sustainable and multifunctional forestry through enhanced research coordination for policy decisions, 2014-2017) and FORESTERRA (Enhancing forest research in the Mediterranean through improved coordination and integration, 2012-2015). The consortium consists of 31 partners representing different programmes in the bioeconomy funding sector, coming from different regions and countries inside/outside Europe.