The world demographic growth and global climate change are major challenges for human society,hence the need to design new strategies for maintaining high crop yield in unprecedented environmental conditions.The objective of TomGEM is to design new strategies aiming to maintain high yields of fruit and vegetables at harsh temperature conditions, using tomato as a reference fleshy fruit crop.As yield is a complex trait depending on successful completion of different steps of reproductive organ development, including flower differentiation and efficient flower fertilization,TomGEM will use trans-disciplinary approaches to investigate the impact of high temperature on these developmental processes.The core of the project deals with mining and phenotyping a vast range of genetic resources to identify cultivars/genotypes displaying yield stability and to uncover loci/genes controlling flower initiation,pollen fertility and fruit set.Moreover,since high yield and elevated temperatures can be detrimental to quality traits,TomGEM will also tackle the fruit quality issue.The goal is to provide new targets and novel strategies to foster breeding of new tomato cultivars with improved yield.The main strength of TomGEM resides in the use of unique and unexplored genetic resources available to members of the consortium.It gathers expert academic researchers and private actors committed to implement a multi-actor approach based on demand driven innovation.Tomato producers and breeders are strongly involved from design to implementation of the project and until the dissemination of results.TomGEM will provide new targets and novel strategies to foster the breeding of new tomato cultivars with improved yield under suboptimal temperature conditions.TomGEM will translate scientific insights into practical strategies for better handling of interactions between genotype,environment and management to offer holistic solutions to the challenge of increasing food quality and productivity.

Despite the adoption of several reform programs Bulgaria still has the lowest research and innovation index of all EU Member states. Key reasons for Bulgaria’s comparatively poor record of innovation are the insufficient investment in R&D, fluctuating labour force, the almost non-existent linkages between research and the needs of the productive sector and a lack of high-tech science and business parks. With the newly released Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) Bulgaria has an unparalleled opportunity to transform itself into a knowledge-based and R&D-led economy and to turn its research system into an engine of innovation and smart specialization. Plant systems biology, biotechnology, and healthy life have been set in the S3 as top priorities and represent research topics, which are highly addressed in Plovdiv, the biggest academic center in Southern Bulgaria and the most important agricultural region within the country. Most local research units are very productive and competitive at international level harbouring a huge academic and business potential. The goal of the project is to establish a Center of Plant Systems Biology and Biotechnology (CPSBB) in Plovdiv, which will stand at the forefront of plant sciences in Bulgaria. Building on the excellence in plant sciences and biotechnology research of Potsdam, Germany, the CPSBB will implement cutting-edge genetics, functional genomics, metabolomics and bioinformatics technologies to unravel the plant biochemical machinery and translate the scientific knowledge into the food market and industrial applications for development of value-added products with potential markets in medicine, pharmacy and cosmetics. The CPSBB will provide the missing links between academia and industry in the region and will take a leading role in educating next-generation researchers in the fields of plant systems biology and biotechnology. Thus, the CPSBB will fill the scientific and technological gaps identified in the S3 of Bulgaria.

Twenty partners in Bulgaria come together for European Researchers Night ‘20 to present FRESHER (Find Research Everywhere, SHare and expERience) - a 12-month project led by the Centre for Research & Analysis, in a Consortium, now in its 5th year, with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, universities, research institutes, the only Bulgarian tech park, a chamber of industry and commerce, the local office of a pan-European organisation, education entrepreneurship, and associate partners. FRESHER offers a series of specially curated, coordinated, multi-day participatory events at over 50 venues and 30+ schools in 25 cities/towns/villages. The talks, shows, hands-on experiments, lab visits, citizen research, competitions will reach 3.6 mln, and engage directly with 30,000 in face-to-face events at schools, libraries, museums, academic and outdoor venues, public transport and online. Building on well researched, popular formats for researchers’ engagement with the public, FRESHER provides multidisciplinary content around the International Year of Plant Health. The topic will feature in the programmes of all partners to assert the relevance of research to everyday life. Building on the Consortium’s existing understanding developed through previous local initiatives including Researchers Night, and addressing findings of research (MASIS report, Education & Training Monitor 2019 for Bulgaria, Women in Digital Scoreboard 2019, Science, Research & Innovation Performance in EU 2018), FRESHER focuses on enhancing public engagement with research and shortening the gap in the decision of young people and girls in particular to choose STEAM careers. The activities will step on previous evaluation and generate fresh, aligned data. The project will strengthen the capacity of all partners to organise accessible events for the general public, and to tailor messages for underserved audiences, including girls, young people at risk of school drop-out, as well as people with special needs.

FRESH (Find Research Everywhere and SHare) is led by the Center for Research and Analysis with 13 partners and 5 associated partners. The Consortium includes Bulgaria’s first technological park, a chamber of industry and commerce, a pan-European organisation, leading research organisations, academia, and media. The aim is to create a series of participatory and media events to promote research careers, aimed in particular towards young people and their parents. Building on existing understanding developed through previous local initiatives including Researchers Night, and with reference to Europe-wide research like the Special Eurobarometer 401, as well as the MASIS report and the in-depth Education and Training Monitor 2015 for Bulgaria , the focus of this 20-month programme will be on enhancing the public understanding of and engagement with science. Core activities during the Night will include a digital participatory campaign to engage audiences across the country; international live streaming; science city quests and quizzes; science cafes; hands-on experiments; science shows; simulations; games and competitions. Thematic programmes will include, among other, food and nutrition, inspired by 2016 International Year of Pulses , engineering, oceanology, innovation and business incubators, technological transfer, medicine, and others. The on-the-ground activities will take place in the largest cities including several where Researchers Night has not been marked. Innovation will be an intricate part of the events through the use of online technology to enhance the physical activity, engage particularly young audiences and to guarantee sustainability outside the lifespan of the project. The activities of the first year will allow learning to accrue from a thorough evaluation. The project will strengthen the capabilities of the partners in organising events for a general audience, and for underserved audiences, including girls and people with hearing disabilities.

G2P-SOL is a research alliance bringing together the major European and International repositories of germplasm with public and private institutions active in genomics, phenotyping and breeding in the four major Solanaceous crops: potato, tomato, pepper and eggplant. These four crops constitute 66% of the value of European horticultural production, and over 65,000 accessions are available within the consortium. By harnessing the available global biodiversity, novel genotyping and phenotyping concepts and data analysis tools, the G2P-SOL project will link the genetic code underlying Solanaceae biodiversity with the traits that improve productivity, adaptation and human health. By making this information accessible to end-users, the awareness of the available diversity will be increased and use of this genetic diversity in breeding programs will be stimulated, resulting in diversified production chains. The phenotypes and traits of material held in European and major international collections will be described using common ontology terms developed in this project and this information will be housed in an open source software platform, allowing easy interfacing with existing platforms for germplasm cataloguing. G2P-SOL will develop shared values in science and education in the following areas: 1) Defining and maintaining genetic pools for crop improvement. 2) Phenomic and genomic data: generation, analysis, storage, and linkage with gene banks. 3) Pre-breeding and germplasm enhancement. 4) Training, workshops and public outreach. G2P-SOL will redefine how to manage and organize genetic resources and linked genomic and phenomic information in a manner that will make them accessible to naturalists, geneticists and breeders for conservation, scientific research, and breeding in the post genomic era, in compliance with the objectives of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources and the Nagoya Protocol.