Great discussions and valuable exchanges at the final meeting of the 6th mandate of the SCAR AKIS Working Group in The Hague!

Over two productive days, nearly 40 participants from across Europe came together to discuss the future of AKIS, share experiences, and explore opportunities for collaboration.

Key topics included:
🔹 CAP and AKIS developments
🔹 Horizon Europe updates and future priorities
🔹 Living Labs and co-creation approaches
🔹 Strengthening AKIS in Ukraine
🔹 Connecting AKIS and Food Systems

The meeting opened with a welcome by Ino Ostendorf, Director of Strategy, Knowledge and Innovation Department. Participants heard contributions from Giulia Campodonico (ENoLL), Orsolya Frizon-Somogyi, Joanna Kiszko, Agata Gulisano and representatives of the modernAKIS, ATTRACTISS and NUTRI-KNOW projects.

A dedicated session on connecting AKIS and Food Systems included an update from Silvia Scaramuzzi on SCAR Food Systems activities. The session, led by Thom Achterbosch (FOSTER Project), also featured contributions from FOSTER and SCAR Foresight colleagues, exploring opportunities to strengthen collaboration, knowledge exchange and innovation across Europe's agri-food ecosystem.

The meeting also included field visits in the Dutch peatland regions, providing participants with an opportunity to see innovation, water management and knowledge exchange in practice.

The event marked the conclusion of the current mandate and a transition in leadership, with Juan Pedro Romero Trueba joining Ewa Grodzka as co-chair for the next mandate. We wish Jan Van Esch all the best and thank him for his longstanding contribution to the work of the SCAR AKIS Working Group.

Thank you to our Dutch hosts for a productive and engaging meeting, and to all participants for their valuable contributions.