Information on the ETP Plants for the Future, 18 April 2008

Why did you decide to establish a membership based ETP?
Companies, farmers and academia active in the plant sector all see a major role for the ‘Plants for the Future’ ETP in the coming years to foster the implementation of our Strategic Research Agenda (published 2007), to provide general statements on policy issues crucial for the plant sector, and to encourage strong education and communication activities for our sector.

The second phase of our ETP, which focussed on developing the SRA, was supported by an EU grant which ended last year. So it was up to P4F stakeholders to convert our ETP into a membership based ETP or to close it down. We jointly chose the first option, and maintained a network for interaction of plant sector stakeholders in the research, policy and public arena.

We believe the plant sector has an important role in the current debates on climate change, food supply, health, energy, and environmental issues. Therefore we will continue our discussion with public bodies to integrate these issues further in our ETP work.

What were the formalities you had to go through?
We took some time, nearly one year, to have a thorough analysis of the current situation and future opportunities for our sector and which role the P4F ETP could play in there. All stakeholder groups were engaged in this discussion. Finally we decided to go for a membership based platform consisting of all three stakeholder groups: industry, farmers and academia.

Did you encounter any specific problems?
As you can imagine we faced several challenges. To build on the strength of our ETP we wanted to keep together the three stakeholder groups; we needed to address the needs of all of them to ensure their support. This was crucial for us and we finally succeeded.

How will you organise your legal entity and finance your activities?
P4F will not be registered as a legal entity for the time being. The ETP structure encompasses

• The steering committee to oversee the global direction of the platform: it will meet annually with members (the financial contributors to the ETP), experts (appointed by the members, for instance on SME issues) and observers (representing ETP partners).
• The elected management team (members are from all three stakeholder groups) to assist the coordinator and to represent the ETP.
• The coordinator for operational leadership, in charge of day-to-day operational activities. He/she is the primary contact and the representation to the “outside world”.
• Task forces that will complement the permanent bodies on a temporary basis being responsible for developing and leading agreed activities.

In addition to the core financing provided by P4F ETP members, we will apply for third party financing for specific tasks and activities.

How do you see the future of your ETP?
Our aim is to create a competitive plant sector in Europe, in order to address five social challenges:

• Healthy, safe and sufficient food and feed
• Plant-based products – chemical and bioenergy
• Sustainable agriculture, forestry and landscape
• Vibrant and competitive basic research
• Consumer choice and governance

The Vision paper and the Strategic Research Agenda are finalized, therefore the focus will now be on implementation (based on shorter term action plans), monitoring and updating of the SRA. The SRA is not limited to research; it includes societal, legal, educational and communication issues.

Our focus in the next three years with be on promoting and advocating strategic and internationally competitive research. Education, communication and support for innovation (including general policy statements) will be complementary tasks.

To achieve this we will work closely with our partners: related ETPs from the Knowledge-Based Bio-economy area (KBBE), the ERA-Net on Plant Genomics and Plant-KBBE, research councils and political bodies at European, multi-national and national level. We will encourage the development of national support groups or Technology Platforms.

Contact and links
Web site: www.plantsforthefuture.eu
Documents and Publications: http://www.epsoweb.org/Catalog/TP/TP%20Documents.htm
Vision link: http://www.epsoweb.org/Catalog/TP/Plants%20for%20the%20future-Dec04.pdf
SRA link: Summary: http://www.epsoweb.org/Catalog/TP/Launch_25June07/TP_SRA_Summary.pdf
Full SRA: http://www.epsoweb.org/Catalog/TP/SRA_PART_II.pdf

Contact:
Karin Metzlaff, Coordinator of the ‘Plants for the Future’ ETP
plantTP@epsomail.org
‘Plants for the Future’ ETP
c/o EPSO
Rue de l’Industrie 4
1000 Brussels
Belgium