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The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed today announced the results of the second competitive Open Call to select proposals to proceed to the full implementation phase of the European Innovation Partnerships Initiative (EIP).  Projects developed under the EIP initiative are developed by Operational Groups which will be funded under Ireland’s Rural Development Programme 2014 – 2020. 

The Minister commented

This is the culmination of the second Open Call under the EIP initiative and I am delighted announce this selection of 9 new projects.  With the 12 projects chosen under the first Open Call, the Hen Harrier Programme and the Freshwater Pearl Mussel Programme, my Department has now brought EIP 23 projects to implementation stage.   This is an exciting development and I wish all the groups well in their work of design and rolling out these schemes over the coming years.  

This latest range of projects selected under EIP will address challenges such as biodiversity, pollination, bio energy and sustainability, and will further demonstrate the creativity and resourcefulness that is abundant in Ireland’s rural sector.

The Minister added

Another €10m is now being allocated to 9 new EIPs that have come through a competitive selection process.  This brings the amount of funding made available to EIP projects to €57 million.  These projects are bottom-up, and will be designed and run by organisation groups, with the support of my Department.  These projects offer an exciting opportunity to help us to build on the success of the agri-food sector in recent years, and to address some of the remaining challenges with fresh approaches.

Note for Editors

The European Innovation Partnerships Initiative (EIP) under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 (RDP) is a new co-operation measure under Article 35(1) of the regulation. These locally led schemes promote local solutions to specific issues and involve the establishment of Operational Groups to develop ideas, or take existing ideas/research and put them into practice by being hands on in terms of working towards the resolution of a practical problem.   

Call 1 of the EIP competitive process started in December, 2016 with an initial open call for ideas and an invitation to submit proposals.  Following assessment of these proposals, 12 projects were selected and these have now begun full implementation on the ground.  

Call 2 under this initiative issued in August, 2017. Proposals were evaluated by a committee against qualitative criteria including relevance to the EIP programme, the innovativeness of the proposed approach, and compatibility with Rural Development Programme priorities.  This generated a shortlist of 19 applicants chosen to go forward to Round 2.  These applications were funded to prepare detailed project plans. Following assessment of these plans, 9 projects have now been selected for implementation, with up to 100% funding provided under the new initiative.  

Information on the European Innovation Partnership initiative can be accessed on the Department website at DAFM - European Innovation Partnership or by contacting eip@agriculture.gov.ie

Details of the proposals approved under Call 2 for full implementation are set out in the table below.