EIR 0-2 News from EI

2006 OVERVIEW

by Frédéric Morand, Eco Innovation Secretary

Dear Eco Innovation Community Member,

2006 was a transition year for EI, firstly as an organisation, and secondly as an organisation involved in research.

ORGANISATION
Just one year ago new interns resumed the stimulating work of their 2005 predecessors and helped us take our young organisation to its next steps. One of these steps included the conception of a logo, mostly internally and finally with the input of a graphical designer. Please let us know if this should be our final logo!

Another step was the substantial develoment of our Business Plan with a financial section being validated by an independent auditor. This document is now ready to be adapted to the latest circumstances and communicated. One of its core features is its orientation toward e-learning - on which more to come in EIR 1.

A third step was the development of our collaborative platform, initiated in 2005. Drupal is an open source content management platform that we have used to create our online information system in a very customised way. We expect to use it in the future to further develop the interactive features of our platform (e.g., podcast, chatroom, videoconference, multimedia such as video, Flash).

On the logistical side, our secretariat has moved to Belgium in September 2006, due to professional opportunities opened at the Free University of Brussels. At least for the time being, Eco Innovation will remain registered in Ireland, where we have fulfilled all our tax and other legal obligations, and where our webmaster and two of our directors are located.

RESEARCH
On the research side, 2006 has seen the publication of research from past projects, the conclusion of one FP5 project and the related generation of a first series of working papers around the integration of institutions. EI completed an Irish exploratory project in mountain farming systems with promising perspectives in agri-environment policy research (see future EIR issues for details). An EU-funded project of much larger scope (Network of Excellence) has unofficially started in the last months of the year, with exciting ambitions in the area of durable pest control strategies.

We have ended the year with a substantial portfolio of research proposals submitted to FP6, COST and others sources. In a nutshell, these proposals focus on eco-innovation as a governance tool (EMBED), the generation and/or marketing of eco-innovation in specific sectors (agro-tourism and agro-biodiversity: GEL, sport turf: GRASSROOT) or geographic areas (mountain range: Burren-tender; drylands GRASS). Two interns have also contributed to our preliminary steps in pig research (on which more to come in future EIR issues).

Besides our dissemination of research outputs with a increasing focus on e-learning, social learning and multimedia approaches, 2007 should see further transitions such as the consolidation of our Business Plan, the resubmission of promising proposals, the development of our collaborative platform, the enlargement and engagement of our network.

Should you feel interested in Eco Innovation's endeavours, we would welcome your participation in our development. Feel free to send back any suggestions regarding any aspects of Eco Innovation.

Yours,
Frédéric Morand
26 January 2007