SUNRISE aims to foster the agroecological transition by establishing a network of agroecological living labs (AELLs) across 10 European countries, building upon already existing living labs (5 actual AELLs) or situations that have great potential of becoming active AELL in three years (5 potential AELLs).
AELLs are framed at sub-regional or regional level and are based on networks of actors (multi-actor teams, MATs) already engaged in agroecological practices/value chains at an early or advanced stage. They include: (i) farmers (organic and conventional), individual or associated (e.g., in a bio-district/other farm network); (ii) agricultural advisors; (iii) upstream and downstream companies (e.g., producers of agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilisers/amendments, biopesticides, machinery; food/feed processors or retailers); (iv) civil society organisations (e.g., NGOs, consumer associations); (v) regional/national policy makers; (vi) researchers.
MATs will be consolidated in all SUNRISE countries engaged in AELL activities at a very early stage of the project. MATs are responsible for all activities of innovation co-creation, demonstration, and knowledge sharing centred on innovative agroecological practices. In all countries, there is a history of previous collaboration among MAT members (or part of them) in participatory research projects.
In all AELL areas, there are one or more research infrastructures (RIs; e.g., research centre, experimental farm, long-term experiment, laboratory) already active in agroecological research, where some of the co-created innovations (i.e., agroecological practices) are tested (on-station research). To facilitate knowledge exchange and strengthen a co-creation culture, innovation testing will also take place at one or more pilot farms (on-farm research). RIs and commercial farms where research/innovation testing is conducted will be the target sites for dissemination/demonstration activities (e.g., field days, hands-on workshops), thus serving as AELLs’ Local Lighthouses.
SUNRISE universities/research centres will mobilise an interdisciplinary expert team covering all the 6 sub-themes of Theme 1 at the consortium level (minimum 3 sub-themes per AELL).
The proposal core is to co-design, co-test, co-evaluate, co-validate and co-share novel agroecological solutions (i.e., practices) aimed to overcome key agronomic problems (highlighted by each AELL) that impede or delay the agroecological transition. Activities in AELLs are centred on priority sub-themes and related potential agroecological solutions to be tested: these have already been identified (Fig. 2) and will be validated by each MAT at an early stage of SUNRISE. They address the most important cropping/farming system in the target regions (arable, vegetable, fruit/orchard, mixed crop/livestock, agroforestry).
Project activities in each AELL encompass 11 stages (common across countries), all conducted within MATs, with continuous engagement of all actors in innovation co-creation and knowledge-sharing, including co-drafting of guidelines on AELL establishment and functioning, and suggestions for the improvement of policies aimed to foster the agroecological transition in the target regions and elsewhere. Successful activities will allow synthesising and upscaling of SUNRISE approaches and outcomes from a local level (Local Lighthouses) to a European one (European Lighthouses), laying the basis for a permanent AELL network.
