The latest meeting of the S3 Agrifood Connect & Engage group of Thematic Partnerships brought together leaders from regions and organisations across Europe to advance the practical setup of the group, strengthen knowledge-sharing structures, and align strategic collaboration among agrifood partnerships. The session focused on building a coordinated approach to EU funding, policy engagement, and future joint activities.

Strengthening the Group’s Operational Setup

To support smoother collaboration, a dedicated workspace has been launched. Members were also encouraged to take advantage of the S3 CoP Conference in Brussels (23–24 June) as an opportunity for all agrifood partnerships to meet in person.

A four-layer knowledge-sharing framework was presented, designed to help partnerships better understand each other’s identities, good practices, regional contexts and actionable outputs. 

Benchmarking to Build Synergies and Common Strategies

An initial benchmarking concept was introduced, which includes overlaps and complementarities among partnerships, key thematic and strategic priorities, and opportunities for joint actions and political positioning.

The benchmarking aims to deliver collaboration maps, a shared roadmap or strategy, and coordinated inputs for the S3 Community of Practice (S3 CoP).

The group discussed the evolving relationship between other agrifood-related networks and S3 agrifood partnerships. 

One of the meeting’s key themes was the importance of coordinated communication with the European Commission and the S3 CoP brokers. With funding instruments evolving and competition increasing, partnerships agreed that unified messages and shared priorities will strengthen the agrifood community’s influence at EU level.