|
The outlined objectives necessitate effective links between fundamental and applied research and further on to the application of results into practice.
Federal Research Stations
Links are already present through scientists of federal research stations (FAL, RAC, WSL) participating in the NCCR. These scientists are directly involved in demand-oriented research, crop protection, and agricultural extension, thus, ensuring a constant feedback between fundamental and applied research and the rapid transfer of new knowledge into practice.
Partners and Users
Transfer is greatly enhanced through the collaboration with NCCR partners and users of research results. The partners come from areas such as research, education, counselling, and communication, including mainly the following institutions:
Users are also implicated including farmers, winegrowers, counsellors, and groups involved in environmental protection.
Contacts with partners were established through introductory meetings where members of the NCCR Plant Survival Management and partners presented their structure, research, education, and/or communication goals. Subsequently, efficient communication tools, overlapping interests and possible synergies, partner input, and funding of joint research projects were discussed. Regularly held assemblies among Plant Survival participants and partners proved a useful mean for knowledge transfer: the active input from NCCR scientists and partners resulted in an interdisciplinary exchange; furthermore, the partners’ needs were taken into account in order to possibly adapt the research according to these needs. A continuous dialogue with users is ensured through exchange meetings between Plant Survival researchers and agricultural/viticultural producers, farm visits as well as public events. Partners and interested users receive the NCCR Plant Survival newsletter, PS News, which includes also a section where readers can voice their perspectives on Plant Survival research. Press releases inform about upcoming public events.
Our strong interaction with society is indicated by the list of national and international project partners given below. Among others, a number of contacts within the canton of Neuchâtel were established, illustrating the fact that a large part of Neuchâtel's surface displays the three most important ecosystems studied in the project, including vineyards, cereal cultivated fields, and pasture woodlands.
Extended list of partners and users
- CAB International, Bioscience Centre, Delémont, Switzerland
- Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), Centre de Recherche Montpellier, France
- Centre Suisse de Cartographie de la Faune (CSCF), Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- Colorado State University, Department of Biology, Fort Collins, CO, USA
- Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA), Sciences du Vivant, Cadarache, France
- Fédération Cantonale Neuchâteloise d'Apiculture, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
- Forschungsinstitut für Biologischen Landbau (FiBL), Frick, Switzerland
- Geological Survey of Israel (GSI), Jerusalem, Israel
- Institut für Rebenzüchtung, Geilweilerhof, Siebeldingen, Germany
- Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Agro Montpellier, Unité de Recherche de Biochimie Métabolique et Technologie, Institut des Produits de la Vigne, Montpellier, France
- Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Centre de Recherches de Bordeaux, Villenave-d'Ornon, France
- Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Centre de Versailles-Grignon, Unité de Phytopharmacie et des Médiateurs Chimiques, Versailles, France
- Institute of Arable Crops Research (IACR) Rothamsted, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
- International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico, Mexico
- Max-Planck-Institut für Chemische Ökologie, Jena, Germany
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Potsdam, Germany
- Moët & Chandon, Epernay, France
- National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Cell Biology & Genetic Engineering, Kiev, Ukraine
- National Agricultural Research Foundation, Institute of Plant Protection, Volos, Greece
- Nederlands Instituut voor Oecologisch Onderzoek (NIOO) - Centre for Terrestrial Ecology (CTO), Heteren, The Netherlands
- Pohang University of Science and Technology, Department of Life Science, Korea
- Service de la Viticulture, Département de l'Economie Publique, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- ‘relais’, Birmensdorf
- Swiss Centre for Agricultural Extension: Landwirtschaftliche Beratungszentrale (LBL), Lindau, Switzerland & Service Romand de Vulgarisation Agricole (SRVA), Lausanne, Switzerland
- Société Romande d'Apiculture, Cernier, Switzerland
- Staatliches Weinbauinstitut, Freiburg i.Br., Germany
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Department of Plant Protection Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden
- Swiss Biodiversity Forum, ASSN, Bern, Switzerland
- Swiss College of Agriculture (SCA), Zollikofen, Switzerland
- Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institut für Pharmazeutische Biologie, Germany
- The Swiss Federal Statistical Office (SFSO), Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Foodborne Contaminants Research Unit, Albany, CA, USA
- Universität Karlsruhe, Institut für Mineralogie und Geochemie, Germany
- Universität Rostock, Abteilung Pflanzenphysiologie, Germany
- Université Claude-Bernard- Lyon1, Laboratoire d'Ecologie Microbienne, France
- Université de Bourgogne, Centre des Sciences de la Terre, GéoSol, Dijon, France
- Université de Franche-Comté, Laboratoire de Chrono-Ecologie, Besançon, France
- Université de Lausanne, Laboratoire de Biologie Microbienne, Switzerland
- Université Louis Pasteur Strasbourg I, Centre de Géochimie de la Surface, France
- Universiteit Utrecht, Laboratory of Paleobotany and Palynology, The Netherlands
- University of Applied Sciences, Wädenswil
- University of Newcastle, Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering, School of Biology, United Kingdom
- University of Pennsylvania, Department of Biology, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- University of Reading, Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, United Kingdom
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Institute for Molecular Biological Sciences, The Netherlands
Public Understanding of Science
Public events
In order to launch a vivid exchange between scientists and users, several events aimed at public understanding of science were organised. PhD students, postdocs, but also senior researchers of the NCCR prepared and participated in various interactive exhibitions. These public events also represent an excellent link to the NCCR Graduate School as they provide an excellent opportunity for its members to gain skills in public communication.
- Botanical Garden of Neuchâtel, May 18–October 5, 2003: "When the cells go to the fields – variations around a plant"
- Fête la Terre, Cernier, NE, August 24-25, 2002
- Expoagricole, Expo.02 - Murten/Morat, July 23-25, 2002
- Rencontre entre agriculteurs, viticulteurs et chercheurs, Neuchâtel, April 9, 2002
Available publication
The NCCR Plant Survival activities are presented in a brochure (December 2002) describing research topics, education as well as knowledge and technology transfer issues.
Special KTT Events
Other events aim to increase the awareness of technology transfer issues and to support communication between researchers and partners of a particular field.
- Annual Conference of the Swiss Society of Agronomy (SGPW), March 19, 2004 - Programme (pdf)
-
Meeting between winegrowers, consultants, NCCR researchers and partners (in collaboration with the ETHZ - Institute of Plant Sciences, the University of Applied Sciences Wädenswil, and the Swiss Center of Agricultural Extension - LBL), August 21, 2003, Wädenswil
- Visit of an organic vineyard
- A day in the wildflower strips, Fribourg/Düdingen, September 5, 2002
- Meeting with the Commission for Technology and Innovation, Neuchâtel, August 26, 2002
Joint Research Projects
As a result of the intense communication between NCCR researchers and partners, the following joint research projects have been launched and are supported in part by NCCR reserve funds:
- Novel approaches to induce resistance against Botrytis cinerea
Jean-Pierre Métraux, University of Fribourg; Roger Pezet, RAC-Changins; Giulia De Lorenzo, University of Rome
- Induced resistance in grapevine: from laboratory to field
Geneviève Défago, ETHZ; Brigitte Mauch-Mani, University of Neuchâtel; Lucius Tamm, FiBL
- Below-ground herbivory of maize by larvae of the beetle Diabrotica virgifera and tritrophic interactions with an entomopathogenic nematode
Ted Turlings, University of Neuchâtel; Ulrich Kuhlmann, CABI
- Einfluss von latentem Eutypa- oder Esca-Befall auf wertbestimmende Inhaltsstoffe von Beeren-Most und Wein
Geneviève Défago, ETHZ; Wolfgang Patzwahl, University of Applied Sciences, Wädenswil
In addition, we are preparing a number of project proposals to be sumitted to the CTI (Swiss Commision of Technology and Innovation).
Intellectual Properties
With respect to legal issues of technology transfer, the directorial committee of NCCR Plant Survival frequently consults Nathalie Tissot, professor of law, specialised in intellectual property rights and the legal adviser of the University of Neuchâtel.
The NCCR statutes feature general regulations on technology transfer and provide information on:
- Legal competencies and responsibilities;
- Contracts with third parties;
- Intellectual property and technology transfer; mutual access to results and/or to background technology;
- Confidentiality.
|
 |
|
|
