The S3 CoP service on Funding, Finance and Investment Assistance finished the work done with Traceability & Big Data by the end of June. During more than 8 months, this service has explored the needs and challenges of the Partnership.

At the beginning, and after some interviews to further explore the Partnership momentum, the S3 CoP expert in charge prepared a concept note about the main areas to be covered during the service:

• The exploration of needs to locate finance and/or funding at the entire S3 Partnership level, collaborating with the work started by the T&BD Road Map Working Group.
• The complete definition of the focus of Technical Working Groups and deep-dive on concrete funding opportunities.

The Service continued with regular meetings with our Working Groups to design tools in order to better define the scope to work in. Thus, specific surveys have been created with a focus on the capacities and expectations of participants, with a common objective of tracing the path to set collaborative projects around the topics.

Specifically, results obtained for the T&BD in Circular Economy & Bioeconomy Working Group were presented by the end of June. The Working Group on Interoperability will start collecting concrete technical insights in the following weeks.

Regarding the Road Map Working Group, it is currently receiving inputs from the regions and stakeholders. Until the end of September, stakeholders involved in Traceability & Big Data through their regions can participate and fill in their capacities and interests. Concrete results will be shared and will help to better connect opportunities for interregional collaboration.

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‍Link to the survey: https://forms.gle/fWSx8QVD7VLs9neZ8

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The service concluded officially with a recap meeting by the end of June. Furthermore, as previously commented, work is still ongoing and will be complemented with the second S3 CoP service that will start in mid-September approx.

Before this official end, Mar Catedra, Technical Coordinator of Traceability & Big Data, shared the experience with the Funding Service in the dedicated breakout session as part of the Thematic Smart Specialisation Partnerships Steering Committee meeting, held on 10 and 11 June. Ms Catedra highlighted the strong involvement of the S3 CoP expert and the tailored service.

As defined by the S3 CoP, the ultimate objective of the Funding service is the improvement of the Thematic Partnerships capacities in identifying (and activating) opportunities that match their funding needs and embracing specific and targeted opportunities. Traceability & Big Data will continue working in the medium and long run to improve capacities as a necessary condition for guaranteeing Partnership project implementation and delivering relevant impact to the European agrifood sector.