ALL-Ready Glossary
Disclaimer
In order to facilitate the reading of ALL-Ready documents and project deliverables, ALL-Ready partners have developed this glossary of key terms and concepts. The definitions reflect the ALL-Ready consortium’s interpretation and understanding and are therefore not universally applicable definitions. They were provided by ALL-Ready partners to facilitate the understanding of how these terms are used within the ALL-Ready project.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| A | |
| Adaptability | To manage transitions and challenges in complex sustainability situations and make decisions related to the future in the face of uncertainty, ambiguity and risk. |
| Agroecology (AE) | Agroecology is a dynamic concept and its definition keeps evolving, see Gliessman 2018. The draft proposal of the European Partnership under Horizon Europe "Accelerating farming systems transition: Agroecology Living Labs and Research Infrastructures” defines agroecology as the science of ecological processes applied to agricultural production systems, benefiting from the interplay between science, technology and traditional or indigenous knowledge by farmers and stakeholders in value chains. |
| Agroecology Living Lab (AELL) | See the definition of Living Labs below. When applied to Agroecology, Living Labs may be defined as transdisciplinary approaches which involve farmers, scientists and other interested partners in the co-design, and the monitoring and evaluation of new and existing agricultural practices and technologies on working landscapes to improve their effectiveness and early adoption. AELLs work towards improving sustainability and resilience at the agroecosystem and landscape levels. As with other Living Labs, users – in this case farmers – are at the centre. |
| Agroecology Research Infrastructure (AERI) | See the definition of Research Infrastructure below. Facilities that provide resources and services for research communities to conduct research and foster innovation on agroecology, and therefore can contribute to agroecology transition. They are dedicated to research communities, and allow scientists to observe, experiment, predict agroecosystem and agri-food redesign. All together they contribute to bringing a corpus of scientific knowledge on agroecology for agroecology transition. |
| Agroecology Living Labs and Research Infrastructures (AELLRI) | See definition of AELL and AERI above. LLs and RIs can be complementary in allowing ambitious experimentation between practice and science at different scales to provide science-based evidence about the effect of measures in agriculture. LLs and RIs, hand in hand, should form efficient instruments to accelerate the agroecology transition. |
| Agroecology transition and transformation | The agroecology transition focuses on the application of ecological principles to farming systems that emerge from specific socioecological and cultural contexts in place-based territories and social and political processes that centre the knowledge and agency of local actors. Fundamental changes of agroecology transitions in the overall design of farming systems (e.g. reintroduction of diversity in farm structure and management) implicate the entire agri-food system, because agricultural products (type, composition) will be different and have to be integrated in new foods and diets. Such fundamental changes in farming systems require the transformation of food systems, in line with the 13 principles of agroecology, including value chains and consumer preferences that promote the transition to more sustainable practices. |
ALL-Ready Pilot network | Small-scale network of Agroecology Living Labs and Research Infrastructures across Europe within ALL-Ready that tests the tools and programmes developed by the project and builds cooperation among the members through the co-creation of joint activities in line with the common agroecological interests of the pilot members. |
| C | |
| Capacity Building Programme | A capacity building programme is a collection of knowledge materials, learning tools & methods to support stakeholders in the development of their skills and competencies. Capacity building to support agroecology transition is based on a 3-level approach strongly related to target users:
|
| Co-create | Act together in a process where users play a central role from beginning to end in the design and implementation. |
| Co-creation in agroecology | Co-development of knowledge by participatory processes and through the sharing of traditional, producers’ and traders’ practical knowledge, and global scientific knowledge among the agroecological stakeholders (from farmers to civil society). This can mobilise and bring together complementary and transversal agroecological expertise which increases the speed and uptake of innovations while also increasing awareness and relevance of agroecology transition. |
| Co-creation vs. co-design | In a Living Lab, values are bottom-up co-created not only for but also by all relevant stakeholders, ensuring a higher adoption in the end. Co-design is a specific type of co-creation focusing on iterative (usability) development of products or services. |
| Collective action | To act for change in collaboration with others. |
| Competencies | According to Spencer and Spencer (1993), competencies are best described and visualised as an iceberg with a person’s knowledge and skills representing the visible tip of the iceberg, while the underlying and enduring personal characteristics or self-concepts, traits and motives (for example, self-confidence, initiative, empathy, achievement orientation, etc.) which represent the larger portion of the iceberg, are hidden below the waterline. |
| Consult | Listen to feedback from a stakeholder without giving him/her the opportunity to formulate new ideas. |
| E | |
| European network of Agroecology Living Labs and Research Infrastructures | ALL-Ready lays the ground for a network of Agroecology LLs and RI. The network should aim at connecting and empowering place-based innovation across Europe supporting practices for agricultural production that pilot, create and use diversity. ALL-Ready has launched a pilot network and welcomes initiatives based on their self-evaluation of the added value of and for the network (see above). |
| European partnership of Agroecology LLs and RIs | The candidate European Partnership “Accelerating farming Systems Transition: Agroecology, Living Labs and Research Infrastructures”. The partnership aims to accelerate the transition towards sustainable, climate- and ecosystem-friendly farming practices. To do so, it will 1) enable a better comprehension of agroecological processes from farm to landscape levels, 2) boost place-based innovation in co-creative environments and 3) improve the flow and uptake of knowledge and innovations on agroecology. It pursues the common vision to team-up and unlock the transition to agroecology so that farming systems are resilient, prosperous, place-sensitive, climate-, biodiversity- and people-friendly by 2050. More information see here. |
| F | |
| Framework of competencies | A framework of competencies is a valid, observable, and measurable list of competencies demonstrated through behaviour, that results in outstanding performance in a particular context or role. ALL-Ready developed a framework of competences to support agroecology transition. |
| I | |
| Implementation Plan | In the framework of ALL-Ready, the implementation plan provides a structured framework to sustainably implement, run, monitor and adapt the European Network of Agroecology Living Labs and Research Infrastructures in the long term. The Implementation Plan will contain ambitions, objectives and targets for key performance indicators for different time scales, funding and financial strategies, a risk register explaining how to address risk factors that might hamper the long-term sustainability of the network and outline how the added value will be monitored over time. |
| Inform | Inform about something without the possibility of the stakeholder to intervene |
| Involve | Take into account the new ideas from stakeholders and decide together. |
| L | |
| Living Lab (LL) | Living Labs are defined as user-centred, open innovation ecosystems based on systematic user co-creation approach, integrating research and innovation processes in real life communities and settings. LLs are both practice-driven organisations that facilitate and foster open, collaborative innovation, as well as real-life environments or arenas where both open innovation and user innovation processes can be studied and subject to experiments and where new solutions are developed. LLs are built on three principles: co-creation, involving users and in real-life conditions. They operate as intermediaries among citizens, research organisations, companies, cities and regions for joint value co-creation, rapid prototyping or validation to scale up innovation and businesses. |
| M | |
| Mapping | In the context of ALL-Ready, mapping of Agroecology Living Labs and Research infrastructures connotes (1) ‘mind maps’ which involve writing down a central theme, and thinking of new and related ideas which radiate from the central themes and (2) the surveying of initiatives and policies in order to get an overview of innovation systems and societal drivers behind agroecology transition. |
| Multi-method approach | For problem driven activities, the methodological approach towards every individual activity will be selected based on the expected outcomes of the activity and the stakeholders who need to be involved. |
| Multi-stakeholder participation | Taking a holistic view on society, involving stakeholders from the quadruple helix model: government, academia, private sector and citizens. |
| O | |
| Open innovation arrangements | Participatory innovation arrangements that resemble those of Living Labs (see above). These are often off-station and characterised by participatory methods in response to user demand, but are not necessarily structured as Living Labs. |
| Q | |
| Quadruple helix | Government, academia, private sector and citizens are part of the so-called Quadruple Helix model (QHM), where users are placed at the heart of the innovation ecosystem. This means that citizens/users must be considered as actors, not factors, of the innovation process. |
| R | |
| Real-life settings | A Living Lab operates in the real-life setting of the end users, infusing innovations into their real life instead of moving the user to test sites to explore the innovations, e.g. on-farm experiments. |
| Research Infrastructure (RI) | Research Infrastructures are facilities that provide resources and services for research communities to conduct research and foster innovation. They can be used beyond research e.g., for education or public services and they may be single-sited, distributed, or virtual. They include major scientific equipment or sets of instruments, collections, archives or scientific data computing systems and communication networks or any other research and innovation infrastructure of a unique nature which is open to external users. For more info see here. |
| S | |
| Stakeholders | Group who has an interest in an activity, project, innovation process etc. or is affected by it in some way. |
| Stakeholder engagement | Include stakeholder in design and decision-making. Different levels of engagement: inform – consult – involve – co-create (see above). |
| Systems-thinking | To approach a sustainability problem from all sides; to consider time, space and context in order to understand how elements interact within and between systems. |
| V | |
| Valuing sustainability | To reflect on personal values; identify and explain how values vary among people and over time, while critically evaluating how they align with sustainability values. |
| Virtual Lab for agroecology | A Virtual Lab can be defined as a platform in the form of a website designed to make it easier for users to find and securely access data and use it in innovative ways. A Virtual Lab provides seamless access to all services a data-user needs to do data-related work and collaborate with the community to create new knowledge. With a Virtual Lab, users can store, find, access, visualise, analyse and share their data, thereby reducing barriers to collaborative working. Therefore, a Virtual Lab can be used to answer questions using research and innovation, in this case, applied to agroecology. |
| # | |
| 13 principles of agroecology | In 2019, the HLPE report on “Agroecological approaches and other innovations for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition” was published. This report is the first FAO report dealing prominently with agroecology. It suggests a concise set of 13 agroecological principles (recycling, input reduction, soil & animal health, biodiversity, synergy, economic diversification, co-creation of knowledge, social values and diets, fairness, connectivity, land and natural resource governance, participation). |
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