On Tuesday, 5th March 2019, MicrobiomeSupport partners and advisory board representatives continued with the second day of the Common Ground Workshop at the Hilton Danube Waterfront Hotel in Vienna. Participants focussed on developing a vision for microbiome research towards FOOD 2030. The vision exercise picked up on the discussion of the previous day on the status quo within microbiome research. Read more here.

MicrobiomeSupport Common Ground Workshop participants in Vienna on 5th March 2019

Participants were allocated in three groups (policy, industry and science) and asked to imagine themselves to be in the year 2030, eight years after the project has finished. The FOOD 2030 policy initiative goals have been achieved and MicrobiomeSupport was successful in creating a collaborative and integrative international network on microbiome research and innovation as well as expertise in bioeconomy applications. Questions that were considered were:

  • What have been the core achievements in the microbiome field post MicrobiomeSupport?
  • What have been the trends and key topics?
  • What have been the barriers?
  • How did MicrobiomeSupport contribute to this FOOD 2030 vision?

The initial highlights from the vision exercise were:

The Common Ground Workshop finished with a brief introduction to the Coordination and Support Action ‘Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance’ (AORA) and microbiome considerations in the marine environment, particularly in the context of oceans being regulators of climate. Further, the next steps for assessing microbiome research funding throughout the International Bioeconomy Forum countries were outlined:

  • Roll out the full survey for mapping microbiome research considering research projects (topics, funders, participants, budgets) and get an overview on infrastructures (incl. databases), institutions and experts, collaborations and education
  • Use the data to inform and underpin work on defining strategic R&I agendas
  • Support the collaboration and cooperation for the bio-economy
  • Foster citizen dialogue

The MicrobiomeSupport partners thank all workshop participants for their active and enthusiastic support and are looking forward to continuing the successful collaboration in the next four years!