Hessian Innovation Service

Since 2014, the EU has offered the federal states a new funding opportunity with Article 35 of the EAFRD Regulation 1305/2013. The main focus is on associations from practice, research and consulting in order to meet the current challenges of agriculture, forestry, viticulture, horticulture and rural areas. The State of Hesse has selected four submeasures that can be funded under the "Development Plan Rural Areas of the State of Hesse 2014-2020" (EPLR):

1. European Innovation Partnership "Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability" (EIP-Agri)
2. Cooperation within short supply chains and local markets
3. Cooperation in support of actions to mitigate or adapt to climate change
4. Cooperation in support of local strategies not covered by local development policies pursued by the local population

Since 2014, the IfLS has been commissioned as a so-called Hessian Innovation Service Provider (IDL) to support the implementation of the four sub-measures of the so-called Guidelines of the State of Hesse for the Promotion of Innovation and Cooperation in Agriculture and Rural Areas (RL-IZ).

• Advising interested operational groups (OGs) and cooperation in education and in drawing up an action plan 
• Support of the approved OGs and cooperatives in implementation (outside of licensing issues), e.g. public relations, self-evaluation
• Connecting of OGs and cooperatives, e.g. via events
• Support to the EAFRD managing authority in the implementation of the RL-IZ

The core of the application documents is an action plan which describes the projects in detail. The action plan includes several annexes. The necessary forms can be downloaded from the approval authority (Regional Council Gießen).

The procedures differ somewhat:

• A) In the first stage, the action plan is submitted to the IfLS. The EIP Advisory Board evaluates the submitted projects. An application is submitted to the Giessen RC approximately 6 months later.
• B-D) The application (inluding the action plan and further annexes) is submitted directly to the RC Gießen.

EIP-Agri

• April 8th 2019: Submission of action plan to the IfLS (Stage 1)
• October 14th 2019: Submission of application to RC Gießen (Stage 2)

Parts B-D

• March 04th 2019: Application with action plan at RC Gießen
• July 8th 2019: Application with action plan at RC Gießen
• October 14th 2019: Application with action plan at RC Gießen