FAIR-CT96-1904 NF-2000: Non-Food Agro-Industrial Dissemination (NF-AIRID) Through Paper and Electronic Means

Contacts
Website: www.nf-2000.org
Summary Information



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Agricultural Residues : Biocomposites/Boards : Biological Conversion : Biopolymers/Gums : Biotechnology : Bulk Chemicals : Chemical Conversion : Composts/Fertilisers : Detergents : Drying/Pretreatment : Economics : Enviromental Aspects : Essential Oil : FAIR Area 1.2 - Green Chemicals and Polymers Chain : Fibre : Fine Chemicals : Fish Oil/Fat : Flavours/Fragrances : Integrated Crop Protection & Biological Control : Liquid Biofuels and Biogas : Packaging : Paints/Coatings/Plastics : Paper/Pulp : Pharmaceuticals/Cosmetics : Plant Genetics : Process Engineering : Protein/Amino Acid : Pulping : Separation/Fractionation : Starch : Storage/Transport : Straw : Sugar : Textiles/Fabrics/Geomembranes : Thermochemical Conversion : Vegetable Oil/Fat : Wood (Lignocellulose)

	Proposal No:	FAIR-CT96-1904
	Date Prepared:	March 1997, April 1998, December 1998
	Source:	Status at Launch of NF-2000 First Annual Progress Report Second Annual Progress Report Final Annual Progress Report

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Status at Launch of NF-2000

SUMMARY

The Non-Food Information activity funded under AIR, known as NF-AIRID, came to an end in December 1996. However, further funding obtained from the European Commission under the FAIR programme, will enable the Network to continue to function for a further three years. This activity will run to the end of December 1999. To distinguish the new project and to acknowledge the millennium, this new project has been named NF-2000. The basic aims and objectives remain the same, although there are changes in the methodology to be adopted. In recognition of the rapid growth of the information dissemination through the Internet more emphasis will be placed on the World Wide Web site. Dissemination of paper-based items will continue. This service will be made available by FAX for those who prefer this route. Needs, preferences and opinions concerning NF-AIRID are being sought by means of a questionnaire, the results of which will be used to adapt the activities to meet the needs of those involved in the Non-Food use of agricultural and forest products.

INTRODUCTION

The dissemination of Non-Food Agro-Industrial Research Information through the Network known as NF-AIRID was made possible through the support of this activity as a Concerted Action, by the European Commission (EC) under the AIR Programme of Framework three. As a result of the response to this activity and the continuing interest in alternative uses of agricultural and forest products as raw materials for industry, a proposal to continue this activity was submitted to the third call for proposals under the new FAIR programme. However, the nature of the activity and the emphasis has been changed to reflect a number of factors. These include a reaction to the feedback from the previous activity, the developments that have taken place over the last two or three years in electronic dissemination of information and the needs of the Commission in relation to past, present and future funding of research and development.

NF-2000

The basic aims and objectives of the NETWORK, which will continue for a further three years remain the same. That is to bring the relevant activities of the EC to the notice of potential beneficiaries, while also relating these to National and International Programmes. Continuity between NF AIRID and NF-2000 is assured since the activity continues to be co-ordinated by CPL Scientific Ltd (UK) with information passing through the same representative offices throughout the Member States. Again, Norway is also participating. The main changes concern and increase in scope (extending to biomass energy, which was excluded previously so as not to duplicate other activities supported under AIR) and a greater emphasis on electronic dissemination (to increase the amount and rate of information dissemination, but at a lower cost). This will entail the development of a more-interactive World Wide Web (WWW) site and a greater use of CD-ROMs. However, such changes take some time to put into practice. Initially dissemination (as single A4 sheets such as this) and the WWW site remain as for NF-AIRID. Registrants will be kept informed over the next few months of changes as they occur. In the meantime any questions can be addressed to your ....

NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE

The role of the National Representatives (and as indicated above, their identity) remain much as before. However, it is anticipated that that their role will become more interactive, extending beyond dissemination of summary sheets and items, with greater emphasis on providing targeted information at meetings and workshops. Again information on such activities will be provided by post and through the WWW site as the project evolves.

FEEDBACK FROM NF-AIRID

It is possible to evaluate the success of the NF-AIRID Network through analysis of feedback provided by the NNLs. This informed the coordinator of the number of registrants (over 1700) and provided details of their interests and activities as well as the nature of their organisation or business. Not surprisingly, considering the relative youth of the Non-Food concept, over 70% of registrants came from the Universities and Research Institutes. The main raw materials of interest were lignocellulosics and vegetable oils. Bioconversion and biotechnology were favoured as conversion technologies, while products of particular interest were liquid fuels, biocomposites and biodegradable plastics and polymers.

It is hoped to obtain further feedback through dissemination of a questionnaire to all those who registered with NF-AIRID.

BOOK OF ITEMS AND CD-ROM

The NF-AIRID project resulted in the preparation of over 100 individual Items covering ECLAIR, AIR and FAIR, as well as National and International activities and reports, etc. These have been brought together in the final report, as a book. In addition, this CD-ROM was prepared to provide details of all three programmes, names and addresses of registrants (as well as details of their organisations and interests where available) and the text of the Items. Both are available at a small charge to cover distribution costs. A number will be presented FREE to those responding rapidly to the questionnaire.

WORLD WIDE WEB SITE

The site on the WWW has been expanded to a fully interactive site, providing greater detail about projects, results, call for tenders, meetings and other relevant activities. This required a redesign of the site and the re-location to a new server.

ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF RECEIVING ITEMS

It is appreciated that many people may not have access to the WWW and may prefer to receive hard copies of items. To reduce high postal costs these will also (preferably) be made available through FAX - which will also reduce the postal delay seen in some regions. An increased amount of information will be available translated into various languages. The extent of these alternatives will reflect the feedback received from the questionnaire.

REGISTRATION

It is not necessary for existing NF-2000 registrants to re-register. The initial mailings for NF 2000 will reflect those of NF-AIRID, but may be modified as a result of responses to the questionnaire.

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First Annual Progress Report

I. Objectives:
The underlying objective is to collect and collate information relevant to the non-food agro-industrial research and demonstration activities supported by the European Commission (EC), as well as that from other sources relating to non-food uses of agricultural crops and forest products, and disseminate this information to a target audience (those to whom it would be of particular benefit, especially SMEs), thus optimising the return from the investment made in this area under the Framework Programmes. This has been achieved through development of the Non-Food Agro-Industrial Research Information Dissemination (NF-AIRID) Network, previously funded under contract AIR3-T94-299. To distinguish the current activity from the previous network, it has been renamed as the NF-2000 Network.

The specific objectives are to:

• bring the results of non-food projects from the AIR and FAIR programmes to the attention of potential users;
• attract new participants to future programmes (Fifth Framework) and thus strengthen the technical and industrial content;
• help avoid duplication between national funded work and EC funded activities, or even duplication between activities funded by different parts of EC programmes;
• help identify areas where research is needed, or indeed where further research might be unnecessary;
• provide feedback to the Commission concerning the types of organisations involved in non-food and their activities and interests in terms of raw materials used or required, products of present or potential market value and technologies used;
• investigate the potential of all types of electronic information dissemination (CD-ROM, e-mail, World Wide Web) in such information collection, collation and dissemination and to compared costs, speed and impact with that of similar activities based on conventional paper-based mail and fax;
• coordinate activities and/or collaborate with other non-food information-based concerted actions and dissemination networks funded by the Commission in such a way as to maximise overall impact, avoid duplication and facilitate development of electronic information dissemination.

II. Description of Work:
The objectives are achieved in collaboration with a network of National Representatives based throughout the European Union, who are responsible for the dissemination of paper-based information by post, fax and e-mail. Information is disseminated electronically via the web site http://www.nf-2000.org, which is managed by the coordinators.

Interested parties can register with the network by post, fax, e-mail or via the on-line registration form available on the NF-2000 web site. When registering they can choose:

• to receive paper-based information by post or fax via their National Representative
• and/or to access the on-line database (in which case they are provided with a username and password for the secure area of the web site)
• and/or to receive an e-mail listing new information items available

The ongoing dissemination tasks include the regular production of printed (paper-based) material (including the final report of the NF-AIRID Network, which contains all information items created during 1995 and 1996), together with maintenance of a dedicated web-site on the Internet and periodic issue of updated CD-ROMs. Commission staff supply the majority of information, largely in the form of contractor's project summary reports in hard copy. Reports produced on diskette can be supplied via e-mail. Further information is supplied by National Representatives, registrants and other contacts, in hard copy or by e-mail (either directly or by completion of the form supplied on the web-site). The form can also be used to add information to the partners database that forms part of the master database. Information on disk or via e-mail is used directly, whilst paper reports are scanned using character recognition software. Material is then edited to a common format and standard of presentation and used to produce summaries and information master items. The National Representatives photocopy these masters for distribution as paper copies. Items are also converted to HTML format and incorporated into the master database for immediate inclusion on the web site (in the on-line database) and for inclusion of future issues of the CD-ROM.

The NF-2000 web site consists of a general section that is freely accessible, as well as a secure area that is only accessible to on-line registrants on entry of their username and password. The general section contains background information about the NF-2000 Network and the web site, meetings, links to other sites, etc. The secure area contains the on-line database and the discussion forum.

An on-line discussion forum is also included on the web site. This allows on-line registrants to announce meetings, ask and answer questions relating to non-food uses, discuss research, identify partners for future projects, etc. It will also be used to announce calls for tenders, and discuss other aspects of the Fifth Framework Programme relating to non-food uses.

Paper-based information items are available to all registrants. However, the on-line database and discussion forum are only available to on-line registrants. This is because a username and password are required to access them. Registrants receiving summary information can request further information from either their National Representative or the coordinators. Paper-based information items usually include details for only one contact (usually the project coordinator). However, the on-line database includes details of other contacts (such as participants, EC scientific officer, etc); mail to addresses (e-mail links); links to related information items in the on-line database; and links to other web sites.

One of the key objectives (objective f) is to evaluate the relative merit of the alternative dissemination routes: postal, fax, e-mail, on-line (web site) and CD-ROM. This objective is accomplished by using these various mechanisms to disseminate information. Feedback from National Representatives and registrants (both as direct comments and from monitoring requests for information) will be used to compare each route. This information will also be compared with feedback from the NF-AIRID Network (which relied solely on paper-based dissemination). A questionnaire, which asked registrants to comment on NF-AIRID and was produced at the beginning of this project, provided useful information and has been used in combination with other feedback to define the mechanisms used in the NF-2000 Network.

III. State of Progress:
The project is progressing according to the proposal. However, the release of the next issue of the CD-ROM has been postponed until Summer 1998 to allow inclusion of details relating to all relevant FAIR projects.

IV. Achievements: More than 13,000 copies of a promotional leaflet have been distributed by post and at a number of exhibitions, meetings, etc. In addition, 1000 copies of a poster have been printed and a dedicated web site has been set up - http://www.nf-2000.org. As a result of these activities, the network now has more than 1900 postal and 200 on-line registrants. The web site currently receives approx. 12,000 hits per month with the majority of users being from Europe. It is anticipated that this will increase now that the database is available on-line.

The mechanism for dissemination of information has been devised and used to send out two sets of information (45 items) by post and/or fax. A further 50 items will be available in January 1998, and new sets of information will be created during the course of the project.

The database of more than 500 information records and 2000 contacts, created by the NF-AIRID Network is now available as the Non-Food Uses CD-ROM (ISSN 1368-6755 EUR 17770). This contains information on relevant ECLAIR, AIR and FAIR projects. 103 paper items are also available in the NF-AIRID book (ISBN 1-872691-66-8 EUR 17618). In addition, all items produced by the NF-2000 network (including information relating to the Fifth Framework Program and updated information on projects), have also been included, as well as much additional information (such as national and international research and commercial products), have been incorporated into this database and are available as web pages on the web site. An on-line discussion forum is also included on the web site. This allows on-line registrants to announce meetings, ask and answer questions relating to non-food uses, discuss research, identify partners for future projects, etc. It will also be used to announce calls for tenders, and discuss other aspects of the Fifth Framework Programme relating to non-food uses. Details of National Activities/Projects and Meetings are contained in the calendar on the web site and/or the on-line database and discussion forum.

The coordinator and many of the National Representatives have presented the NF-2000 activity at meetings and seminars. For example, a computerised exhibition was set up at the Renewable Bioproducts conference in the Netherlands.

Illustrated text provided to the Commission by NF-2000 was published as EUR 17617 RENEWABLE BIOMATERIALS Non-food research. 1000 copies have been distributed by the Commission and this network. It is currently in the process of being reprinted.

V. Future Actions:
The mechanism for paper-based dissemination will be simplified, so that information can be processed more quickly and easily. This information will be added to the on-line database as it becomes available, thus enabling registrants to gain rapid access to new data.

A new issue of the Non-Food CD-ROM will be available in Summer 1998.

A virtual shopping arcade containing details of manufactures and non-food products will be added to the web site.