The Coordination of Agricultural Research in the Mediterranean and its e-infrastructure tool Presented by WP1 Leader Mipaaf-IT, Annamaria Marzetti & Serenella Puliga

ARIMNet NETWORK An European project coordinated by France (INRA) and Tunisia (IRESA) including as full members: 6 EU members (Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and France) 2 associated countries (Turkey and Israel) 4 Mediterranean Partner Countries (Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria) CIHEAM and ICARDA are associated to the project to benefit by their expertise and better coordinate the activities in the Mediterranean area. A project supported and funded by the European Commission in the framework of ERANET Actions to: reinforce the scientific cooperation between countries of the Mediterranean area, creating a research community through the coordination of national programmes in agricultural research; address jointly the common key issues for Mediterranean agriculture such as: sustainable development, management of natural resources and mitigation of threats resulting from global change; better fulfil the expectations of decision makers, stakeholders and Mediterranean people MIPAAF-IT

Food security and food safety Climate change Natural resources management (water and soil energy) Use of genetic resources Emerging/invasive diseases Health and nutrition Urbanisation and rural development Strategy need-driven approach based on four steps each one contributing on its own to strengthen the cooperation, and providing the basis for the design of the next stages: Information exchange and mapping to improve mutual acquaintance and share of best practices (country & global reports) Strategic orientation of research programmes to eliminate overlapping and open novel issues (stakeholders conference Valencia October 2010) Joint activities to consolidate and harmonise partnership, outline common vision and agenda Calls for proposals to expand the structuring impact of the network (2011). Challenges MIPAAF-IT

WP 1 Mapping and information exchange WP 2 Analysis of gaps and overlaps in current research activities WP 3 Implementation of joint activities WP 4 Calls for proposals Funding COMMON DATABASE WP5 Structure and activities MIPAAF-IT

COMMON DATABASE Mediterranean Internet Portal on agricultural research Information System on Mediterranean Agriculture Research (ISMAR) improve efficiency and strengthen agri-Med research potential STEPS: Development of a web site: internet and intranet (intranet as working place for project partners to exchange documents and information) Development of a discussion forum open to all stakeholders Development of a dynamic database : overview of the programmes and map of the research capacity involved with Mediterranean agriculture (“assisted search" interface) Interaction with other ICT tools dealing with Mediterranean agriculture. MIPAAF-IT

Database Features Standards (adopting and/or adapting existing standards): AiDA metadata set (Development Gateway Foundation, Inc.) Common European Research Information Format (European Commission) Web based Information Services for Agricultural Research for Development (Wageningen International) ISO 639 standard for language (two letter code) ISO 3166 standard for country (two letter code) ISO 4217 for currency (three letter code) Classification schemes based on: Enumerated List ( source: Euro CRIS, current research information systems) Search by keywords: AGROVOC Thesaurus AGROVOC is a multilingual, structured and controlled vocabulary designed to cover the terminology of all subject fields in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food and related domains. Tools: open source MySql ( database), PHP, Linux MIPAAF-IT

Database architecture MIPAAF-IT

Thank you for your attention Coordinator WP 1 Leader Information System Manager Database Manager