INTERNATIONALE AKADEMIE FUR LANDLICHE BERATUNG E.V.

Their core work

IALB — the International Academy of Rural Advisors — is Germany's professional network and training institution for agricultural extension advisors: the specialists who translate research findings into practical guidance for farmers. Their H2020 work is not about conducting research, but about strengthening the systems that get research adopted on farms — advisory frameworks, multi-actor learning processes, and the governance of innovation groups. They bring practitioner networks and advisor training capacity into large EU consortia, acting as a knowledge broker between science and agriculture. Their involvement spans both arable farming innovation and, more recently, forestry advisory services.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In 2015-2017, IALB's work was analytical and structural — mapping how innovation support systems function, understanding EIP group governance, and testing multi-actor and joint learning methodologies through the AGRISPIN project, where they contributed as a third party. By 2019, their role escalated to full participant status in i2connect, a larger, longer project (2019-2024) focused not on mapping advisory systems but on actively connecting advisors to accelerate interactive innovation. The trajectory is clear: from studying the infrastructure of agricultural advice to building and operating it at European scale.

IALB is moving from observer and analyst of advisory systems toward an active network builder — a shift that positions them as a go-to partner for any project needing real working connections to agricultural and forestry advisors across Europe.

How they like to work

IALB consistently joins large, pan-European consortia as a specialist contributor rather than a coordinator — 56 distinct partners across 24 countries from just 2 projects confirms they work in broad, well-connected networks. They enter projects to provide practitioner reach, advisor expertise, and multi-actor facilitation capacity rather than research infrastructure. This makes them a predictable, low-overhead partner who brings established professional networks that academic institutions typically lack.

Despite only 2 H2020 projects, IALB has engaged with 56 distinct partner organisations across 24 countries — a strong signal that their projects involve large, geographically diverse consortia typical of European agricultural advisory and EIP-AGRI networks. No single-country or bilateral focus is evident.

What sets them apart

IALB occupies a specific niche at the intersection of agricultural extension services and EU-funded innovation programs — they are practitioners who work with the advisory profession, not academics studying it. Their value in a consortium is direct access to working agricultural and forestry advisors and established national advisory systems across Europe, something research institutes rarely possess. For projects that need to close the gap between research outputs and actual farm-level adoption, IALB provides the human infrastructure that makes uptake possible.

Highlights from their portfolio

• i2connect
  Their only directly funded project (EUR 357,142), running 2019-2024 with full participant status — a significant step up from third-party involvement and covering both agriculture and forestry advisory at European scale.
• AGRISPIN
  Their earliest H2020 engagement (2015-2017) established IALB's thematic identity around EIP operational groups and multi-actor learning, laying the conceptual groundwork for all subsequent work.