JIANGSU ACADEMY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES*JAAS

Their core work

JAAS is a large public agricultural research institute in Nanjing, China, active in crop breeding, food safety, and feed/food-chain research. In H2020 they served as the Chinese scientific partner in three EU–China consortia, contributing field trials, germplasm, molecular breeding know-how, and food-safety data that EU partners could not produce alone. Their work spans mycotoxin detection and management in cereals, legume breeding for protein self-sufficiency, and hazard control in infant food. They are effectively a bridge institution — the partner EU consortia call when they need credible Chinese counterparts on agri-food topics.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their earliest H2020 work (MycoKey, 2016-2020) sat firmly in food-safety territory — mycotoxin detection, risk monitoring and feed additives for cereals. From 2017 they broadened into crop genetics and breeding (EUCLEG) with a strong genomics vocabulary (molecular breeding, genomic selection, phenotyping), and by 2020 (SAFFI) they added infant-food safety and hazard-control methodology. The trajectory moves from downstream contamination issues toward upstream crop improvement and more specialised consumer-facing food safety.

Expect them to keep deepening genomics-driven crop breeding and food-safety work, especially in projects that need a credible Chinese field and regulatory counterpart.

How they like to work

JAAS never coordinates in H2020 — they consistently join as a participant in large EU-led consortia, bringing a Chinese dimension that the call explicitly requires. Across just three projects they have already worked with 85 unique partners across 22 countries, so they operate as a hub rather than a tight cluster, and each project brings a largely new set of collaborators. Working with them means dealing with a well-resourced public research body that delivers on specific work packages rather than driving overall strategy.

Across three projects they have collaborated with 85 distinct organisations in 22 countries, almost exclusively EU member states plus a handful of other international partners. Their geographic centre of gravity is the EU–China axis rather than any single European region.

What sets them apart

JAAS is one of China's most visible provincial agricultural academies and the default Chinese scientific partner for EU agri-food consortia — all three of their H2020 projects are explicit EU–China collaborations. Very few non-European organisations appear this consistently in H2020 food calls, which makes them unusually valuable for consortia that need regulatory, field-trial or germplasm access in China. Partner with them when a call demands a credible Chinese counterpart in crop breeding, mycotoxins or food safety; look elsewhere if you need a coordinator or a purely European partner.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EUCLEG
  Explicit EU–China legume breeding project combining molecular breeding, genomic selection and protein self-sufficiency — the clearest showcase of their crop-genetics capability.
• SAFFI
  Their most recent and most specialised work, focused on chemical hazards and pathogens in infant food across EU and Chinese markets.
• MycoKey
  Their entry point into H2020, covering the full mycotoxin spectrum (aflatoxins, DON, ZEN, fumonisins, OTA) across maize, wheat and barley with detection kits and feed additives.