MREZA SAVJETODAVNIH SLUZBI JUGOISTOCNE EUROPE

Their core work

South Eastern Europe Advisory Service Network (SEASN) is a Croatian-based NGO that operates as a regional network of farm advisory services across Southeast Europe. Their core function is connecting agricultural advisers, farmers, and rural innovation actors — bridging EU-funded research with on-the-ground advisory practice in a region often underserved by Western-focused networks. In H2020 they contributed to projects that digitized farm advisory tools and built adviser-to-adviser learning communities, specifically through the FAIRshare and i2connect projects. Their value to consortia is geographic access and trusted relationships with the advisory service infrastructure of the Western Balkans and former Yugoslav states.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their H2020 participation began in 2018 with FAIRshare, where keywords point to precision agriculture, digital tools, and social innovation — a focus on what advisers need and how digital methods can improve their work. The follow-on project i2connect (2019) extended this into interactive innovation and adviser connectivity, but contributed no distinct new keywords, suggesting consolidation rather than expansion. The trajectory is narrow and consistent: they have deepened their niche as a regional advisory network for agricultural knowledge transfer rather than diversifying into new technical domains.

They are building a recognizable niche as the go-to Southeast European node for agricultural advisory digitisation and knowledge exchange — future collaborations involving rural extension services, digital farming uptake in accession countries, or SEE regional dissemination would be a natural fit.

How they like to work

SEASN has exclusively participated as a consortium partner, never as project coordinator, across both their H2020 projects. Despite this passive leadership role, they have engaged with a remarkably broad network — 64 unique partners across 24 countries — indicating they are valued as regional connectors rather than technical leads. They bring geographic reach and access to advisory service communities that most research-heavy partners lack.

With 64 unique consortium partners across 24 countries from just two projects, SEASN operates within large, multi-national consortia typical of CSA-type coordination actions. Their network skews toward European agricultural research institutions and advisory bodies, with a likely concentration in Central and Southeast Europe given their regional mandate.

What sets them apart

SEASN occupies a rare position as an organised network of farm advisory services specifically rooted in Southeast Europe — a region with limited H2020 representation but high relevance for EU agricultural transition goals. While most agricultural H2020 partners are universities or research institutes, SEASN brings practitioner-level access: they can mobilise advisers who actually work with farmers, making them valuable for pilots, dissemination, and uptake validation. For consortium builders needing credible regional reach into Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, or North Macedonia, they fill a gap that no research lab can.

Highlights from their portfolio

• FAIRshare
  Their largest project by far (EUR 673,212) and the one that defined their digital advisory niche — digitising farm advisory tools and sharing them across European advisory networks.
• i2connect
  A long-duration project (2019-2024) focused on creating interactive innovation communities among advisers in both agriculture and forestry, extending their reach beyond pure crop advisory into forestry management.