ICA European Committee of the ICA Board

The ICA European Committee aims to enhance ICA’s visibility towards European institutions for the benefit of ICA members and EU in the areas of interest to ICA including agriculture and food, the circular bioeconomy, the sustainable use of natural resources, and the protection of the environment and rural development.

This Committee is central to implementing the “ICA strategy towards 2030” by initiating and maintaining interactions with European institutions, collecting and disseminating EU business intelligence, lobbying on the agenda of the European Commission, identifying project opportunities for ICA members, developing ideas for thought pieces, and providing communication feeds.

The ICA European Committee aims to enhance the benefits of ICA membership and contribute the expertise of ICA members through thought leadership, visibility, and recognition in the European Networks.

ICA is developing an important partnerships with the European projects and European Working  Groups.  ICA is taking part of the Footpath project advisory board and the EC European Economic and Social Committee Leadership Group on Bioeconomy and Leadership Group on Biodiversity and Climate.  Moreover, ICA is supporting the Biobased Industries Conosrtiun's (BIC) BISC-E Bio-Based Innovation student Challenge Europe.

Term and structure

The ICA European Committee is set up initially for two years from 1 January 2023.  Its members have a strong bond and experience in networking, communicating, and developing the dialogue with different European institutions/networks.  Together they are representative of the diversity of ICA member institutions. ICA member institutions are encouraged to participate actively in the ICA European Committee's activities.

The ICA European Committee is chaired by the ICA Secretary General who organises, coordinates, and facilitates the work of the Commitee and disseminates the outcomes.

Executive Committee members:

Rasa Pakeltienė, (Chair) ICA Secretary General
Carolyn Glyn, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE
Martin Greimel, Head of Bioeconomy Research Centre, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), AT
Jelle Mass, Public Affairs Officer,  Wageningen University & Research, NL
Tajana Radič, University of Zagreb, HR

For more information contact:

Rasa Pakeltienė, ICA Secretary General
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ICA-Edu Special Interest Group (SIG) for Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education in the Life Sciences

The Special Interest Group (SIG) was establised by the ICA Board as a group within the ICA Network for Innovation in Life Science Higher Education (ICA-Edu).  The  SIG addresses the expectation for the new generation of bioeconomy graduates (agri-food, bio-based economy and Life Science) to show creativity, resilience, sustainability orientation, pro-activeness and risk taking in a world that is characterised by uncertainty - they should have developed these entrepreneurial competences from following the curricular of their degree program.

Entrepreneurship education is a field in which innovative approaches to teaching and learning - like student challenges, innovation spaces, incubators and extra-curricular activities - go hand-in-hand with discussions on graduate profiles and professional identities.

Sustainable entrepreneurship can be seen as entrepreneurial activity aiming at solving problems related to sustainability. Sustainable change agents do this by discovering, creating, and exploiting opportunities that contribute to the SDGs by generating social, environmental and economic value for others in society. Life Sciences students can be seen as future change agents, following many different career paths after graduation. Hence, developing sustainable entrepreneurial skills, mind-sets and competencies are considered as fundamental for higher education graduates from Life Science Universities to successfully engage with the global challenges of the 21st Century and contribute to the achievement of the SDGs.

The Target Membership of the SIG
Building on the work done in the INTRINSIC project complteted 2021, this SIG is aimed primarily at teachers, coaches, and researchers involved in, or interested in, sustainable entrepreneurship education. Through this SIG we aim to enable mutual learning on the subject, share best practices and set the stage for the years to come. By organising colloquia, webinars, round tables and white papers, this SIG provides a platform on which interaction and learning can take place.

See previous Colloquia Outcomes & the INTRINSIC Project Outcomes

ICA SIG Educator Workshop: Implemneting challnge-based learning in sustainable eduaction allowing for the dvelopment of (sustainable) entrepreneurial competneces held online on 26 April 2023

1st ICA-Edu SIG Colloquiun Putting Assessment of Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education in the Spotlight was held on 19 May 2022

5th ICA-Edu Colloquium Action to keep the entrepreneurial genie out of the bottle! Engaging students with sustainable entrepreneurial education in your curriculum was held online because of Covid-19 virus during the mornings of 26 to 28 May 2021.  See the programme and presentations.  See the Summary

4th ICA-Edu Colloquium: Let the entrepreneurial genie out of the bottle! how will we stimulate the nascent entrepreneurial skills of our students? was held on 15 and 16 May 2019 in Leuven, Belgium. See the Programme and Presentations.  See the summary

Leadership Group of the ICA-Edu SIG
The SIG is a section within the ICA Network for Innovation in Life Sciences Higher Education (ICA-Edu). The Chair of the SIG is a member of the ICA-Edu Executive Committee.

Chair: Andreas Zitek, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU), AT
Yiorgos Gadanakis, University of Reading, UK
Guido Orzes, Free University Bozen-Bolsano, IT
Jarkko Pyysiäinen, University of Helsinki, FI,

For more information contact:

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or

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., ICA Deputy Secretary General

ICA Board Committee: Community of Practice for Bioeconomy Education in Europe (ICA-CoP Bio-Edu)

Background

The bioeconomy covers all sectors and systems that rely on biological resources; animals, plants, micro-organisms and derived biomass, including organic waste. It includes and interlinks: land and marine ecosystems and the services they provide; all primary production sectors that use and produce biological resources (agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture); and all economic and industrial sectors that use biological resources and processes to produce food, feed, bio-based products, energy and services. To be successful, the European bioeconomy needs to have sustainability and circularity at its heart. This will drive the renewal of our industries, the modernisation of our primary production systems, the protection of the environment and will enhance biodiversity.

Educational and vocational training programmes that fit the rapidly evolving skill demands are requiredi in order to efficiently support the expansion of the circular sustainable bioeconomy . In addition to technical skills, strong interdisciplinary competences, systems thinking and the ability to understand the subject matter of all stakeholders in the value chains are of increasing importance. Both the professionals in the working field themselves and the future professionals should be educated to understand and develop these new and challenging domains.

Universities have been actively developing innovative programmes during the last years. However, trans sectoral collaboration on the topic of bioeconomy education as well as the collaboration of actors from different European regions are needed to develop a European Bioeconomy Education Ecosystem. This needs to include university degree programs, perspectives for up-skilling and life long learning as well as vocational education. Moreover, the regional differences and priorities regarding their Bioeconomy strategy and educational systems must be considered.

Goal

The goal of the ICA Community of Practice for Bioeconomy Education (CoP Bio-Edu), as a Committee of the Board of the Association for European Life Science Universities (ICA), is to enhance the quality, offer and diversity of education for the sustainable circular bioeconomy in Europe.

ICA-CoP Bio-Edu will:

• Objective 1:
  Share experiences and good practices among educational actors to enhance the quality, offer and diversity of education for the sustainable circular Bioeconomy in Europe, recognising the different educational sectors and regional perspectives

• Objective 2:
  Consult with the European Commission, industry and other stakeholders about which skills and educational outcomes should be implemented in educational programmes

• Objective 3:
  Develop educational projects to enhance education and training for the sustainable circular bioeconomy in Europe through the development of new educational materials, strategies and innovative educational and training concepts

• Objective 4:
  

  Utilise the active network in both future scanning and informing on education and training for the sustainable bioeconomy education

• Objective 5:
  Organize the CoP Bio-Edu as an effective organisation to deliver the above objectives

Communication and sharing information within the CoP Bio-Edu and with other stakeholders

In summary the objectives will support the combined effort of professionals working on related goals to enhance the outcomes of education and training for the circular sustainable bioeconomy. The CoP Bio-Edu addresses experience exchange, up-skilling and training among faculty and teachers, which is a first and necessary step to promote the education of an adequately skilled workforce for the Bioeconomy.

Dedicated trans- and interdisciplinary events, cross-sectoral, on bioeconomy education are organised to facilitate networking, professional development and training among faculty and teachers. Besides its substantial contribution to the specific domain of bioeconomy, the established network will contribute to the New Skills Agenda for Europe and improving the job market in Europe.

The ICA-CoP Bio-Edu also provides a means for faculty to interact with industry partners and policy makers to identify skills demands early and to enhance the quality of bioeconomy education. The educational perspective will be aligned with European priorities for growth, offering a good potential for improvement in all levels (technological, economic social and regulatory).

ICA CoP Events organised or co-organised since start up in 2020

• ICA-CoP Bio-Edu Workshop: Enagaging with industry to esnure graduates and porfessionals are well prepared for employment in the Bioeoconomy hels at Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW) from 26 - 28 April 2023
• The ICA CoP Bio-Edu 4th Summer School on Circular Bioeconomy and Sustainable Development was held from 6 to 10 September 2022. 
• ICA CoP Bio-Edu Colloquium: “Interdisciplinary Education for the Bioeconomy: embedding the mindset of the bioeconomy in the curricula of Bachelor degree programmes was held on 19 and 20 May 2022 at Ghent University, BE.  See the summary
  
• ICA-CoP Bio-Edu Webinar “Status and Future of Bioeconomy Education - Learning from EU Projects” was held online on 4, 5 and 19 November 2021
• The 3rd Summer School on Circular Bioeconomy and Sustainable Development was held online on 6 – 10 September 2021
• ICA CoP Bio-Edu shared in the development with the European Bioeconomy University (EBU) of a Workshop “How to shape education for a sustainable circular bioeconomy?” was delivered online at the Global Bioeconomy Summit 2020 (GBS 2020) on 16 and 18 November 2020
• The 2nd Summer School on Circular Bioeconomy was held online on 8 – 10 & 25 September 2020 (continuing the Summer School Series started in 2019)

How to participate
There are two categories of participant:
Full members
Individuals: Educators are invited to join the CoP Bio-Edu on a personal basis. The criterium to join is that the member can show educational practice in relation to the bioeconomy or in related fields that it is anticipated will be expanded towards the bioeconomy. There is no membership fee. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to register your interest.
Associate members
Existing networks, consortia, research centres, public and regional administrations, and private entities are invited to register their support for ICA-CoP Bio-Edu by becoming partners.  We kindly invite our network partners  to help us in reaching out to the individual educators and stimulate them to become part of ICA-CoP Bio-Edu.

As the ICA-CoP Bio-Edu is a Committee of the ICA Board all ICA institutional members of ICA receive information about the events and activities of ICA-CoP Bio-Edu.  Institutions who are not already members of ICA are invited to contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to register their interest in being associated with ICA-CoP Bio-Edu.

Executive Committee of the ICA Community of Practice for Bioeconomy Education

CoP Bio-Edu became a Committee of the ICA Board at its meeting on 21 October 2020.  ICA-CoP Bio-Edu is led by an international Executive Committee, see below.  The Chair of ICA-Edu Board Committee is a co-opted member of the ICA Board.

It is intended that working groups and projects dedicated to specific themes will be established. The aim is to raise funds for specific projects and for the overall management and marketing of ICA-CoP Bio-Edu.

The Executive Committee of the ICA Community of Practice for Bioeconomy Education:
Han van Osch, (Chair) Avans University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands & Dutch Biobased Knowledge Network
George Sakellaris, (Vice Chair) Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic & BioEast
Ingar Janzik, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH and Bioeconomy Science Center, Germany
Pawan Kumar Mishra, Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic
Mona-Anitta Riihimäki, Häme University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Constantinos Vorgias, University of Athens, Greece

ICA Secretariat Representative: Simon Heath, Deputy ICA Secretary General

Contact
Han van Osch
Avans University of Applied Sciences/HZ University of Applied Sciences
Centre of Expertise Biobased Economy
e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The ICA Board has three Committees

The ICA Board Committees support focused activities relating to the aims of ICA which are to enhance our members’ success in the international market place, in Europe and globally, by providing a supportive environment to share experience, to cooperate in new ventures, and to benefit from the resulting synergy.

ICA European Committee

The European Committee was established by the ICA Board in 2022, initially for two years from 1 January 2023.

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Two Committees focusing on Innovation in Life Sciences Higher Education

1) ICA Network for Innovation in Life Sciences Higher Education (ICA-Edu)

This Network was previously the European Conference of Higher Agricultural Education (ECAHE).  ECHAE established a successful series of biennial conferences, which were initiated by Wageningen Agricultural University in 1992.  ECHAE became a standing committee of ICA in 2001.  ICA-Edu was formally launched at the ICA Week of Conferences 2012 in Bozen-Bolzano. ICa-Edu became a Committee of the ICA Board in 2017. A Special Interest Group (SIG) has been established by the ICA Board as a group within the ICA-Edu Network focusing on sustainable entrpreneuership education.

2) ICA Community of Practice for Bioeconomy Education (ICA CoP Bio-Edu)

The Community of Practice was estblished by a Working Group in 2019.  The ICA Board at its meeting on 21 October 2020 approved the proposal of the recently established Community of Practice for Bioeconomy Education (CoP Bio-Edu) to become a Committee of the ICA Board.

The Chair of each of these two Board Committee is ex-officio a member of the ICA Board.  Each ICA Member is invited to nominate a person to represent them on the Committees.  These representatives are invited to encourage staff in their institution to participate in the activities of the Board Committees. The Executive Committee of each Board Committee is elected by these representatives.