By establishing this network the European Commission aims to facilitate the exchange of information between science and practice in the field of agriculture, and to create a space for exchanging experience and knowledge. The European Commission has launches a public tender on the technical assistance contract for the creation and development of the network.

In early 2012 the European Commission announced the creation of three new European Partnerships for Innovation (EIP) with the general objective of correcting deficiencies in the European innovation system and facilitating public-private partnership. Among them, the Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability EIP will require the implementation of a network facility that will bring together farmers, breeders, scientists, farm advisers, enterprises, NGOs, programming authorities, and others interested parties within the sector.

The network will act as a mediator to improve communications in the field of agricultural innovation. Through various actions it will facilitate the exchange of experiences, helping to bridge the gap between science and practice in the field of agriculture.

In order to set the network the Commission has launched a procurement process to award a contract to provide operational support services to establish and operate a network facility for the implementation of the European innovation partnership (EIP) 'Agricultural productivity and sustainability'. The contract, with an initial budget estimate of €2.5 million will have a duration of ten months from its award and may be renewed up to seven times. Interested parties may submit their bids until 15 October.

The contractor will provide technical assistance for creating and managing the network and will be responsible for the establishment and operation of the facility network. It will be responsible for the daily operation of the network, as well as tasks such as maintaining an information point in Brussels, responding to queries, organization of workshops, seminars and other events, as well as different tasks on information and data gathering, among others.