Selection Methodology
The choice of the Research Institutions to be involved in the Agritech Research Center and the choice of Spoke and Spoke affiliates was carried out considering multiple aspects and criteria including:
1. Scientific productivity;
2. Fundraising and fund management capability;
3. Experience in national and international networks and partnerships;
4. Consistency of the Agritech research program with self-declared strategic research plans of the specific institutions; Moreover, considering partner number and budget constraints set by the call,
5. Location of the institution and the associated research infrastructures.
In each Spoke and Spoke affiliate a further selection of the main researchers to be involved in the Agritech initiative was carried out. Each partner was asked to fill a detailed sheet with all the details on the Institution research capability and scientific excellence, providing details for each potential affiliation to a given Spoke, on the Departments and laboratories/institutes to be involved, number of researchers potentially associated to the research unit, description of the potential contribution to the Spoke and evidence of the best 20 publications and most relevant and impactful projects and patents related to the aims of the Spoke. Each institution also provided a list of available infrastructures to be dedicated to Agritech activities, a list of companies potentially involved in the specific Spoke activities and the ongoing and future collaborations with national and international institutions. In addition to the above information, each institution provided a list of the best researchers to be involved in the research activities for each affiliation, including relevant information on the excellence of the scientists involved evaluated according to internationally recognized standards such as number of publications relevant for the Agritech initiative, number of citations, h-index and number of research projects and patents along with the role played in the development of the projects themselves.
