Adrian Roberts and Konrad Neugebauer participated in the annual meeting for the EU-funded “INnovations in plant VarIety Testing in Europe” (INVITE) project held in Barcelona from June 12th to June 14th, 2023. The overall objective of INVITE is “to foster the introduction of new varieties better adapted to varying biotic and abiotic conditions and to more sustainable crop management practices”. The meeting enabled lively interactions with national and international project partners, gave all collaborators the opportunity to provide updates on recent developments, and encouraged open discussions of key outputs and of communication strategies.

The proposal by BioSS in INVITE is to use the genetic markers more smartly for “Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability” (DUS) testing, and “Value for Cultivation and Use” (VCU) testing in the UK and in European Union member states. The three-day meeting was full of excellent talks about a wide range of topics, including research into phenotyping technologies, bioinformatics, and statistical methods developments for selected crop species. Networking meals and long walks after the official sessions provided an opportunity to catch up with important project partners, including INRAE, NIAB, and Teagasc.