The role of the international institute for beet research in communication of sugar beet knowledge | Le role de l'IIRB dans la vulgarisation de la connaissance sur la betterave

Sine 1932, the International Institute for Beet Research pursues its mission as communication forum. In the beet - sugar sector, the IIRB is the only international organisation where all actors of the different branches can meet. Delegates from grower organisations, sugar industry, sugar beet research institutes and universities, breeding companies, chemical and mechanical construction industry as well from administrations meet in the 9 IIRB study groups. Their objective is the neutral and objective evaluation of new experiments and technologies relating to the beet production and their fast diffusion in all the Member States. The target public of the IIRB is that which composes the association. In other words, the technicians, researchers and other representatives of the profession generate and benefit immediately from the exchanges of information in order to transpose them, in their respective countries, into the agricultural practice. In this respect, the IIRB depends on the coexistence within the working groups of representatives of fundamental and applied research. Only the permanent and intense interaction between these two levels of activities makes it possible in fine to increase the beet production with reduced costs as well as the sugar production in the factory by providing a raw material of improved internal quality. The IIRB puts at the disposal of the research community various tools like permanent study groups, project groups, regular publications (IIRB congress proceedings, "Advances in sugar beet research ", the IIRB-info), an annual congress and an Internet site. Of the 600 members of the IIRB, 409 are involved in one of the study groups and the congresses of the IIRB attract on average 350 people (58 percent). For the majority, the activities proposed by the IIRb are free, just as the publications sent to all the members. In the future the IIRB will continue its mission of communication by favouring the closer cooperation between international organizations, the constitution of international data bases on the various aspects of beet production and will play in a consequent way its role of centre of information transfer of the beet-sugar sector.