Interview Vincent Jauvion

For the first time in 44 years, the International Rapeseed Congress will return to France from April 18 to 21, 2027. A major international gathering for rapeseed and canola research and innovation, the Congress will bring together scientists and experts from across the global value chain. Vincent Jauvion, Conference Chair, discusses the scientific challenges and objectives of this exceptional edition.

The International Rapeseed Congress will return to France in April 2027, 44 years after it was last held here. Why is this 17th edition such an important event for the international rapeseed and canola scientific community?

VJ : The International Rapeseed Congress is the major international meeting for rapeseed and canola research. In 2027, we expect around 900 participants, 75% of them coming from outside France, for three days of scientific Congress with two days of Field Tours and Technical Visits. Every four years, it offers a unique opportunity for our global community to meet face to face, share the latest knowledge and exchange experiences.

Bringing the IRC back to France after 44 years is particularly meaningful. France is one of the world’s major rapeseed-producing countries, with a long-standing ecosystem of research, breeding, technical expertise and industry around the crop. Hosting IRC 2027 is an opportunity to connect this French experience with knowledge and perspectives from across the world.

This edition also marks 50 years of GCIRC. For half a century, GCIRC has fostered international cooperation and knowledge sharing across countries, disciplines and generations. The IRC is at the heart of that mission.

The theme of the 2027 Congress is “Changing world, rethinking innovation”. Why was this theme chosen, and what does it say about the challenges currently facing rapeseed research?

VJ : Because almost everything around us is changing at the same time: climate, pest and disease pressures, farming practices, regulations and markets. Meanwhile, genomics, gene editing, digital technologies, AI and robotics are opening possibilities that were difficult to imagine only a few years ago.

So perhaps the question is no longer simply “How can we innovate more?”, but “How should we innovate differently?”

How can we combine different perspectives to generate more diverse ideas? How can we ensure that scientific advances address real challenges and opportunities? And how can we integrate transfer from the beginning, so that promising ideas have a better chance of becoming useful innovations for the sector?

“Changing World, Rethinking Innovation” is an invitation to question the way we generate, develop and transfer innovation. IRC 2027 should be a place to ask these questions openly – and to propose new answers.

What are the main scientific objectives of IRC 2027, and how will the Congress help connect different areas of research to develop solutions for the future of rapeseed and canola?

VJ : Our first objective is to provide an international overview of the latest scientific knowledge and technical advances concerning rapeseed/canola and associated species.

But IRC should be more than a place to present results. It should be a place to confront ideas, connect knowledge and generate new questions.

Through plenary lectures, scientific sessions, posters and discussions, participants will encounter approaches from different disciplines and regions of the world. What can we learn from each other? Which questions are we missing? Which unexpected connections could open new research directions?

If participants leave with new knowledge, that will be a success. If they also leave with new questions, new ideas and the desire to explore them together, that will be an even greater success.

The scientific program covers a wide range of topics, from genetics and breeding to agronomy, crop protection, abiotic stresses, quality, end uses, economics and markets. Why is it important to bring all these perspectives together at one international event?

VJ : Because the major challenges facing rapeseed and canola involve all these scientific disciplines.

Climate resilience involves genetics and physiology, but also agronomy, crop protection and farming systems. New quality requirements or end uses can create new objectives for breeders and producers. Economic changes can influence technical and scientific priorities.

Specialization remains essential. And we also need moments when specialists can step outside their own field and look at the crop from another perspective.

What could a geneticist learn from an economist? What new question might an agronomist identify through a discussion with processing experts?

Creating these encounters between disciplines is one of the great strengths of IRC.

Beyond researchers and academics, IRC 2027 will bring together the wider rapeseed and canola industry. How can interactions between science and industry help accelerate the transfer of innovation from research to the field and to the market?

VJ : Science and industry bring complementary perspectives.

Researchers generate knowledge, methods and technologies. Companies and technical organizations bring experience of operational constraints, production needs, industrial processes and markets.

When these perspectives meet early enough, research questions can become more relevant and promising results can find pathways towards application more quickly.

IRC provides an environment for these interactions – during scientific sessions, but also around posters, during visits and through informal discussions.

Sometimes innovation starts with a scientific result. Sometimes it starts with a problem. And sometimes it starts simply with a conversation between two people who had never met before.

What role can collectors, processors and industrial stakeholders play in shaping the future of the rapeseed value chain, and how can their needs contribute to research and innovation priorities?

VJ : They provide an essential connection between agricultural production and the many uses and markets for rapeseed.

Collectors and processors face issues such as seed quality, consistency, storage, logistics and processing performance. Industrial stakeholders can identify emerging needs and opportunities in food, feed, energy, biomaterials and the wider bioeconomy.

Their perspective raises important questions for research. What characteristics will tomorrow’s markets require? Can we create more value from oil, proteins and other seed components? What new uses have we not yet imagined?

Bringing these questions into the scientific discussion can help research not only respond to current needs, but anticipate future opportunities.

Rapeseed is at the crossroads of several major transitions – agroecological, food, energy and industrial. How can scientific innovation help the whole value chain unlock the crop’s full potential?

VJ : Rapeseed is remarkable because its potential cannot be reduced to a single product or function.

It provides vegetable oil and proteins, contributes to crop rotations, plays a role in renewable energy and offers further opportunities within the bioeconomy.

The challenge is therefore to think about the crop as a whole. Can we make production more resilient while improving resource efficiency? Can new traits improve both agronomic performance and end-use quality while improving processing costs? Can we create new value from existing products, co-products or entirely new uses?

Scientific innovation is a key to help identify these synergies.

The future potential of rapeseed may lie not only in improving what we already do, but also in discovering what else the crop can do.

The Congress will also offer Field Tours and Technical Visits, providing participants with a closer look at French production, research and industrial activities. What do you hope international participants will discover from these experiences?

VJ : The Field Tours and Technical Visits will extend the scientific discussions into real production, experimental and industrial environments.

Participants will discover part of the French rapeseed ecosystem and meet researchers, technical experts, farmers and industry representatives directly.

Even if we are proud to show our sector, the objective is not simply to showcase French expertise. It is to create comparison and exchange. Participants will bring experiences from very different production regions and will look at what they see through the lens of their own systems.

What is different? What could be adapted? What can we learn from one another?

That dialogue between international experience and local reality is exactly what an IRC should encourage.

Finally, how can IRC 2027 help strengthen collaboration across the rapeseed and canola value chain and create new opportunities for innovation, partnerships and business development?

VJ : Mostly, it is by bringing together people who have different knowledge, different needs and different ideas – but who share an interest in the future of rapeseed and canola and associated species.

A scientific discussion may become a research project. A meeting between a researcher and a company may reveal a new application. People working on similar challenges on different continents may discover that they have complementary approaches.

We cannot predict which conversations will become collaborations – and that is precisely what makes an international Congress so valuable.

So I would invite every participant to come not only to present what they know, but also to question what they know. Bring your results, bring also your questions. Talk to someone outside your discipline. Challenge an existing approach. Share an idea that is not yet fully formed.

IRC 2027 will celebrate 50 years of GCIRC and our international rapeseed and canola community. It is a milestone to celebrate — and, more importantly, a starting point to shape the future together.

Join us in Paris for the 17^th edition of the IRC in April 2027 !