The European Innovation Partnership (EIP) is considered to be a new phenomenon signalling political will, highly relevant issue in contemporary domain of discussions among practitioners and researchers. While practitioners lack experience, researchers make attempts to identify the factors that influence effectiveness of an innovation partnership, explore the indicators and techniques to determine and evaluate its effectiveness. Aim of the study presented in the article is to determine the external and internal factors that influence effectiveness of the European Innovation Partnership by analysing the operating conditions of an operational group of the European Innovation Partnership in Agriculture (EIP-AGRI). Expert evaluation was carried out by experts who have scientific and practical experience: scientists, policy makers, innovators, developing an innovation partnership. The force field analysis has shown that the number of negative factors of EIP effectiveness exceeds the number of positive factors, and the factors analysed and evaluated allow to identify potential negative consequences in a timely manner and provide the opportunity to predict effectiveness of the EIP-based projects.

The European Innovation Partnership in Agriculture (EIP-AGRI) was initiated by the European Commission for social benefits and the modernization of the overall economy through innovation. Better and faster results are expectingby fostering collaboration between scientists, agricultural advisors and farmers. The main problem is how to evaluate the effectiveness of innovation partnership projects in agriculture, with what indicators to define and measure it? To address this problem, a methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of innovation partnerships in agriculture hasneeded. This article presents the methodology of evaluation of the effectiveness of innovation partnership in agriculture, which details the selected evaluation indicators, determines their significance, and provides guidelines for the interpretation of the results of efficiency evaluation. The developed evaluation methodology has tested using the project data of EIP groups operating in Lithuania. The methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of innovation partnerships in agriculture is relevant fromboth a scientific and practical point of view.