After several years of preparation for implementation of the European Innovation Partnership for agricultural productivity and sustainability (EIP-AGRI), the very first Operational Groups (OGs) are now established and they are running projects with funding from national and regional rural development programmes (RDPs). As the first practical experiences of the OGs begin to accumulate, it was thought to be a good time to bring together a number of established OGs, plus other potential OGs and relevant stakeholders, to exchange ideas and learn from each other. On 20-21 April 2016, DG AGRI therefore organised a two-day workshop in the town of Legnaro in northern Italy to explore the initial experiences of setting up OGs and the early stages of project implementation. The workshop was organised in cooperation with the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, the Italian National Rural Network Programme, Veneto Region and Veneto Agricoltura (the Regional Agency for Agriculture, Forestry and Agri-Food Sectors).