20 Years of AGILE

Preceded by a ‘personal word’ from the authors, the focus of this paper is on a number of facts and activities that together describe how AGILE developed from an idea in the garden of the late Peter Burrough in Wageningen in July 1997 to a mature and well known organization nowadays. After a short description of those very first years where the reason for existence was discussed that resulted in the AGILE mission, the structure of AGILE as an organization is presented. How the mission was translated into a range of activities is described in a number of paragraphs, where the AGILE working groups, initiatives, the participation in EU projects and conference themes are discussed. The paper will finish with some personal impressions by those who acted as chairpersons of AGILE.