Widening countries lag behind the European average in Research & Innovation investment and scientific excellence; the domain of Digital Agriculture (DA) is one prominent example. Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) of Widening countries, like Greece and Serbia, can play a central role in addressing this issue, but need support for achieving excellence in research and education in the DA domain. HEIs in Belgium have gained significant experience by establishing an ecosystem that fosters close collaboration among HEIs, competence centers, Digital Innovation Hubs, and industry, leveraging advanced digital technologies for the benefit of citizens, business, and scientific advancement. In this light, TALLHEDA will build a new long-term Alliance for DA between agricultural HEIs from Widening countries with leading non-widening agricultural universities, and local and international stakeholders. TALLHEDA Alliance will contribute to raising the critical mass of highly skilled scientists and to establishing liaisons with surrounding ecosystems, in order to foster the Quadruple Helix of innovation in Widening countries. The path to excellence will be paved with a portfolio of multi-actor, inter-sector and international complementary actions to support students, early-stage and experienced researchers, and academic staff of the Widening HEIs. This will be achieved through collaboration, complementary top-level expertise of all partners, access to cutting-edge infrastructure, staff mobility, and joint educational and research activities. The partners have an established scientific reputation in DA and are committed to making TALLHEDA a success. In the long term, Widening HEIs will be one step closer to reforming their institutions in terms of content and quality of educational courses, pedagogical and management practices, and research and innovation capacity, raising the critical mass of highly skilled scientists needed for digital transition in agriculture across Europe.

PROSPER will provide sustainable technical solutions based on the valorization of highly resilient orphan legumes (OLs) for: i) diversification in agriculture, allowing farmers’ access to a wider range of selected cultivars (cvs) and enhance productivity under challenging environments, ii) diversification of value chains, promoting a wider range of products for food processing/biocircular economy industries. PROSPER will act in Mediterranean/Central/North Europe, covering different geographic regions/pedoclimatic conditions. A multi-actor approach will ensure that PROSPER meets the real needs of stakeholders/end-users who will play active roles in the co-creation of technical solutions. Participatory Spatial Explicit Information Services will provide on-demand information for PROSPER actors (information/knowledge creators/end-users). Based on Partners’ expertise/achievements gained in former/ongoing projects, PROSPER will develop beyond state-of-the-art knowledge concerning novel resilient accessions (source of agrobiodiversity), their performance under environmental constrains and nutritional value. Technology transfer and demonstration actions will be promoted to share PROSPER knowledge, translated into beyond state-of-the-art sustainable technologies. By successfully promoting the use of OLs, PROSPER will improve crop diversity and environmental resilience, fostering socioeconomic development and sustainability in farming practices across diverse European regions. Direct drivers of biodiversity decline will be understood and addressed. Biodiversity, ecosystem services and natural capital will be mainstreamed in the society and economy. Practices in agriculture will be developed and improved. Biodiversity research and support policies and processes will be interconnected at EU and global levels.

The agricultural sector is known for its demanding and hazardous working environments, leading to high rates of accidents and health issues among workers. Furthermore, drudgery due to physical work and repetitive tasks diminishes the attractiveness of the sector for youth. Emerging challenges such as digitalisation, technological intensification, structural change, environmental targets, and new risks due to climate change, coupled with global economic implications demand more and more from farmers and farm workers, exacerbate the need for timely information, and have new implications for occupational safety and health (OSH). AGRO-WELL follows a highly interdisciplinary approach to enhance knowledge for technological transitions towards an environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable agricultural sector. It brings together leading scientists from a multitude of OSH-related disciplines, various regions across Europe, key technology providers and farmer representatives. The project will assess farmer needs and explore ways to increase awareness with respect to smart farming. AGRO-WELL builds on five technologies to leverage the potential of robotics, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence to enhance working conditions and farm safety, enable faster and better-informed farm management decisions, and reduce the environmental impact of four different farming systems. Potential effects of the technologies will be multidimensionally assessed. To support market uptake, AGRO-WELL will design and explore the viability of business models based on novel technologies that are predominantly focused on improving OSH. To support other promising technologies, AGRO-WELL will incorporate an open technology competition enabled by cascade funding. All project results will be synthesized in effective dissemination strategies and meaningful policy recommendations to foster promising technological solutions and sustainable business models.

WATSON provides a methodological framework combined with a set of tools and systems that can detect and prevent fraudulent activities throughout the whole food chain thus accelerating the deployment of transparency solutions in the EU food systems. The proposed framework will improve sustainability of food chains by increasing food safety and reducing food fraud through systemic innovations that a) increase transparency in food supply chains through improved track-and-trace mechanisms containing accurate, time-relevant and untampered information for the food product throughout its whole journey, b) equip authorities and policy makers with data, knowledge and insights in order to have the complete situational awareness of the food chain and c) raise the consumer awareness on food safety and value, leading to the adoption of healthier lifestyles and the development of sustainable food ecosystems. WATSON implements an intelligence-based risk calculation approach to address the phenomenon of food fraud in a holistic way. The project includes three distinct pillars, namely, a) the identification of data gaps in the food chain, b) the provision of methods, processes and tools to detect and counter food fraud and c) the effective cross border collaboration of public authorities through accurate and trustworthy information sharing. WATSON will rely upon emerging technologies (AI, IoT, DLT, etc.) enabling transparency within supply chains through the development of a rigorous, traceability regime, and novel tools for rapid, non-invasive, on-the-spot analysis of food products. The results will be demonstrated in 6 use cases: a) prevention of counterfeit alcoholic beverages, b) preservation of the authenticity of PGI honey, c) on-site authenticity check and traceability of olive oil, d) the identification of possible manipulations at all stages of the meat chain, e) the improved traceability of high-value products in cereal and dairy chain, f) combat of salmon counterfeiting.

The excellence hub EXCEL4MED is an initiative to strengthen Mediterranean innovation excellence in innovation ecosystems focusing on the production of nutritious food products and the valorization of food industrial side-streams. It is a cross-border collaboration between Greece, Malta and France on a common strategy on strengthening the Mediterranean food added-value chains. EXCEL4MED innovation ecosystems will be interconnected with umbrella company organizations, research institutions, governmental bodies and societal actors that will be mutually reinforcing each other in a Mediterranean context and together will raise the level of innovation excellence in their regional fabric.