DIVA project - Layman report - EU Project DIVA

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DIVA project - Layman report - EU Project DIVA
DIVA project – Layman report
1.DIVA Key issues
1.1 Fostering the emergence of innovative digital solutions for agri-food, forestry and
    environment

The digital sector has rapidly evolved in the last decade with the regular emergence of new
technologies (sensors, internet of things, mobility, data science, etc.). This enables the industrial
sectors to change the way in which activities have been previously done to date and open new
perspectives in terms of improved accuracy, efficiency, and reliability, etc. Beyond assisting in
primary production, digital technologies have immense potential to support many elements of
the rural economy, from food and non-food supply chain management to new business
development. In similar sectors, such as forestry, digital technologies' potential is also very high,
especially for enhancing sustainable production and eco-efficient industrial transformation.
Progress is also high in technologies for remote monitoring of environmental aspects and
biodiversity. The large amounts of data easily obtained by these digital technologies can also be
vital to monitoring the effectiveness of bioeconomy policies regarding food security, resource
efficiency, and climate change mitigation.

The European project DIVA (Innosup 01) was to support the emergence of innovative digital
solutions for the agri-food sector and the related ones: forestry and environment, and promote
the development of new industrial digitech value chains.

Coordinated by the Cluster AGRI SUD-OUEST INNOVATION (France) in cooperation with nine
other partners from 6 countries: Digital 113 (France), CTA and AMETIC (Spain), INESCTEC and
TECLAB (Portugal), CRPV and H-FARM (Italy), GRNET (Greece) and TEAGASC (Ireland), the DIVA
project has boosted during 3 years (2018-2021) the innovation ecosystems of these countries in
order to instigate the emergence of innovative solutions brought by SMEs, accelerate the
conception of disruptive cross-sectoral and cross-border projects, and support the development
of new digitech value-chains.

The strategy of the DIVA project was based first of all on the definition of an innovation
framework allowing SMEs to clearly identify the needs of the application sectors to be solved.
The objective was then to organise events and workshops to encourage the creation of projects.
This emergence phase was carried out on a national and European scale prior to the launch of
two calls for projects. The last stage of DIVA was based on the support of the winning companies
in financial terms, in the form of innovation vouchers, and in the form of coaching and training.

1.2 A voucher scheme worth € 2.7 M to support SMEs
The core concept of DIVA was to accelerate new digital ideas all along the innovation chains,
from idea emergence up to the demonstration and the internationalisation stages. The voucher
scheme was therefore conceived with three main types of instruments:
    •   Maturation Instrument (10 k€ / project - individual) aimed at maturing a business model
        supported by innovative products, processes, services and technologies or funding
        activities to produce plans and arrangements or design for few, altered or improved
        products, processes or services, including prototyping or testing, and bringing them
        from a TRL 4-5 to a TRL 5-6.
    •   Demonstration instrument (25 or 60 k€ / project - collaborative) aimed at validating the
        technical and economic viability of a new or improved service, solution or technology in

1                                                              This project has received funding from the European
                                                               Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
                                                               programme under grant agreement No 777890
DIVA project - Layman report - EU Project DIVA
an operational (or near to operational) environment and bringing them from TRL 5 to
        TRL 7.
    •   Internationalisation instrument (30 k€ / project - collaborative) aimed at funding
        activities to foster internationalisation of a group of SMEs with a demonstrated value
        chain, enabling SMEs to rapidly improve their value proposition thus ensuring their long-
        term success at an international level.

2. A framework of innovation identifying the needs for digital
solutions
 The "Digitech Value Chain inspiration
 framework for Agri-food, Forestry
 and Environment" identifies and
 describes the main transnational
 challenges and the trends affecting
 the     Agri-food,   Forestry     and
 Environment value chains. These
 challenges set the boundaries for
 presenting     potential    ICT-based
 solutions that can positively affect
 the sectors under assessment. It is
 composed of 5 drivers of change
 affecting business and 6 business
 trends influencing digital innovation
 (Figure 1).
 The detailed version of the method is
 available    through      this   link
 https://www.projectdiva.eu/diva-           Business and digital trends affecting agri-food,
 trends-map/                                forestry and environment

The Digitech value chain tool aims to highlight technological opportunities to meet the future
challenges of the sector, amplify the importance of digital technologies, and inspire innovation.
This inspiration framework consists of a structured and visionary database that is available to
solution providers. Nine categories of technologies were selected: Data Analytics, Robotics and
Process Automation, Internet of Things, Decision Support Systems, Sensors, Artificial
Intelligence and Machine Learning, Digital Marketplaces, Blockchain, and Digital Twins.

The opportunities and expected projects for these 9 digital technologies across the value chain
have been drawn. Together with 26 challenges formulated by stakeholders following a “Call for
challenges” https://www.projectdiva.eu/challenges-list/, they compose the DIVA framework of
innovation, presented as a source of inspiration for SMEs.

2                                                            This project has received funding from the European
                                                             Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
                                                             programme under grant agreement No 777890
DIVA project - Layman report - EU Project DIVA
3. DIVA results and outcomes
3.1 A strong participation of SMEs in response to the open calls
Two open calls were launched with deadlines for submission in February 2019 and February
2020 at the European level. As a whole more than 400 proposals were received. They were
evaluated by the DIVA consortium following three main criteria: the impact of the project
(market description, business model…), the excellence of the project (degree of innovation,
technical objectives…) and its implementation (consortium, budget, schedule…). In the end, 134
projects involving 180 SMEs from 9 different EU countries were selected (figure 2): 88
maturation projects, 38 demonstration projects and 8 internationalization projects, which
represents a 35 % average success rate. The beneficiaries benefited from direct financial support
under the form of vouchers worth 10 to 60 k€ depending on the type of project. Trans-national
cooperation has been encouraged for Demonstration and Internationalisation projects where at
least 2 SMEs were required. Although it was not made compulsory in the guidelines, 28 % of
these projects turned-out to be trans-national.
The list and summary of all the projects on :https://www.projectdiva.eu/funded-projects/

 One of the DIVA objectives was to facilitate the demonstration of the new value-chains. 38
demonstration projects involving 79 SMEs have been selected for support by DIVA. Each of them
has demonstrated a new value-chain in a real environment. 20 are so-called small-scale
demonstrations as they represent part of a full value-chain and 18 are large-scale
demonstrations where the full value-chain was expected to be represented up to the final user.
Among these projects, 4 concern the Forestry sector and 4 concern the Environment sector.
After final assessment, 35 of these projects were deemed successful and 10 between them
received the highest evaluation scores. They are listed in table 2.
Another objective of DIVA was to support innovative solutions across the full spectrum of
innovation from idea maturation up to internationalisation. Following the 2 DIVA calls for
projects, 8 internationalisation projects gathering 19 SMEs were supported, 3 of which had
previously benefited from a demonstration voucher in the first call. The target destinations were
the US, the Baltic States, Brazil, Egypt and New Zealand. These projects were impacted by the
COVID crisis due to the impossibility to travel in 2020. Nevertheless, alternative solutions have
been found to prospect remotely and demonstrate the services envisaged in European countries
that were easier to access. Digital services for agriculture developed in Europe have a real
relevance on international markets, including in countries like the US with a reputation for
AgTech.

3                                                            This project has received funding from the European
                                                             Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
                                                             programme under grant agreement No 777890
DIVA project - Layman report - EU Project DIVA
Among the 180 beneficiaries, 34 SMEs benefited from an equity investment among which 10
SMEs raised more than 100 k€ in funding. Total equity investment represented 3,9 M€ and
budget investment by the SMEs represented 4,8 M€. As a whole, 8,4 M€ of private investment
have been made on the DIVA supported projects, which represents a leverage effect of 3,1 for
the investment of the European Commission (2,7 M€ of vouchers).

3.2 Thematic analysis of selected projects

 Position in the value-chain
 The majority (63%) of the selected
 projects concerned the first step of
 the value chain (sustainable
 production), mainly focused on crop
 “monitoring and planning”. Decision
 support       tools    for   irrigation
 management, optimized application
 of phytosanitary products or
 fertilisers, the detection of diseases
 or anomalies at the farm level and
 weed detection were typical
 purposes of these solutions. While
 crop production remained the main
 focus, several projects concerned
 precision livestock farming, for
 “cattle monitoring and planning”.
 Other         solutions     regarding
 “phenotyping          and      genetic       Distribution of the 134 selected projects
 engineering” for crops or crops              according to the DIVA challenges and along the
 “traceability” have been funded.             steps of the value-chain (Inner circle: step of the
                                              agri-food value-chain ; outer circle: Main issues)

The other segments of the value chain have been addressed in a lower level: 13% of selected
projects promoted development of business models or IT solutions to deploy innovation and
marketing support services to agri-food, environmental or forestry sectors such as the creation
of market-places, e-business model, platform to ensure connection of the supply chain actors or
interaction between producers and consumers, data property and security tools. Blockchain was
typically used in some projects to secure data origin and traceability. 8% of funded projects were
focused on “social sustainability”, dealing with sharing concepts, either of knowledge and
information (social networks for farmers) or workforces and equipment. Some projects
proposed new forms of training through educational platforms for the targeted sectors. Only 7%
of supported projects addressed “Advanced manufacturing” actors of the value chain and were
focused on process optimization and monitoring or risks assessment solutions. The “Ecological
sustainability” (7%) which is positioned upstream of the production was covered by projects on
land quality assessment and water quality monitoring. The “Transport and logistics” step of the
value chain was only addressed by a few projects despite its huge importance (2%).

DIVA calls were intended for agri-food, environmental and forestry stakeholders, covering the
whole value chain in a different intensity. In practice, selected projects targeted mainly the agri-
food sector (89%). Projects devoted to Forestry concerned 7 % of the selected projects. Although

4                                                             This project has received funding from the European
                                                              Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
                                                              programme under grant agreement No 777890
DIVA project - Layman report - EU Project DIVA
it represents a lower share of the projects, it is worth noting that many digital solutions
developed for agri-food could easily be applied to forestry as their technological demands and
challenges are very similar. The projects devoted to the Environment concerned 4 % of the
selected projects. It covers Beehive management, water quality monitoring or weed control in
golfs. Here again, despite a low share of the selected projects, it is interesting to see the possible
extension of digital solutions originally conceived for the agri-food sector to these new markets.

Innovation strength
 Most of the solutions related to precision farming to
 improve water, fertilizers, diseases, and weed
 management at plot scale, funded by DIVA, have been
 qualified as incremental innovations, in that they are
 quite usual nowadays. They are normally offered by
 technological providers or technical assistance companies
 to the end-users and bring solutions applied to well-
 known and well-developed sub-sectors. They usually
 provided decision support systems and addressed the
 sustainable intensification of farming and digital economy
 challenges of the sector. Other funded solutions focused
 on food processing improvement (such as drying process),
 detection of contaminants or quality monitoring (for wine
 or honey production for instance) have been considered                 Cap-trap vision project: connect
 as incremental innovations too.                                          traps for insect infestation
                                                                                  monitoring

 Another group of projects was qualified as “in the wake of
 new trends” as they have been already targeted in
 demonstration and innovation projects funded by other
 public funds at European level, but that haven not been
 totally uptaken by the market yet. Regarding the primary
 production step, DIVA granted solutions based on data
 aggregation to improve farm management (at farm scale,
 not at plot scale), or asset management, for decision
 making. Smart livestock farming solutions have been
 funded too, especially tools to support calving detection,
 herd monitoring and poultry management. Regarding the
 first step of the crop value chain, some solutions focused
 on automated plant phenotyping. Other interesting
 solutions were based on the connection of the value chain
                                                                        Cornect project: new sensors for
 stakeholders. Some applications were based on the share
                                                                         water stress characterization
 of knowledge (guidelines for labor, e-training,
 experimentation results) or resources (equipment,
 workforce) between farmers. Others were platforms
 based on data sharing to ensure traceability, security,
 authentication along the whole chain or to share
 information to improve sales through market forecasts
 (market-places). Those confirmed solutions funded by
 DIVA addressed most of the challenges related to digital
 technologies defined by the DIVA framework.

5                                                               This project has received funding from the European
                                                                Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
                                                                programme under grant agreement No 777890
DIVA project - Layman report - EU Project DIVA
-    Cutting-edge solutions bring a new approach, concept,
     combination of technologies or application sub-sectors, to
     the value chain. Some of those solutions solve farm
     management challenges using environmental issues as a
     driver. For instance, the measurement of farm
     environmental food print, the pollination service
     assessment, the optimisation of flower thinning or the
     digital soil quality monitoring, the development of stress
     sensors based on plant electrophysiology. Some solutions
     addressed livestock management by the monitoring of
     animal welfare through a robot. Other innovative
     solutions are based on strong innovative technologies
     such as the use of modelling tools to establish digital twins
     of the genome and to assist plant breeding, or printed                      Digital Seed project : digital
     electronics for packaging. Finally, some solutions were                     tween of plant genome for
     considered innovative because of the business model or                        breeding optimization
     approach they promote: for instance a participatory
     platform to fund crop or livestock farm management, and
     specific tools for data sharing such as digital identity
     management, consent management and incentivizing
     methodologies.

    The topics that remain to be addressed
    Though DIVA funded projects covered most parts of the trends and challenges of the DIVA
    framework, some thematic areas were poorly addressed and are considered as good
    opportunities to promote innovation projects. Regarding primary production, more solutions
    focused on vertical farming projects were expected, only one project has been funded under
    this topic. Nutrition and health thematic has not been addressed, projects based on personalized
    nutrition were expected too. Regarding the food industry, no integrated solution for predictive
    maintenance of industrial facilities has been submitted and solutions to support insurance or
    accounting services, neither. Only a few projects addressed transport but not logistics of the
    value chain as a whole. Circular economy approach has been addressed as much as expected.
    Opportunities of innovation projects can be met on the cross of digitalisation and circular
    economy challenges of the agri-food sector.

    The digital technology used
    In terms of technology, most of the projects implemented data management and analysis tools,
    be they statistical, modelling or artificial intelligence tools. The acquisition of data through
    sensors was an important step in digital projects. The sensors were in place, pedestrian or
    embedded, connected (IoT) or their data made available via specific infrastructure (DIAS for
    satellite images). The blockchain technology has been used for traceability and data security
    applications. Technologies associated with robotics (such as optics, mechatronics, or artificial
    intelligence) were complementary to digital technology. Drones used as an acquisition vector
    have been at the heart of many projects.

    6                                                                This project has received funding from the European
                                                                     Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
                                                                     programme under grant agreement No 777890
DIVA project - Layman report - EU Project DIVA
4. SUCCESS CASES

All the selected projects have been monitored by a DIVA national partner in charge. The
monitoring procedure included an initial assessment, the definition of a roadmap and a final
assessment.
The objective of the initial roadmap was three-fold:
    •   Define the perimeter of the project,
    •   Define the expected results vs. DOW implementation, and define result indicators to assess
        whether the results were indeed met (example of result indicators could be the completion of a
        test or a market study, which could be checked by a report),
    •   Define performance indicators to qualify the success and interest of the projects beyond the
        mere achievement of the expected results (an example of Performance indicators could be
        reaching a minimum accuracy level of a device or a target number of commercial contacts).
After completion of the projects, the final assessment was carried-out with the lead SME to
review the project achievements and appraise the Result and Performance indicators. In
addition, other data was gathered at that moment:
    •   Key figures of the SMEs: Turnover, Added-Value, Number of employees and part of the turnover
        made on international markets,
    •   Key figures of the projects: Number of new products / services on the market, number of
        contracts signed (among partners of the Value-Chain created), amount of investment decided
        (either by the SME itself and/or by investors) as a follow-up of the project, Intellectual property
        rights generated.
In order to rank the projects and highlight the most interesting ones, 2 composite indices have
been created in the dashboard:
    •   The quantitative evaluation of project impact, based on measurable outputs (IP generated,
        Services created, Capital investment) and aims to measure the effective success of every project
        considering the results concretely achieved.
    •   The qualitative evaluation of project impact, based on the opinion of the DIVA partners who
        managed the projects, expresses the interest and potential of the project (Interest, Follow-up).
With these criteria, it was possible to identify the most innovative and promising projects.

7                                                                  This project has received funding from the European
                                                                   Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
                                                                   programme under grant agreement No 777890
Table 1: List of 20 best DIVA supported projects

 Project       Lead SME          Partner     Country Voucher             Project title
 acronym                         SMEs                type

 Maturation projects

 AMUSE-FOOD    HOSPITALITY                   GREECE     Business and     Autonomous Multi-Sensory Monitoring of Food
               AND AGRIFOOD                             Technology       Processing
               MADE EASY                                Maturation

 ECOFARM       ECOCLIMASOL                   FRANCE     Business and     Farm monitoring and minimization of
                                                        Technology       environment and health footprint
                                                        Maturation

 DIGITALSEED   IMEAN                         FRANCE     Business and     A new methodology to design crops in breeding
                                                        Technology       programs based on mathematical modeling of
                                                        Maturation       plant

 DIONYSOS      THETAMETRISIS                 GREECE     Business and     DigItal monitoring of mycotoxins in vinification
                                                        Technology       procedures
                                                        Maturation

 GREELON       EBLOCK ENERGY                 SPAIN      Business and     Extensive cattle monitoring system
               TRADE                                    Technology
                                                        Maturation

 LAND-HO       SCIO                          GREECE     Business and     A Land Quality Evaluation Service targeting the
                                                        Technology       Wine Making Industry
                                                        Maturation

 LOCALFARM     LOCALGREEN                    ITALY      Business and      A new concept of vertical farming in a
                                                        Technology       controlled-environment which aims to optimize
                                                        Maturation       plant growth through soilless farming
                                                                         techniques.

 MGTB          LENO CONSULTING AKINAO        FRANCE     Business and     The 1st learning management system dedicated
                                                        Technology       to sustainable environment including
                                                        Maturation       agriculture, organic products, ecological
                                                                         construction, etc

 SAFEHIVE      LIME TECHNOLOGY               GREECE     Business and     A Safety and Quality Monitoring system for
               IKE                                      Technology       Beekeeping
                                                        Maturation

 S-EAGER       SLOW PHILOSOPHY               SPAIN      Business and     Saffron sensoring for efficient and high
                                                        Technology       performance crops
                                                        Maturation

 Demonstration projects

 C CLAIR       RAISON'ALPES      TECHNIVUE   FRANCE     Demonstration    Decision support tool for intra-plot modulation
                                                        - Large scale    of apple’s thinning process, using imaging and
                                                                         data analysis in real-time

 CROP          OKP4              FARM LEAP   FRANCE     Maturation and A decision support tool for crop rotations based
                                                        Demonstration on cultivation practices and individual and
                                                        - Large scale  collective economic performance.

 FINEST        XILBI             NEXLYS      SPAIN/     Demonstration    Artificial Intelligence based Decision Support
                                             PORTUGAL   - Small scale    System designed to support the farmers in their
                                                                         daily operations.

 FRUITIOT      AGRONICA          MARCONI     ITALY      Demonstration    Integration of IOT devices and irrigation DSS for
               GROUP             STEFANO                - Large scale    sustainable fruit production

 HYGODEM       ALVIE             AGROTEST    FRANCE/    Demonstration    An innovative tool assisting farmers in applying

8                                                                This project has received funding from the European
                                                                 Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
                                                                 programme under grant agreement No 777890
CZECH REP.   - Large scale     plant protection products.

 MILKSENSE     G. EFTHYMIOU -   KARAGIANNIS   GREECE       Demonstration     Intelligent data-driven Milk production and
               A. LOUTRARIS     THEOFILOS                  - Small scale     quality monitoring platform
                                TYROKOMIKA

 POLLISMART    IRIDEON          CANETIS       SPAIN        Demonstration     Digitized Value Chain of Pollination Services
                                                           - Large scale

 RTCV          RIGGER           SULREGAS      PORTUGAL     Demonstration     Real Time Remote Sensing through Computer
                                                           - Small scale     Vision

 STOOCK V2     EAGROOP          LUMITIO       PORTUGAL     Demonstration     An innovative and scalable crop monitoring
 VALIDATION                                                - Small scale     technology, based on a combined software
                                                                             (Agroop Cooperation) + hardware (Stoock)
                                                                             solution.

 WOWNATURE     ETIFOR           NETECH        ITALY        Demonstration     WOWnature: a web-based platform for
                                                           - Small scale     innovative forest Green Infrastructures finance

 Internationalization projects
 AGROPLUSMKT   AGROINSIDER      AMBIENTA      PORTUGAL / Internationaliza Internationalization of a new service using
                                              SPAIN      tion             Copernicus Earth Observation and onboard
                                                                          vehicle connectivity system to disrupt Precision
                                                                          Agriculture.

 OPUSAGRI      GRASSTEC         JAMJO         IRELAND      Internationaliza Internationalisation of an innovative solution to
                                                           tion             address the issue of labour shortage in
                                                                            agriculture across Europe.

At the top of the ranking, the Consortium voted these 3 projects:
    ● Best maturation project: LAND-Ho (SCiO P.C.) - Greece
    ● Best demonstration project: CClair (Raison d'Alpes / Technivue/ Agriconnect) - France
    ● Best internationalization project: AgroplusMkt (Agroinsider / Ambienta Ingeniería y
        Servicios Agrarios y Forestales) - Portugal and Spain.

5. Recommendations and follow-up
Recommendations for the digitalisation in agri-food, forestry and environment
During the three years of the project, many comments and observations were collected from
the DIVA partners themselves, from experts mobilised in the events and workshops, and the
participating SMEs with whom regular exchanges were held. At the end of the programme, a
specific survey was also conducted to feedback of the beneficiaries of the DIVA funds. Based on
this success and information, it is now possible to identify lessons learned and good practices
for the development and deployment of digital solutions, and to formulate recommendations
for the European Commission and innovative companies to encourage and improve support
mechanisms targeting SMEs and innovation clusters. A 10-point summary is presented here.

For the SMEs
1 - Digital innovation is not necessarily high-tech: Frugal, low-tech and organisational innovation
has to be considered together with high-tech solutions,
2 - Think “smart” and not only “Big data and AI”: real “big data” situations where Artificial
Intelligence can meet its full potential are not so often met in agriculture and still more common

9                                                                    This project has received funding from the European
                                                                     Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
                                                                     programme under grant agreement No 777890
modelling and data sciences tools with a limited and well qualified data set can bring a strong
service innovation,
3 - Farmers are not the only target of the digital transformation: Many different players are part
of the industrial value-chains (e.g. equipment manufacturers, input producers, logistics and
transport providers, retailers) and they have specific digital needs to be addressed.
4 - Combine “IT for Green” and “Green IT”: Consider the environmental footprint of the digital
solutions in the innovation process.
For the EU policies
5 - Unlock the barriers to data exchange and secure data flows to exploit its valorisation
potential: data is probably at the heart of the digital economy of tomorrow. Interoperability,
standard of exchange, consent to exchange and consent management, are some of the key
issues to handle to take full benefit of it.
6 - Promote experimentation sites and facilities, and further, living labs: Demonstration in a real
environment is a key step to reach higher TRL levels of solutions. Thinking in terms of service
delivered and interacting with the end-user in its socio-economic environment in a living-lab is
the ultimate way to make sure to meet the real expectations.
7 - Cascade funding schemes with vouchers are particularly relevant to support innovation with
SME: it gives the possibility to young businesses to benefit from a European support in an
accessible, flexible and fast way avoiding the administrative burden of heavy reporting and long-
lasting projects they cannot afford.
8 - There is a need for intermediate size funding schemes: 60 k€ / SME set-up as a maximum
limit in Innosup projects can be enough for simple digital solutions at low TRL levels. Higher
funding levels cc 300 k€ - 500 k€ are necessary for projects requiring more investment (e.g.,
robotics) and targeting higher TRL levels (7-8).
9 - Give the possibility by way of derogation for experimentation outside the regulatory
framework: To unleash innovation and prepare future solutions (e.g. spraying with drones).
10 - Innovation clusters play a key role to reach SMEs and act as a catalyst for innovation within
their ecosystems, together with intermediary organisations such as Research and Technology
Transfer Organisation (RTO) and Experimentation Centres.

Towards digital transformation and beyond
DIVA was an opportunity to build a network of partners united by a common interest in pursuing
the actions undertaken.
Several partners are registered as Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) on the S3 platform (ASOI, H-
Farm, CTA). Their action programme was enriched by the DIVA mechanism but continues after
the end of DIVA. In addition, most of the partners are currently involved in the construction of
European DIHs (e-DIHs) in the regions where they are located. Most of the time, DIVA's
achievements have fed into the reflections on the scope of actions of these future structures.
In addition, DIVA was able to inspire joint actions between partners. In France, Digital 113 and
ASOI joined forces to respond to a Smart Agri Hub call for proposals to organise a specific event
dedicated to the problems of short-distance supply. The project named FoodLog Proximity was
selected and gave rise to a Hackathon on 24/10/2020 gathering about fifty actors from the
Occitanie region in France. Digital 113 then launched an innovative initiative called "Digital Is
Future" to promote exchange between digital players and players in the application sectors. The
first edition, organised between December 2020 and February 2021, was conducted in
partnership with ASOI for the agro sector.

10                                                            This project has received funding from the European
                                                              Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
                                                              programme under grant agreement No 777890
These experiences have reinforced the need to continue the cross-fertilisation process in order
                 to achieve a better mutual understanding of the needs and operating methods of the agri-sector
                 on the one hand and the solutions and operating methods of the digital players on the other.
                 Demonstration sites remain a key point for the maturation, experimentation and demonstration
                 of new solutions. In Italy, CRPV organised a first Demoday in October 2020 at the Italian
                 demofarm Astra where IT companies and actors from the agri-food sector were involved, with
                 about 64 persons participating. Considering the success of this event, CRPV made the decision
                 to reconduct this event every year from now on. In Ireland, the MoorPark and Killworth sites led
                 by TEAGASC are now well-known sites for experimentation in dairy management and livestock
                 farming where events take place regularly.
                 A European community of partners and companies has been created. The DIVA partners are fully
                 involved to push forward the actions undertaken and this dynamic will continue beyond the end
                 of DIVA. DIVA partners will be particularly attentive to new opportunities to build a project or
                 actions together. Horizon Europe offers interesting perspectives on certain themes such as the
                 contribution of digital technology to agroecology. The “Smart sensors 4 agrifood” and
                 “Traceability and big data” partnerships will be networks where partners can meet. The future
                 Private Public Partnership “agriculture of data” and “Circular Bioeconomy Europe” will be
                 receptacles for joint projects.
                 All this information has been presented during the DIVA final event held on March 4th 2021
                 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaXY7QHc2-A

                 The authors

          Nathalie Chavrier          Nicolas Nguyen The           Lydia Brunault,            Macarena Ureña,                 Sara Neves                Anna Giacon,                Daniele Abate,
         Technical agri-food          Head of European           European project            European project           Researcher at InescTec     Project manager at H-         Public funds project
           officer at CTA              projects at ASOI          manager at ASOI             manager at CTA                                                Farm                  manager at H-Farm
                                      DIVA coordinator

                 With the collaboration of

    Sofia Araujo          Aisling O’Connor          Julien Del Rio             Maria Grazia              Raquel Jimenez              Manuel Moreno            Xenophon Tsilimparis        Alexandra Xavier
incubation manager        Research officer        Project manager at        Tommasini Executive        IT technical officer       Communication manager         Projects manager          Head of center for
     at TecLabs              at Teagasc               Digital 113            manager at CRPV                at Ametic                  at Ametic                    at GRNET                  innovation
                                                                                                                                                                                           technology and
                                                                                                                                                                                          entrepreneurship
                                                                                                                                                                                             at InescTec

                 11                                                                                                       This project has received funding from the European
                                                                                                                          Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
                                                                                                                          programme under grant agreement No 777890
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