EU - [FR/EN] Finish-line for the SmartAgriHubs project

Agriculture numérique

Funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020 programme, the SmartAgriHubs project started in November 2018 with a consortium of 108 partners. This year, the project marks the end and on this occasion 2 final events were organized at the European and at the regional cluster levels. These events brought together the extended consortium of 164 partners and were an opportunity to take stock of this European experience.

For the first event, the European partners met on September 26-28 in Lisbon. The opening speech was given by the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, who congratulated the work within the SmartAgriHubs project, whose objectives meet the priorities of the European Union in the field of innovation and digitalization of the agri/agro sectors.

The 3-day program was rich in conferences and interactive workshops, led by members of the SmartAgriHubs community (SAH) as well as other European synergy projects, such as FAIRshare, Nefertiti, agROBOfood, etc. Acta, as co-coordinator of the French regional cluster, also presented the developments and lessons learned within the project over the last 4 years and hosted a workshop on “The adoption of digital tools as agroecological transition levers“. Finally, the marketplace brought together more than 50 exhibitors, among whom participants had the opportunity to learn more about the Digifermes network of experimental farms, a Digital Innovation Hub within the project, as well as about Arvalis – Arable crops institute, which is piloting the Digi-pilote and Strate-geek projects within the SAH.

At the national level, the closing event took place on October 20 in La Roche-sur-Yon. Acta and the Pays de la Loire Region being the leaders of the French Regional Cluster, the aim of the day was to highlight the achievements and challenges at the French level related to this collaboration. The important steps of the project were reviewed, such as the development of innovation experiences, the testimonies of the winners of the open calls, the impact of the participation in the project for the different structures. The day was concluded by a visit to the experimental farm of Les Etablières of the Digifermes® network. The discussions highlighted the added value of this ecosystem of AgTech actors in France and the desire to continue to belong to this network after the end of the SmartAgriHubs project.

SmartAgriHubs closing event on October 20, 2022 in La Roche-sur-Yon, FRANCE