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Quote on the SAH event

The Kick-off Event was an exhilarating inauguration of our journey. What was your main take-away learning from the event? What stood out?

What stood out to me were two things. First, the incredible diversity of all the partners that were present at the kick-off event. People from different countries and sectors all over Europe came together to discuss the digitalisation of the agricultural sector. They all showed an enormous commitment, which is the second thing I want to highlight. We all really have significant experiences to share.

During the event, visitors were treated to a ‘SmartAgriHubs Tour’ where they were introduced to each Work Package. In the same spirit, can you briefly explain the role of your Work Package and give us an example?

The role of our Work Package is to build an ecosystem. We aim to expand and renew the SmartAgriHubs network. Communication is a crucial part of this, and so is the Innovation Portal that we are developing. In the end, we aim to build a self-sustaining network that lives on after the project.

Quote on the SAH event

The Kick-off Event was an exhilarating inauguration of our journey. What was your main take-away learning from the event? What stood out?

It was exciting to see so many people working on digitisation in agrifood and focus on the wellbeing of our farmers and our planet.

During the event, visitors were treated to a ‘SmartAgriHubs Tour’ where they were introduced to each Work Package. In the same spirit, can you briefly explain the role of your Work Package and give us an example?

With Work Package 1 we look into the sustainability of the project, both during the project and also after the project finishes. We support the other Work Packages in getting the most out of SmartAgriHubs.

Quote on the SAH event

The Kick-off Event was an exhilarating inauguration of our journey. What was your main take-away learning from the event? What stood out?

The SmartAgriHubs kick-off showed the diversity of digitization challenges addressed in the different regions. Despite that, as soon as there was an opportunity to collect ideas, share experience and discuss next steps, the colleagues joined efforts, celebrated stand-up meetings and provided diverse insights from multi-disciplinary backgrounds. An excellent opportunity for me to gain new insights!

During the event, visitors were treated to a ‘SmartAgriHubs Tour’ where they were introduced to each Work Package. In the same spirit, can you briefly explain the role of your Work Package and give us an example?

Work package 2 will organize open calls for new initiatives, partners and excellence. By this, we intend to enhance the networks of Digital Innovation Hubs and Competence Centers. The overall aim is to support additional innovation experiments as well as to mobilize a critical mass of funds and investments for the digitization of the agri-food sector. 

At the same time, WP2 is intending to jointly elicit key requirements, needs and opportunities that can be supported by the open calls. The Prague kick-off offered an excellent starting point to join forces to carefully prepare those open calls and to agree on first activities.  

We are looking forward to discuss regional specifics and team up at workshops, hackathons and local events. 

Quote on the SAH event

The Kick-off Event was an exhilarating inauguration of our journey. What was your main take-away learning from the event? What stood out?

To see the faces behind the Flagship Innovation Experiments (FIEs) and to see their eagerness and enthusiasm to work on new digital innovations, impressed me the most. The synergy that was created with IoF2020 was really good to see!

During the event, visitors were treated to a ‘SmartAgriHubs Tour’ where they were introduced to each Work Package. In the same spirit, can you briefly explain the role of your Work Package and give us an example?

Our Work Package 2 has the distinguished task to expand the SmartAgriHubs ecosystem, mainly by supporting the Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) to set-up new FIEs matching the open call budget of the project with other private and public funding. This means that through the Regional Clusters we provide materials, methods and approaches for DIHs to create new ideas for FIEs, do matchmaking with funds and organizing open calls. In numbers this means that we aim to multiply 6 M€ to 30 M€ and that at least 70 new FIEs are started within 4 years.

Quote on the SAH event

The Kick-off Event was an exhilarating inauguration of our journey. What was your main take-away learning from the event? What stood out?

Both the broad diversity and the pan-European coverage of our ecosystem stood out. I am involved in the digital transformation of the agri-food sector for 15 years now but maybe for the first time I realized how many people are involved in our community. I am confident that with our collective efforts in SmartAgriHubs the community will continue to grow and the ties among its members will become stronger.

During the event, visitors were treated to a ‘SmartAgriHubs Tour’ where they were introduced to each Work Package. In the same spirit, can you briefly explain the role of your Work Package and give us an example?

In Work Package 3 we are coordinating the efforts of Flagship Innovation Experiments (FIEs) and Regional Clusters (RCs), aiming to make all the assets and opportunities created across the network available to as many stakeholders as possible. For example, we want to make sure that when a service is created in a Digital Innovation Hub (DIH) in Poland, other DIHs can adapt it and use it for their members all over Europe. Also, when a Venture Capitalist approaches the network, looking for investment opportunities in agricultural robotics we will be able to provide links to all relevant European start-ups. 

Quote on the SAH event

The Kick-off Event was an exhilarating inauguration of our journey. What was your main take-away learning from the event? What stood out?

My ILVO colleagues and I are very happy to be part of the SmartAgriHubs project. This big European project willdefinitely sustain the entire agri-food sector by building a network of Digital Innovation Hubs. This project will be the final push to convince our farmers to accelerate the adoption of digital tools and technology in their day to day farming business. 

During the synergy day the importance of synergism andteamwork among Flagship Innovation Experiments (FIEs) as well as within and among regional and sectoral clusters was clearly explained and already led to new meetings and contacts. 

During the event, visitors were treated to a ‘SmartAgriHubs Tour’ where they were introduced to each Work Package. In the same spirit, can you briefly explain the role of your Work Package and give us an example?

As co-lead of Work Package 3 we support the FIE coordinators and partners of our Regional Clusters: we closely follow the progress of our FIEs and their deliverables and milestones, encourage them and help them solving questions and issues. We also closely work together with the other Work Packages, mainly with the communication and ecosystem building (WP1) and management team (WP6).

The Kick-off Event was an exhilarating inauguration of our journey. What was your main take-away learning from the event? What stood out?

From the very first moment, when entering the large conference room, I felt a strong sense of community. There was no distinction between presenters and the audience – it felt like a family gathering.  

My main take-away is that sharing practical experience between community members in the context of a structured discussion is indispensable. We are smart Agri Europe, together.  

During the event, visitors were treated to a ‘SmartAgriHubs Tour’ where they were introduced to each Work Package. In the same spirit, can you briefly explain the role of your Work Package and give us an example?

Our Work Package (WP) supports the Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) in developing their capabilities to guide and demonstrate innovations used at the farms throughout their regions. With an aim to include 400 hubs this means on a day to day basis that a sharing community of hubs is crucial. Therefore, we provide key materials and webinars, and means to self-asses maturity.  

These services help identify on which topics further sharing and developing is required. Both for the hubs and by the hubs. Much like the ‘wizard academy’ we sketched in the WP4 part of the SmartAgriHubs tour. During this session, we illustrated how a Digital Innovation Hub is much like a ‘wizard who speaks to all people’, still in training. We also discussed how the hubs can learn from experienced wizards and the (virtual) academy. Because to do its “magic”, the hub needs to have many relations and develop a broad set of skills. 

Quote on the SAH event

The Kick-off Event was an exhilarating inauguration of our journey. What was your main take-away learning from the event? What stood out?

The event was amazing, especially because of the spirit of cooperation present within everyone there. Moments like these make you realise that together we are stronger and have more added value.

During the event, visitors were treated to a ‘SmartAgriHubs Tour’ where they were introduced to each Work Package. In the same spirit, can you briefly explain the role of your Work Package and give us an example?

Work Package 4 aspires to be a useful instrument for our European Agri-food Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) by providing them assessment on their maturity and their development, sharing materials on how to move forward, and disseminating information about the European Agri-food sector’s needs and tools. In this way, our stakeholders can take advantage of this European network of DIHs through the DIH Observatory. 

We believe that the results, reports and material coming from our Work Package will help our DIHs to have a better decision-making process, get closer to their agri-food sector and, finally, to become mature entities. 

Quote on the SAH event

The Kick-off Event was an exhilarating inauguration of our journey. What was your main take-away learning from the event? What stood out?

For me, the tour provided the connecting thread for all the diverse participants, allowing them to both find and understand their place in the greater project.

During the event, visitors were treated to a ‘SmartAgriHubs Tour’ where they were introduced to each Work Package. In the same spirit, can you briefly explain the role of your Work Package and give us an example?

Work Package 5 involves the Competence Centres (CC), which form the cornerstone of the Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) in the SmartAgriHubs (SAH) network. CCs help facilitate digital solutions for the agri-food sector and form an integral part of the greater SmartAgriHubs innovation ecosystem. CCs provide the digital and scientific technological infrastructure of the DIHs and offer advanced technical expertise, access to the latest knowledge and information on digital technologies and solutions, test facilities such as labs, pilot and experimental facilities, and other technological and scientific infrastructure. 

A dynamic CC Catalogue of digital technologies and solutions will be available on the SmartAgriHubs Innovation Portal, with useful digital technology classifications and search functions. 

Quote on the SAH event

The Kick-off Event was an exhilarating inauguration of our journey. What was your main take-away learning from the event? What stood out?

For me, the tour provided the connecting thread for all the diverse participants, allowing them to both find and understand their place in the greater project.

During the event, visitors were treated to a ‘SmartAgriHubs Tour’ where they were introduced to each Work Package. In the same spirit, can you briefly explain the role of your Work Package and give us an example?

Work Package 5 involves the Competence Centres (CC), which form the cornerstone of the Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) in the SmartAgriHubs (SAH) network. CCs help facilitate digital solutions for the agri-food sector and form an integral part of the greater SmartAgriHubs innovation ecosystem. CCs provide the digital and scientific technological infrastructure of the DIHs and offer advanced technical expertise, access to the latest knowledge and information on digital technologies and solutions, test facilities such as labs, pilot and experimental facilities, and other technological and scientific infrastructure. 

A dynamic CC Catalogue of digital technologies and solutions will be available on the SmartAgriHubs Innovation Portal, with useful digital technology classifications and search functions.

Quote on the SAH event

The Kick-off Event was an exhilarating inauguration of our journey. What was your main take-away learning from the event? What stood out?

The size of the project is enormous, so the necessity for a sizeable and capable project management team became even more clear. Considering that many of the participants are small- to medium sized, and new to H2020 it is important to inform them on legal and financial issues.

During the event, visitors were treated to a ‘SmartAgriHubs Tour’ where they were introduced to each Work Package. In the same spirit, can you briefly explain the role of your Work Package and give us an example?

Work Package 6 is responsible for the Project Management of SmartAgriHubs: achieving the project goals on time and within budget. For the internal project management, the focus is on ensuring coordination between the Work Packages, Regional Clusters, Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH), and quality assurance (e.g. reviewing all the deliverables). WP6 is also responsible for the contract management (e.g. consortium agreement, payments and communication with the Commission). On a more strategical level, opportunities for cooperation and synergy with other projects and initiatives (regional, national, EU and outside EU) on Digitisation in Agriculture and on DIHs are identified. In the end we also need a plan to sustain the network as developed in the SmartAgriHubs project.

Quote on the SAH event

The Kick-off Event was an exhilarating inauguration of our journey. What was your main take-away learning from the event? What stood out?

The size of the project is enormous, so the necessity for a sizeable and capable project management team became even more clear. Considering that many of the participants are small- to medium sized, and new to H2020 it is important to inform them on legal and financial issues.

During the event, visitors were treated to a ‘SmartAgriHubs Tour’ where they were introduced to each Work Package. In the same spirit, can you briefly explain the role of your Work Package and give us an example?

Work Package 6 is responsible for the Project Management of SmartAgriHubs: achieving the project goals on time and within budget. For the internal project management, the focus is on ensuring coordination between the Work Packages, Regional Clusters, Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH), and quality assurance (e.g. reviewing all the deliverables). WP6 is also responsible for the contract management (e.g. consortium agreement, payments and communication with the Commission). On a more strategical level, opportunities for cooperation and synergy with other projects and initiatives (regional, national, EU and outside EU) on Digitisation in Agriculture and on DIHs are identified. In the end we also need a plan to sustain the network as developed in the SmartAgriHubs project.