Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is based on a diversity of pest management measures (prevention, non-chemical control, best practices for optimizing pesticide efficiency, etc.). These are combined at the farm level to enable reduced reliance on pesticides, and therefore a decrease in the exposure of the environment and people to pesticides. Rare pioneer farmers throughout Europe are testing such IPM strategies and are succeeding in achieving good outcomes with low pesticide inputs. However the majority of European farmers still rely heavily on pesticides, with major environmental and societal impacts, because most of them have not adopted a comprehensive, farm-level and holistic IPM strategy so far. The objective of IPMWORKS is to promote the adoption of IPM strategies, based on a EU-wide network of farmers, who will both progress further in the adoption of IPM – through peer-to-peer learning and joint efforts – and demonstrate to other farmers that holistic IPM “works”; i.e. allows a low reliance on pesticides with better pest control, reduced costs and enhanced profitability. IPMWORKS will coordinate existing networks promoting IPM and launch new hubs of farms in regions or sectors where IPM pioneers are not yet engaged in a relevant network. Advisors coordinating hubs will have a major role in facilitating knowledge sharing, coaching farmers to find their own IPM solutions, and organising local demonstration activities. IPMWORKS will stimulate access to the ‘IPM Decisions’ platform and provide information on the IPM methods. It will collect data for comparing IPM strategies, and share results and dissemination material through channels widely used by farmers, broadcasting IPM success stories. It will organise training, and produce training material, targeting both farmers outside the network and advisory services, in order to prepare for the future dissemination of the peer-to-peer learning approach and the general adoption of IPM throughout the EU.

Smart-AKIS was submitted to the 2014 call, remaining on the reserve list (12/15). For resubmission, all items in the ESR have been carefully addressed: i) more focused approach, addressing only Smart Farming Technology for crop production and using more concrete methodologies; ii) stronger involvement of the machinery industry, with specific support from national Associations and a dedicated working group within CEMA; iii) a Data Management Plan ensuring compliance with H2020 Open Access Policy and inclusion in different thematic aggregators. The project aims at setting up a self-sustainable Thematic Network on Smart Farming Technology designed for the effective exchange between research, industry, extension and the farming community in order to disseminate direct applicable research and commercial solutions and capture grassroots level needs and innovative ideas. Smart Farming Technology (SFT) encompasses Farm Management Information Systems, Precision Agriculture and Agriculture automation and robotics. Smart AKIS will collect existing knowledge related to SFT and will produce easily accessible end-user material under the EIP-Agri common format. The project will also integrate the socio-economic aspects involved in the innovation processes and will generate interactive and innovation-based collaborations among researchers, advisors and farmers through the use of open innovation in multi-actor workshops. Knowledge flow will be facilitated through the implementation of the Smart Farming Community Platform, which will be compatible with the EIP-SP in order to ensure long term accessibility of results. Smart-AKIS will build on results from five flagship EU projects (VALERIE, SOLINSA, PRO-AKIS, FRACTALS, AGRISPIN), through the participation in the project of their core partners. The project will establish direct communication with EIP-Agri to maximize impact of project activities and stakeholder mobilization.

Agriculture and food security are one of the main focal points of EU policies, since,in the next 20 years, world food production must increase by 50%, while 80% of that increase must come from intensification (Source: FAO). ANTARES aims to evolve BioSense Centre at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, into a European Centre of Excellence (CoE) for advanced technologies in sustainable agriculture and food security. This endeavor is supported by the participation of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development (MESTD), the national research authority who will provide both institutional and legislative expertise as well as co-financing of 14 mil Euro. The participation of DLO, the Netherlands, the leading European research institute for applied and market-driven research in agriculture and food security, currently involved in 250 FP7 projects, will secure that the know-how and experience of highest European standards are transplanted to Serbia. ANTARES envisages a long-term and mutually beneficial strategic cooperation between DLO and the new CoE, by exploiting the competitive advantages of both organizations. The project relies on the principles of continuity (by capitalizing on the achievements of BioSense), evolution (by identifying the gaps and implementing actions to address them), and consensus (by incorporating the needs and expectations of stakeholders in the vision and strategy of the new CoE), to engage the region in a path of innovative growth. ANTARES is perfectly aligned with the regional innovation priorities as presented in the Smart Specialization Strategy of Vojvodina, while its impact in innovation, economic development, and sustainability is expected to spread at a much broader national and European level.

ENVRI-FAIR is the connection of the ESFRI Cluster of Environmental Research Infrastructures (ENVRI) to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). Participating research infrastructures (RI) of the environmental domain cover the subdomains Atmosphere, Marine, Solid Earth and Biodiversity / Ecosystems and thus the Earth system in its full complexity. The overarching goal is that at the end of the proposed project, all participating RIs have built a set of FAIR data services which enhances the efficiency and productivity of researchers, supports innovation, enables data- and knowledge-based decisions and connects the ENVRI Cluster to the EOSC. This goal is reached by: (1) well defined community policies and standards on all steps of the data life cycle, aligned with the wider European policies, as well as with international developments; (2) each participating RI will have sustainable, transparent and auditable data services, for each step of data life cycle, compliant to the FAIR principles. (3) the focus of the proposed work is put on the implementation of prototypes for testing pre-production services at each RI; the catalogue of prepared services is defined for each RI independently, depending on the maturity of the involved RIs; (4) the complete set of thematic data services and tools provided by the ENVRI cluster is exposed under the EOSC catalogue of services.

New sensing devices and technologies are the key in addressing numerous challenges that agriculture is facing today. Namely, to provide more food for the ever-growing population, a number of biophysical parameters of plants, soil and food products need to be monitored and measured constantly, thus providing valuable data needed to optimize the entire agricultural process. In addition, the corresponding actuating technologies responsible for applying various measures (e.g. irrigation, fertilization) need to become more precise and allow variable rate inputs with a resolution down to an individual plant. To provide novel sensing and actuating solutions able to address the burning issues in agriculture today, NOCTURNO will bring together and synergistically advance several highly promising research directions which have been investigated separately in the last decade: wave-matter interactions, plasmonics, complex media and artificial materials, acoustic, electromagnetics, optics, bionanosensing. The Project will focus on development of sensors and actuators based on non-conventional propagation of acoustic waves in artificial media, electromagnetic/optical sensors based on metasurfaces, and advanced manufacturing technologies including 3D printing, laser-micromachining technology, and e-beam lithography with the aim to provide practical solutions for the fabrication of novel acoustic and metasurface-based sensors and actuators. NOCTURNO proposes an exchange programme which brings together three European academic institutions, two European SME companies, and two third-country universities. The consortium has the specific expertise in the fields listed above and it will create synergies that will first advance the current level of fundamental scientific knowledge and then support its transformation into innovative products with the high potential to revolutionize the agri-food sector.