European farming is strongly affected by the high-impact of climate change emerging as a major threat on agriculture in Europe and across the world. Even though the digital transformation of agriculture promises to solve numerous environmental, economic and societal problems, and important steps have taken place towards this goal, agriculture sector is the least digitized of all major productive activities. By increasing digitalisation and adopting climate-smart practices in agricultural makes it is possible to produce products with ever higher efficiency and ever lower environmental impact. However, adoption of a climate-smart agriculture is not only a farmers’ concern. It is an interdisciplinary issue for agronomists, ICT experts, farmers, breeders etc. that Higher Education Institutions need to respond by developing new skills and technologies in their curricula.SmartROOT focuses on the preparation of a new Joint Master Degree program in the field of Mixed Farming Systems (MFS) by introducing user-friendly ICT tools to improve the resilience of agriculture subject to climate change. The rational is not only to prepare an international master degree program. It is also to actively involve students in the preparation process, receive their assessment and feedback on the ICT tools and material developed in terms of their operability, the user-friendly environment, the knowledge gained, the extent of international cooperation and the extent of satisfaction of their expectations. It will be a dynamic, inter-active process which ends to a Joint Master Degree program ready to run after the completion of the project.SmartROOT not only aims to prepare the future professionals in the agricultural sector, but also promotes ways for small and medium-sized farms to benefit from the new technologies by introducing and familiarising farmers to digital technologies. Farmers will gain knowledge on methodologies to foster the synergies between agricultural production, climate change mitigation and adaptation. SmartROOT expected results can be summarised in the following lines:1) Build an international Joint Master Degree (JMD) program in Mixed Farming Systems ready to run after the completion of the project2) Actively involve students to the preparation, test and assessment of a JMD prior its official launch3) Enforce students’ insight to perceive the global trends on the agriculture domain in combination to climate change mitigation4) Increase students’ and stakeholders (e.g. farmers) awareness on environment friendly agricultural trends to minimise the climate change consequences5) Bridge the needs of agriculture experts and ICT scientists and familiarise farmers with ICT technological advancements6) Develop open educational and management platforms available to be used by individual farmers and agriculture professionals7) Act as a stepping stone towards the new challenge for HEIs in Europe as described under the Erasmus+ program: to create a network in the frame of the European Universities initiative SmartROOT’s results will be achieved through the following outputs:- O1 MFS e-book - O2 Open Hub for Knowledge Exchange - O3 SmartROOT Virtual Farm Hub- O4 MFS Educational Management Platform - O5 Augmented Reality Learning Environment - O6 SmartROOT Assessment Toolkit and Curriculum preparation1.Introduce the context of CSA and Mixed Farming Systems to HEIs involved through co-design of their curricula2.Educate students to new technological solutions for climate smart agriculture such as such as smart sensors, robots, UAVs, advanced tracking systems, long-range IoT-enabled sensors, middleware and gateways for extending the size of the potential monitoring area, facilitating, thus, data collection and processing of different farming systems at the same time, enabling optimal decisions,3.Develop an Open Access Climate-Smart agriculture platform to foster, support and promote Mixed Farming Systems (MFS), by facilitating the design, the deployment, and the management of crop-livestock-forestry combinations towards sustainable, efficient, and climate-aware MFS systems.4.Develop a continuous training platform, in the national language of each partner’s country, designed for the socio-professional network and based on the content and results of the 3-year project 5.Foster a European network between academia, experienced farmers and stakeholders, to engage end-users and allow exchange of knowledge on best practices on various combinations of mixed farming systems

In the food industry there are a high number of products susceptible to contamination. That is why the surfaces in contact with food products and the environment where these products are processed should be hygienically correct. This objective is only achieved through regular and systematic cleaning and disinfection (C&D). In the food&drink (F&D) sector these activities are carried out by the production workers or industrial cleaning companies who perform the c&d processes.Cleaning workers are affected by regulations and standards related with hygiene, environmental protection and health and safety in relation to the use of C&D products (many of them are biocides). Thus, adaptability of workers is needed to deal with continuous changes and developments emerging in the sector. Proper training of workers is essential to reduce the high number of workplace accidents and occupational illnesses as well as food hazards causing food-borne diseases. The project developed training materials that will improve training on C&D procedures, occupational hazards and hygiene in the food&drink sector, and therefore, will ensure the workers’ safety and the consumers’ health.The objectives of the project are: 1-To provide training on C&D procedures in the F&D industry. 2-To use both food hygiene and prevention of occupational risks training as a strategy to increase workers adaptability to changes and developments emerging in the sector, thereby improving their employability and competitiveness. 3-To encourage the spreading and implementation the European policy about food safety, contributing therefore to protect consumers' health and to protect workers' from occupational risks. 4-To guarantee the product quality and safety by continuous evaluation.The partnership was composed for several organisations with great experience in the vocational training for the F&D and chemical sector from Iceland, Italy, Spain, Lithuania and Romania.The results of the project was a comprehensive new training material on C&D procedures, hygiene, food safety, occupational risk and waste management. The training material is available on an e-platform with open access for all interested in taking the course. The main impact of the project results is to support Vocational and Educational Trainers (VET) by providing them with teaching resources about C&D procedures, food hygiene and occupational risks prevention to train workers performing C&D activities in the F&D sector; More favorable environment to encourage the use of ICT on education; Improvement of the training courses given by the VET system.

Food business is the first sector in terms of employment in Europe, 90% of food companies being SMEs (majority of them being micro enterprises). Though innovation is the main leverage to improve competitiveness, there is neither high enough innovation and entrepreneurship spirit nor innovation transfer from High Education Institutes (HEI) to business. The partners of this consortium, involved for years in initiatives aiming at fostering innovation and interactions between students and industry on the basis of project-based learning approach, identified limits of the current training approaches. The project performance will be notably assessed against the generation of new products or processes and the creation of value and long term collaborations. For this purpose, it will create a European FoodBusiness Transfer Laboratory that will centralize new educational content and tools to foster stimulate entrepreneurship entrepreneurial skills and will allow constructive interactions between HEIs and foodbusiness stakeholders. Supported by a shared web-platform allowing multidisciplinary knowledge exchanges between the partners, this project will also produce best practices for entrepreneurship development, new learning and teaching approaches in closer contact with industry, etc. Taken together, FOODLAB project’s results will homogenize educational approaches; improve interactions between academia and industry; develop entrepreneurship spirit; foster innovation and competences transfer; promote integration of young graduated in SMEs. Ultimately this project will be the basis of competitiveness improvement in food SMEs and bigger companies. It will also help to maintain and increase employment in food sector and possibly in other sectors, as the present project is designed to allow transfer of methodology and best practices in training to other sectors.

There are new challenges and opportunities for agriculture today, driven by the climate change, the greening of the products and processes, the reuse of side-stream products, the raised complexity of the chain and the increased availability of information.However, to successfully address and react to these drivers, agriculture and forestry needs new business models and skills. The identification of existing and emerging skills needs in bio-economy, agricultural sustainability and for the use of digital technology, is of paramount importance in order to develop a strategic approach to keep the European agricultural sector competitive and sustainable in the long term.The multi-stakeholder approach in the FIELDS project, with 30 partners from 12 countries (HEI, VET providers, agricultural and forestry sector representatives and agrifood industry) will allow tackling the complexity of the issues EU agriculture faces today.The FIELDS approach, starting from the current and future trends and skills needed, will lead to a sustainable European strategy to address these skill gaps. Since agriculture issues and opportunities differs a lot from country to country, the EU strategy will be customised to have a country strategy for 7 countries. It will address country-specific actions, occupational profiles and training material to reflect the country needs while keeping EU quality standards (ESCO, EQAVET, ECVET) to address the mobility of learners through Europe concretely.An Agriculture SSA will be established during the project to build upon the regulatory frameworks and opportunities at EU and country level, while proposing concrete and practical initiatives to address skills challenges, in particular through offering modular training inside the project while guaranteeing mobility of workers within the agriculture, forestry and agrifood industry.

The DEFENSEFOOD project aims to enhance the resilience of the EU food supply chain against chemical, biological, and radiological (CBR) threats, ensuring robust preparedness, rapid response, and effective recovery. This comprehensive approach addresses critical areas of threat management, fostering cross-border collaboration, technological innovation, and capacity building to protect public health, bolster economic stability, and secure food systems. The project’s structured strategy, encompassing seven interconnected work packages (WPs), ensures a full spectrum response from anticipation to post-crisis learning and communication. WP1 focuses on proactive anticipation and prevention by leveraging horizon scanning, predictive tools, AI, and real-time data to monitor potential disruptions and strengthen preparedness. WP2 enhances rapid detection using advanced laboratory techniques and both targeted and untargeted analyses to swiftly identify contaminants, reducing response times. WP3 implements impact mitigation and recovery measures by establishing effective containment protocols and outlining strategies for rapid operational restoration, minimising public health and supply chain disruptions. WP4 promotes continuous learning and adaptation, integrating lessons from past incidents to bolster future resilience. WP5 advances knowledge management and communication through user-friendly decision-support tools that disseminate best practices and strategic recommendations across the supply chain. WP6 focuses on training and capacity building, equipping public and private stakeholders with essential skills via workshops, training sessions, and simulation exercises, fostering coordination and preparedness. WP7 ensures cohesive project management, aligning WPs, optimising resources, and achieving milestones. It oversees governance and scientific coordination through consistent monitoring, ethics considerations, and advisory board facilitation.