<< Background >>With a growing world population estimated by the United Nations to be over 9 billion people by 2050, consumption patterns are changing and it is estimated that demand for food will increase by 70%. Yet, our current farming model is ill-suited to respond to future demands and we will need to make some changes in the agricultural production.A sustainable production would be achieved not only by managing the economics, but also by including other factors such as soil fertility, soil erosion or water use. In this context, digital farming appeared as a promising model to help achieve these objectives through precision technology.Precision agriculture has been defined as a way to “apply the right treatment in the right place at the right time” (Gebbers and Adamchuk, 2010). As an example, precise irrigation methods are developing rapidly in order to save water while improving yields and fruit quality (Precision Agriculture: an opportunity for EU farmers, 2014)In 2019, during the EU’s ‘Digital Day’, 24 EU Member States signed a declaration on ‘A smart and sustainable digital future for European agriculture and rural areas’ which recognises the potential of digital technologies to help tackle important and urgent economic, social, climate and environmental challenges facing the EU's agri-food sector and rural areas. According to Roberto Viola, Director General of DG connect at the European Commission, today people expect to be able to buy food that is high quality, safe, and affordable. Many consumers want to know how our food is produced and to be reassured that this happens with minimum environmental damage and usage of precious resources such as water and energy (The future of farming: How digital can make a difference, 08/03/2020).Digital farming is a way to increase farm efficiency while improving economic and environmental sustainability using Artificial Intelligence, robotics, data analysis and other digital tools and skills. Increased use of digital technologies will also have a positive impact on the quality of life in rural areas, and may attract a younger generation to farming and rural business start-ups. Indeed, according to the EU Agricultural and Farm Economics Briefs of 2017, only 5.6% of all European farms were run by farmers younger than 35 in 2017 while more than 31% of all farmers were older than 65.The “AGRI’s” project aims to provide tools and methodologies to adults’ educators for them to raise awareness regarding precision agriculture and help adults to acquire necessary skills to become entrepreneurs in the agro-food industry using digital technologies.<< Objectives >>With this premises “AGRI Smart” (AGRI’s) Cooperation Partnership project aims at:Objective 1: Promote agriculture entrepreneurship as a sustainable farming model;Objective 2: Develop precision agriculture in Europe to answer the growing need of food and promote a new model of farming towards a more sustainable one;Objective 3: Empower adults with digital and entrepreneurial skills in the agro-food industry to become actors of a sustainable future and become more competitive actors at the same time.<< Implementation >>The activities that will be implemented during the project life-time will be the following:-Production of a Guide addressed to all adults interested in the topic. For this purpose, partners will use survey for needs analysis, research, interview with professionals, and peer-review methodologies;-Production of a Training Format addressed to adults’ trainers/educators. Partners will be implementing the output through research making, peer-review methodology, Piloting of the Training Format, Local workshop implementation, feedback collection;-Creation of a social community to be used by farmers interested in/using precision agriculture and willing to share and/or discuss about their experience regarding precision agriculture practices.<< Results >>In order to reach the objectives, the project’s partners will produce the following results:-1 guide which explains the concept of precision agriculture and how it can help to reach a more sustainable model of producing. The guide will contain a state-of-the-art in the involved countries regarding precision technologies applied to agricultural industry with some examples of best precision agriculture practices in order to show the benefits of using them and encourage future entrepreneurs to consider them. The guide will be addressed to adults interested in the topic. -1 Training Format for adults’ educators interested in promoting agricultural entrepreneurship in a sustainable way. The Training Format will provide the target group with some tools and methodologies to be used and reproduced at the local level in order to give new skills and knowledge to young adults that would be interested in agricultural entrepreneurship on how to start a business in agriculture. The Training Format will contain modules dealing with entrepreneurial skills applied to agriculture, including digital skills for young adults to be prepared for a new farming model (data analysis, Artificial Intelligence, social media communication, etc…).-1 social community on a web platform where farmers can share their experience with precision technologies used in their agricultural business, discuss with other farmers regarding these technologies and the data they collected to improve the farming methods and get better quality and more sustainable products.

Electric vehicle (EV) market presents rapid increase, reaching over 1 million vehicles & expected to double in 2018. In contrast, EV & infrastructure formal training on development, service, maintenance, sustainability awareness is at its infancy, especially in the EU. The bEyonD the boRder of electrΙc VEhicles: an advanced inTeractive cOURse (E-DRIVE TOUR) project aims to develop an advanced interactive course related to Sustainable Electrical Mobility Engineering that will train individuals with the necessary skills & knowledge to work in the electrical automotive industry. The course will also stimulate transversal competences such as the increased sense of initiative & entrepreneurship. It is designed to follow the ECTS credit standard. The innovative curriculum comprises of interactive teaching methods & partnerships with expert academic & industrial organizations giving a solid background for a career in the industry. The course duration is 8 months, plus a 14-days industrial experience a month after the teaching period. During the course, 3 mobility periods are programmed. For the first 2 (14-day), students & educators from two universities will travel to the third to participate in large scale laboratories. The course will be taught in English, yet local language lessons will be provided to enable participants to immerge in the local culture. The course will be open for anyone with basic electrical or mechanical technical background. Priority will be given according to academic performance & in case of equivalence, participants from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds (including refugees, asylum seekers & migrants) will be preferred. In the 3rd period, all students will be spread to the partner–companies to perform a 14-days internship focused on electric vehicle technology. By completed all training periods, students will have gained theoretical knowledge on electric vehicle technology as well as practical experience, valuable for an emerging market.

Over the past 5 years, IoT technology has grown rapidly and it is expected that by 2025, IoT may reach a total potential market impact of up to $11.1 trillion. Large shipping corporations are already investing heavily in IoT solutions in their fleet to improve transparency, safety, and cost efficiency by optimising procedures, maintenance & energy efficiency. Shipowners are set to spend an average of $2.5m, each, on IoT solutions over the next 3 years. In addition, the marine surveying infrastructure transformation through IoT technologies is expected to enable the shipping industry, port authorities or environmental agencies, to inspect shipping assets, offshore structures, waterways & ensure compliance with various standards or specifications. In contrast, formal Maritime & Surveying IoT training on development, installation, service, maintenance & sustainability awareness is at its infancy, especially in the EU.The Surveying & MARiTime internet of thingS EducAtion (SMARTSEA) project aims to develop an advanced interactive certified MSc course related to Maritime & Surveyor IoT applications that will train individuals with the necessary skills & knowledge to work in the rising “Smart Maritime & Surveying” industry. The course is also formulated to stimulate transversal competences such as the increased sense of initiative & entrepreneurship. It will follow the ECTS credit standards for certification recognition across the EU.The innovative curriculum comprises of interactive teaching methods & partnerships with expert academic & maritime organizations to give to the students a solid background for starting a fruitful career in the industry. The course duration is 8 months, plus a 1-month maritime (on the job) experience. In addition, in 2 mobility periods,the students & educators from one university will travel to the other and vice-versa, to participate in the large-scale laboratories, whereas a 3rd period is reserved for the maritime on-the-job training.

Over the past 5 years the Industry 4.0 revolution managed to rapidly transform all major industrial sectors, including the agricultural domain. At the pinnacle of this revolution the Internet of Things (IoT), providing a network of physical “smart” interconnected devices that exchange & process data without (or with minimal) human intervention. The availability & affordability of this new technology allowed the development of a range of services from new data fusion analytic tools to the development of advance networking systems. The masTERs course on smArt Agriculture TECHnologies (TERRATECH) project aims to develop an advanced interactive MSc course related to Agriculture IoT Engineering that will train individuals with the necessary skills & knowledge to work in the rising “Smart Agriculture” industry. The course is also formulated to stimulate transversal competences such as the increased sense of initiative & entrepreneurship. The course is designed to follow the European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System (ECTS) credit standards for certification recognition across the EU.The novel curriculum consists of interactive teaching methods & partnerships with expert academic & agricultural organizations in order to give to the students a solid background for starting a fruitful career in the industry.