Our Precision Farming Knowledge Transfer Ecosystem has been designed to overcome the fragmentation of expertise, one of the sector’s greatest hurdles. In many cases, small-scale innovations often remain confined to demonstration sites and regions, while others lack of technical support or funding for further upscaling. By mapping and interlinking existing actors Agri-Digital Growth Ecosystem wants to create a dynamic network of stakeholders to share their know-how. Farmers will no longer be isolated from research: whether they aim to deploy variable-rate seeding, integrate drone-based crop scouting or adopt remote-sensing moisture monitoring, they can quickly reach out to potential research partners and pilot site.
At its core, the Ecosystem pursues two ambitions. First, to accelerate the transfer of digital innovation and facilitate co-innovation through real-world demonstrations, peer-to-peer learning and Living Labs for robust field applications. The second is to foster long-term capacity building for all the involved stakeholders. In fact, the Ecosystem will develop a set of e modules, webinars and trainings to equip farmers, advisors and technical staff with the skills to master data-driven agriculture.
Structurally, the Ecosystem adopts a hub-and-spoke architecture. Nine “hub” organisations will provide strategic coordination. These organisations are the main project partners: universities, research institutes and digital-innovation centres in Italy, Austria, Czechia, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia and Poland. Around each hub there are he “spoke” partners: farm associations, agri-tech startups, machinery OEMs and consultancy firms that implement pilot trials, offer on-site expertise and feed back real-world insights.
This architecture of the Ecosystem is design to deliver clear benefits for every participant. Hubs gain access to diverse testbeds and end-user feedback, strengthening their research impact. Spokes benefit from a ready-made network of innovation partners, reducing the time and cost of technology adoption while tapping into tailored capacity-building resources. Shared governance mechanisms and regular coordination meetings ensure transparency and rapid iteration, so that challenges encountered on one farm can be resolved and quickly disseminated all over the network-wide.
Over the project life, the Ecosystem will roll out a series of interlinked initiatives. Five Living Labs distributed across Central Europe will host multi-actor field trials, allowing farmers to test and compare technologies under local conditions and to co-design best-practice workflows. Seminars held every four months will tackle emerging themes such as climate-smart irrigation, remote sensing and interoperable data infrastructures. A dedicated service will guide consortia through EU and national calls, from crafting impact narratives to matchmaking complementary partners.
The Precision Farming Knowledge Transfer Ecosystem is set to help how Central European farmers embraces digitalisation; SMEs and research centres will accelerate their innovations, laying the foundations for a more productive and thriving agriculture in the region.