SCOoPE project will work directly with energy-intense agro-food industries to implement cross-cutting and collaborative energy management systems addressed to reduce their energy consumption, and will further spread this knowledge within technicians, businesses managers, and energy and agro-food institutions. The project SCOoPE aims at achieving the challenges of the topic EE 16-2014/2015. Regarding the use of cost-effective energy solutions, the project objective is to reduce energy consumption at a short term in a range between 10% and 15% directly in 81 businesses belonging to the agro-food target sectors of the project (namely crop drying, meat and poultry, dairy, and fruit and vegetables transformation). This reduction must be achieved without any decrease in the production capacity of the companies and maintaining correct socioeconomic and environmental conditions. In order to do that, the project will work with the uptake of specific and cross-cutting innovative technologies and techniques, which efficacy has been proven in other industrial sectors, different from agro-food sector, but that are not yet familiar to project’s target sectors. On the other hand, the project pursues larger savings in the medium term with new affordable energy solutions, specifically by developing the concept of “Collaborative Energy Management Systems”. It will take advantage of complementarities and synergies between analysed industrial sites with similar characteristics and will use them for the improvement of their joint energy efficiency. For this purpose, 6 pilot industrial clusters will be run in order to prove the improvements of total energy consumptions and its associated costs, achieved by using common procedures based on ISO 50.001 and supported by an specific software (Dashboard) developed by the project. All these experiences will be promoted to encourage target groups to reduce their energy consumption, following the example of the directly involved companies.

ENFASYS aims to stimulate a just and robust transition to sustainable, productive, climate-neutral, biodiversity friendly and resilient farming systems (SFS) by improved policies and business strategies that encourage farmers to change their production systems. In current food systems, farmers are challenged by multiple lock-ins that prevent them to move to SFS. To overcome this and thus to support the Green Deal and in particular the Farm to Fork ambitions, strengthening public strategies (policies) should go hand in hand with strengthening private strategies (business models, social innovations). To reach this aim, ENFASYS goals are (1) an improved understanding of lock-ins and levers in farming and food systems;(2) an improved understanding of behavioural factors of farmers, consumers and other food chain actors;(3) more and better evidence on the potential effectiveness of interventions;(4) a more structured approach to link knowledge to action. To do so, ENFASYS will frame current transitions to SFS and screen 160 cases for current interventions. Through systems analysis, behavioural and experimental studies, ENFASYS will uncover lock-ins from a systemic and behavioural point of view. The potential of policy and business interventions will be tested in 12-15 countries across Europe through experimental studies (discrete choice experiments, framed field experiments and randomized trials) and system dynamic modelling. To link systemic and behavioural insights to action and to understand the impact of the interventions on systems level, results of these studies will be combined into system and behavioural based theories of change. Together with stakeholders and enriched by the research results, ENFASYS will co-design policy mixes, business strategies and social innovations and stimulate their implementation. Strategic communication, dissemination, exploitation and tailored capacity building towards all our target groups, will maximize ENFASYS’ impact.

Bioeconomy starts on the fields, yet meaningful participation of the primary sector in the bioeconomy is currently challenged, especially due to: (i) poor cooperation and knowledge transfer between relevant stakeholders, (ii) limited support to invest in R&D of new value chains. To answer this challenge, the COOPID project proposes an effective strategy to mobilise primary producers and stimulate the uptake of inclusive and sustainable bio-based business models in the European primary production sector, considering regional & sectorial conditions. To do so, a network of COOPID Bioeconomy Clusters from 10 European countries has been created ad-hoc, involving a range of stakeholders: (a) primary producers, in cooperatives or associations, within agriculture, forestry & aquaculture, (b) industry, (c) public sector, (d) research & academia. We have already the commitment to participate of 73 entities. We will foster the deployment of innovative bio-based business models in the primary production based on a four-level knowledge transfer approach: -Selecting “Success Story Showcases” across different EU countries among the network which will be visited in person by the participants from the network - “COOPID ambassadors”- (level 1), -Organising workshops to be done by the “COOPID ambassadors” for sharing main highlights of their visit to the “success story” among their peer primary producers (level 2), -Carrying out interactive dissemination & communication engaging other target audiences (levels 3&4). Focus will be put on mobilisation of female and young producers as having a great potential to innovate yet being underrepresented in the primary production sector. Recommendations for primary producers, policy-makers and academia & research will be elaborated, fostering better understanding of different perspectives on bioeconomy, having a significant impact on a wide bioeconomy deployment in primary production, reaching a broad audience (estimated at 9,500 stakeholders).

More than ever, soil health is an issue, as recent assessments state that 60-70% of European soils can be considered unhealthy. The Soil Deal for Europe aims to have 75% of EU soils healthy or significantly improved by 2030. Reaching such an ambition requires, among others, access to reliable, harmonised existing and new data and knowledge collected at local, national and EU levels to allow informed decision-making at all scales to support the Soil Health Law and the EU Soil Strategy. SoilWise will provide an integrated and actionable access point to scattered and heterogeneous soil data and knowledge in Europe, making them FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) and improve trust, willingness, and ability to share and re-use soil data and knowledge. In three project development cycles, co-creation and co-validation by multi-stakeholder groups are the centre of project activities. SoilWise recognises existing workflows and repositories for specific user needs and aims to work with them to enhance their discoverability, approachability and interconnection. An open, modular, scalable and extensible knowledge and data repository building on existing and new technologies will be provided while respecting data ownership, access policies and privacy. AI- and ML- techniques will be employed to interlink scattered data and knowledge, automatise the processes, infer new knowledge and increase FAIRness. SoilWise applies infrastructure thinking instead of project thinking to design a repository for at least a decade to support EUSO evolvement accordingly. The SoilWise repository and community are designed to be a joint starting point and common ground for countries, the European Commission and other stakeholders to jointly guide soil and related spatial policy and informed decision-making towards the 2030 goals of the Green Deal, achieve healthy soils in 2050 and ensure broad uptake and implementation by land managers, policy, research and industry.

The EU Farm to Fork strategy, which is at the heart of the European Green Deal, aims to make food systems fair, healthy, and environmentally friendly. To achieve the objectives of the Farm to Fork strategy, the Commission proposed, among other, new targets to reduce the use and risks of pesticides (RURP). The main objective of AdvisoryNetPEST is to establish and upgrade a network of advisory services across the EU, increasing the knowledge sharing between advisors, and among the whole AKIS, and the adoption of innovative solutions to RURP by farmers. The project will achieve this by: 1) Developing a EU network of advisors to RURP, based on existing networks and national AKIS, covering the 27 EU Members States (MSs) and the UK. To cover all MSs, the project will adopt a twinning approach: 14 National Networks will be created by the project partners, and these will engage with 14 Associated Networks through a twining program. The network will cover all European pedo-climatic areas, integrating four EU regional clusters and the most relevant crop sectors. 2) Identifying, selecting, and shaping Novel Approaches (NAs), which are technically, economically, socially, and environmentally viable, that will be adapted and replicated across the EU. 3) Exchanging knowledge and training advisors and students to promote the adoption of the NAs. 4) Connecting the project with other national and EU projects, initiatives and policy makers. 5) Scaling up the NAs, fostering the adoption of innovative solutions by farmers and the whole value chain. The project will embrace a multi-actor approach, gathering 19 partner organisations with a vast experience in advisory and crop protection. The consortium will also represent a diversity of AKIS stakeholders, including advisors, researchers, and other value chain actors, as the cornerstone of a regional, national, and EU level network that will allow a wide sharing of technical and practical expertise to RURP in the long-term.