The overall objective of the FOREST 4.0 project is to establish a Centre of Excellence (CoE) to transform the forest environment monitoring, data acquisition, and analysis, and capture value from the collected data by implementing innovations based on artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT). The CoE will be founded by two Lithuanian partners (Vytautas Magnus University - VMU) and Kaunas University of Technology - KTU) teaming with a leading counterpart from Sweden (Linnaeus University - LNU) and three networking and business development partners (InteriorCluster from Sweden, ART21 UAB and AgriFood Lithuania Digital Innovation Hub from Lithuania). The CoE will be created as a new legal entity and will comprise leading researchers from different domains that will implement an ambitious long term research and innovation strategy. The CoE will also provide innovation services to businesses and host a startup incubator. The impact of the project will be a rise in research excellence and reputation in forestry management and AI/IoT technologies for Lithuania; the constitution of a critical mass of excellent international researchers in the targeted domains; the production of a growing amount of research (publications) and innovation (patents, new technologies, startups) outputs; and expanding international networks for the Lithuanian partners.

ICAERUS proposes an “application-oriented” approach, through the selection of five (5) specific drone applications, to explore the multi-purpose application potential of drones in agricultural production, forestry and rural communities. The selected drone applications represent the most important sectoral and societal drone usage purposes in Europe and cover multiple applications that are interconnected within the complex rural European landscape. The ICAERUS vision is to explore opportunities and provide a more complete and interconnected account of the potential and impact of drones as multi-purpose vehicles in EU agriculture, forestry and rural areas. The aim is to showcase and support, through application, the effective, efficient and safe deployment of drones as well as, identify the risks and added values associated with their use. “Taking off” from the current state-of-the-art in the drone ecosystem, ICAERUS will “rise up” by advancing existing software technology, platform components and knowledge in regard to drones, to exploit the potential of drones and strengthen capacities to reduce their risks, achieve better informed decision-making, enhance sustainability performance and competitiveness in agriculture, forestry and rural areas. This will be showcased in two directions: fundamental applications representing an “eye-in-the-sky”, using the drone as a positioning system for optical observation and recording, and a “hand-in-the-sky” applications, for spraying and goods delivery. ICAERUS plans to scale-up through research, technology optimisation, demonstration and education about drones to create an efficient, trusted and safe enabling environment for the EU drone services market to achieve the EU’s decarbonisation, digitalisation and resilience ambitions. ICAERUS consists of a balanced, multi-actor, cross sectoral and well-experienced consortium, including research organisations, SME technology providers, associations and non-profit organisations.

Current food production systems face many challenges (climate change, rampant demographic development) and new sustainable approaches are urgent. Wheat is a central crop in Europe and soil and plant microbial communities are of particular interest in wheat crops since (1) they are crucial solutions for restoring soils and protecting the crops and wheat-derived products against pathogens; (2) they play a key role in regulating plant metabolisms and, thus, the quality and properties of crops; and (3) they can be promising producers for a wide range of nutritional and healthy food and feed products. However, more studies on wheat microbiomes are needed as the current data is scarce. The WHEATBIOME project will contribute in the understanding of the role of the wheat microbiome on sustainable development by undertaking cutting-edge research with strong collaboration between academia, industry, food system actors and governmental authorities distributed along 6 EU countries, and will explore the role of microbiomes in wheat production systems in a broad approach from soil to plate to: • Understand the effect of biotic/abiotic factors on wheat microbiomes with 2 case studies and a lab-scale demonstrator. • Unravel the soil-plant microbiome cross-talking on wheat metabolism and nutritional quality, and deliver sustainable farming practices for resilient and nutritious wheat crops via a new decision support system (DSS). • Discover new fermentation capacities within indigenous wheat microbiomes and develop novel foods and feeds. • Study the role of microbial fermentations in food/feed quality and reduce food waste by recirculating wheat by-products. • Determine the interactions between wheat (prebiotics, probiotics, bioactive compounds, immunogenic proteins, etc.) and the human/animal microbiota, and its effect on human and animal health. • Assess the perception of food system actors and citizens about microbiomes within food systems.

New trends such as teleworking and e-commerce, as well as the need for a further increase of digital tools in all sectors (i.e., health, education, transportation, farming, etc.) demanded by the Covid-19 pandemic, are pointing out once again digital territorial inequalities, supply-chain disruptions and deficiencies in economic opportunities that hamper resilience and prosperity of rural communities. Accessibility and connectivity are key issues to mitigate this erosion of socio-territorial cohesion. However, identifying a common solution for equipping rural communities with increased access to services, opportunities and adequate innovation ecosystems ensuring that no one left behind is a challenging task, mainly due to the diversity of challenges and needs of different locations. In this respect, XGain fosters a sustainable, balanced and inclusive development of rural, coastal and urban areas by facilitating access to relevant stakeholders, such as municipalities, policymakers, farmers, foresters and their associations, to a comprehensive inventory of smart XG, last-mile connectivity and edge computing solutions, and of related assessment methods. The XGain overall project objective is, to deliver a Knowledge Facilitation Tool, facilitating business model development, supporting decision-making in the selection of an ecosystem of technologies, consisting of connectivity options and edge processing solutions, by following a multi-actor and practitioner-oriented approach, and by coherently assessing their socio-economic and techno-environmental effects, aiming at: increasing systemic resilience and energy efficiency; contributing to climate mitigation; and reducing the digital divides between different types of citizens, farms, sectors and regions.

BEATLES aspires to change the way agri-food systems currently operate and accelerate the systemic and systematic behavioural shift to climate-smart agriculture and smart farming technologies fully aligned with the ambitions of the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies, and the new CAP at regional and EU levels. By adopting a food systems approach, the agri-food value chain is viewed as a system of interlinked components where interactions lead to systemic innovations. Through targeted selection of agri-food value chains across the EU and by engaging multiple stakeholders in the co-creation of systemic innovations, in the context of appropriate behavioural and experimental settings, the project will provide an integrative inventory of behavioural insights about the full range of “lock-ins” and levers that hinder or motivate behavioural change, including individual, systemic and policy factors. Five different food systems representing the major crop and livestock farming systems in Europe (cereals, dairy, stone fruits, livestock, vegetables) in various EU regions (Western, Eastern, Southern and Northern Europe), will be studied to account for the diversity in agri-food systems and conditions in the EU. The behavioural insights are used to develop transformative pathways, via business strategies and policy recommendations, to encourage transition to fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food systems. BEATLES will provide a set of business strategies establishing roadmaps for a fair shift towards climate-smart agriculture, based on environmental, social and economic sustainability assessments. Moreover, a series of policy recommendations and tools will be developed to foster behaviourally informed policy design and implementation. The active participation of multiple value chain actors, at various levels of society (public, political, professional), in the co-creation activities all along the project’s lifespan will establish a mutual understanding of the value