Foodscale Hub’s Growth Accelerates: 10 New Projects Starting in 2024
This year started off on an ambitious and inspiring note, as ten EU projects that count Foodscale Hub in their consortium have kickstarted in January! Each project is dedicated to addressing diverse challenges and fostering innovation. From sustainable agriculture to redefining livestock systems, these initiatives embody a shared commitment to a more competitive and sustainable future.
Digi4Live
The EU project Digi4Live will run until 2028 and in the meantime it aims to enhance the utilisation of data and digital technologies within the European livestock industry. By fostering collaboration among farmers, technology suppliers, authorities, and other stakeholders, the project aims to develop innovative digital solutions for livestock tracking. This collaborative approach supports the integration of current and emerging technologies in livestock management. Additionally, Digi4Live contributes to the establishment of standardised regulations, removing barriers to data and technology adoption. Furthermore, the project provides evidence of the economic, social, and environmental impacts of data-driven solutions in the livestock sector, ultimately facilitating more efficient administration and informed decision-making.
OpenAgri
The OpenAgri project endeavours to transform digital farming by offering farmers open-source, cost-effective, and energy-efficient Agricultural Digital Solutions (ADSs). These solutions operate seamlessly in remote areas with limited connectivity, addressing challenges such as high costs, low trust, and limited connectivity. The team around the project believes in democratising technology, empowering farmers through open-source software and hardware, overcoming barriers to adoption, and promoting innovative collaboration for tailored, real-world solutions.
Foodscale Hub (FSH) heads the efforts in Ecosystem Building and Expansion, focusing on widespread dissemination, effective communication, and knowledge transfer in a multi-actor context. Acting as the Open Call leader, the Foodscale Hub team collaborates with nine Sustainable Innovation Pilots (SIPs) to establish a methodology for co-creating community-driven Agricultural Digital Solutions (ADSs), fostering innovation in the process.
TALLHEDA
TALLHEDA, running from 2024 to 2027, stands as a pioneering initiative dedicated to revolutionising agricultural Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Driven by a commitment to address societal challenges, it aims to propel the European Union toward enhanced competitiveness and sustainability. At its core, TALLHEDA seeks to bridge gaps in Research and Innovation (R&I) across Europe, with a specific focus on regions where scientific excellence and innovation output are presently deficient. Through targeted efforts, this ambitious project aims to foster a more robust R&I landscape, ensuring a collective stride towards a prosperous and sustainable future for the European Union.
FSH plays a supportive role in collaboration with partners to provide lectures, support academic visits, and facilitate exchanges. Additionally, FSH contributes to designing and delivering training seminars and Dissemination, Communication, and Networking activities, as well as multi-actor engagement and result exploitation efforts. Finally, FSH actively contributes to TALLHEDA through participation in various project management and coordination activities.
STEP UP
The STEP UP project aims to provide policymakers with thorough evidence on the impacts and values of livestock farming in the food system and wider ecosystem. Emphasising positive and negative aspects, it introduces Safe and Just Operating Space (SJOS) concepts to align future livestock systems with planetary boundaries. In the EU, STEP UP strives to transform current practices and policies through case studies, mapping frameworks, quantifying impacts, and proposing mitigation tools. By analysing Innovative Livestock Production Systems, it addresses the lack of information on European Livestock Production Systems and aims to upgrade traditional approaches for more sustainable livestock farming.
FSH leads the tasks related to crafting and executing strategic frameworks for STEP UP, focusing on effective dissemination, exploitation, and communication of project outcomes across European, regional, and local levels. Through a participatory approach, our team will map key stakeholders, devise engagement strategies, and create compelling narratives. Our commitment includes developing visual identities, interactive online platforms, and engaging content to foster community building and information sharing. Actively collaborating with projects and networks, we aim to share insights and findings impactfully.
FS4AFRICA
Food Safety for Africa (FS4AFRICA) aims to improve African food safety systems – with particular attention to the informal sector – through local market transformation, enhancing food security and regional trade while reducing negative impacts on the environment, biodiversity, health, and society. Two open calls will be launched through cascaded funding as a mechanism to maximise the project’s impact and accelerate network expansion.
RURBANIVE
RURBANIVE aims to develop 6 Rural/Urban enablers (RUEs) – innovations in six domains that favour bi-directional urban-rural synergies and a well-being economy. A digital space, the “Community Store,” that will be the prominent result of the project, will integrate the RUEs along with the “Community of Practice Suite” of Policies, facilitating rural and urban communities to create strong synergies. The Community Store will make possible synergies and recommendations, online interaction, dialogue, collaboration, and participation of rural/urban actors and stakeholders.
STELLA
STELLA aims to develop a digital system for early detection and warning of regulated pests using modern sensing technology and Artificial Intelligence. The project will test the STELLA PSS platform over three years at field, farm, and regional levels across 6 Use Case Pilots (UCPs) covering arable, orchard, and vineyard crops including large, difficult-to-reach areas such as forests. The project will include capacity-building activities to equip farmers, agronomists, and stakeholders with the necessary skills to use the STELLA system and encourage them to adopt eco-friendly crop protection methods.
4Growth
4Growth aims to contribute to the adoption of digital solutions in agriculture and forestry. This involves documenting the present state and forecasting future trends, making insights available to the wider community of decision makers and value chain actors through the 4Growth Visualisation Platform. Furthermore, it enables collecting real-world data, identifying factors affecting adoption, and creating essential policy recommendations and best practices to encourage further uptake. To successfully fulfil its ambition and carry out the proposed activities, 4Growth brings together a highly motivated team with experience in digital agriculture and forestry activities.
FOODCITYBOOST
FOODCITYBOOST will develop a decision-support tool with evidence-based indicators for environmental, social, and economic performance of urban farming. This tool, operating at farm, regional, and EU levels, will offer guidance on policy instruments promoting urban farming development. The project will assess urban farming’s future potential through foresight and scenario analyses, along with developing and prototyping innovative urban farming approaches. FOODCITYBOOST will closely collaborate with more than 100 stakeholders, using an approach based on the idea of living labs.
The FoodDataQuest
The FoodDataQuest project aims to transform the agri-food industry with innovative data-driven solutions, focusing on public health, nutrition, sustainability, and reducing food waste. It addresses market imbalances, improving food supply and consumption patterns while minimising environmental impact. Central to the project is a comprehensive data-sharing framework across the supply chain, utilising AI and Machine Learning for solutions. It emphasises sustainable dietary transitions, fair food systems, and citizen engagement, balancing data openness with privacy protection for a healthier and environmentally friendly food ecosystem.
Conclusion
As FoodScale Hub embarks on these innovative projects, we invite you to stay connected and be part of our journey. Follow us on our LinkedIn page and explore our projects here.