After successfully closing its Open Call the project look to expanding its network

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On the right track

An important milestone of our project was successfully reached. The 1st agROBOfood Open Call was effectively closed on the 1st of September 2020. Overall, 93 applications were received, mobilizing 309 SMEs. 83% of those SMEs are established in 25 EU countries and the remaining 17% in 9 eligible third countries. Detailed overview can be found here.

 

The agROBOfood network fully operational and growing

 The agroROBOfood network already consists of 112 members plus another 24 pending membership applications being checked for eligibility (Figure 1.).

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Figure 1. Shareof the agROBOfood memberships per region (status on August 1, 2020: 112 members)

Two types of membership are possible. Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs)* and Competence Centers** (CCs), mostly being the larger entities working on a non-for-profit basis delivering technical, business or eco-system services, can become an Associated Member. Other entities, like SMEs that sell (for profit) products or deliver services to customers in the agro-food robotics domain, can become a Business Member. So far, we have registered 83 DIHs of which most of them also serve as a CC (64). Additionally, we added 21 SMEs as a Business Member. Feel free to explore more, submit your application and enjoy benefits of being member of agROBOfood community. Joining the agROBOfood network is free of charge.

Benefits of joining the network:

Network members will:

  • be entitled to use the agROBOfood logo for communication purposes;
  • automatically receive the agROBOfood newsletter;
  • have access to a password-protected area on the agROBOfood portal;
  • have access to all catalogues available on the agROBOfood portal (e.g. the DIH-catalogue, Service Catalogue);
  • have access to their specific Regional Cluster folder on the agROBOfood portal;
  • have access to all contacts within the agROBOfood network;
  • will have right to join general agROBOfood meetings and other joined activities;
  • be registered in the DIH-catalogue. Detailed service activities of the DIH/CC will be registered and made available to all network members;
  • be registered in the agROBOfood website database, which will be made searchable (services, countries, technologies, key words, etc.);
  • be entitled to receive and deliver network services.

 

Important links:

In a nutshell

agROBOfood is a European Union Horizon 2020 project dedicated to accelerating the digital transformation of the European agri-food sector through the adoption of robotic technologies. The aim of the project is to consolidate, extend and strengthen the current ecosystem by establishing a sustainable network of Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH), boosting the uptake of robotic solutions by the agri-food sector. The agROBOfood Consortium has 39 partners, led by Wageningen University & Research with the overall budget of € 16 658 044.75.

*DIHs are one-stop-shops that are based upon technology infrastructures (Competence Centres) and provide access to the latest knowledge, expertise and technology to support their customers with piloting, testing and experimenting with digital innovations. DIHs also provide business and financial support to implement these innovations, if needed across the value chain. As proximity is considered crucial, they act as a first regional point of contact, a doorway, and strengthen the innovation ecosystem. A DIH is a regional multi-partner cooperation (including organizations like RTOs, universities, industry associations, incubator/accelerators, regional development agencies and even governments) and can also have strong linkages with services providers outside of their region supporting companies with access to their services (European Commission, 2018). A Digital Innovation Hub (DIH) is a support facility that helps agricultural companies and farmers to become more competitive by improving their business/production processes as well as products and services by means of digital technology

**A Competence Centre is a technology infrastructure centred on technologies that can be applied to any area, bringing together in one place extensive expertise in this field. A competence centre offers a set of services like training courses in the use of the technologies, advice on the choice of technologies and also work directly with DIH to apply the tools to the area problems in hand (Adapted from European Commission Competence Centres, 2019). CCs are places to support (SMEs) to overcome the technical difficulties they face in adopting robotics such as: a) low awareness of the technological improvement; b) low technical competence beyond their core business; c) hesitation to new long-term investment; d) concerns about advanced robotic solutions, especially Human-Robot-Interaction

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This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 825395