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.

SIXFOLD unites partners from the ‘Smart Sensors 4 Agri-food’ Partnership, and its network of Living Labs with a clear aim, Stimulating Innovation eXperiments in Food prOcessing Live Demonstrators. The twin transition stands at the heart of the Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategy. The agri-food sector plays a critical role in the realisation of these ambitions. The nature of deep tech innovation also shows the need for a transition via responsible regulatory frameworks. Living Labs are looking for more experimentation by engaging societal stakeholders and addressing innovation barriers experienced by agri-food companies. SIXFOLD aims to facilitate implementation of deep tech within the agri-food sector, by building a robust network of Living Labs across the EU. This network will support a dynamic and regionally embedded ecosystem thriving with deep tech innovations relevant for the agri-food industry such as AI and machine learning, robots and co-bots, biotech, etc. throughout the food system. The timing is critical for agri-food companies to experiment with innovative technologies and collaboration with deep tech innovators. SIXFOLD builds on an existing framework. Nevertheless, a careful assessment of the current state of play through interviews and study visits is made after which assessed barriers to innovation is tackled by a tailor-made co-creation process. This ensures maximum participation of external experts, regulators, and broader societal actors on regional and European levels and in turn generates a more complete and validated Action Plan adapted to real-world needs. The network of Living Labs will in this way facilitate collaborative knowledge exchange by actively engaging stakeholders from various regions and ensuring inclusivity and diversity in participation. Amongst other objectives, the updated Operational Handbook of the network of Living Labs will form the basis of a successful transition towards sustainable food systems across Europe.

The aim of Robotics4EU is to ensure a more widespread adoption of (AI-based) robots in healthcare, inspection and maintenance of infrastructure, agri-food, and agile production. It will be reached through the implementation of the responsible robotics principles among the robotics community that results in societal acceptance of the robotics solutions in application areas. Robotics4EU will create and empower the EU-wide responsible robotics community representing robotics innovators from companies and academia in the fields of healthcare, inspection and maintenance of infrastructure, agri-food, and agile production as well as citizens/users and policy/decision makers by rising awareness about non-technological aspects of robotics (ethics, legal, socioeconomic, data, privacy, gender) by organising community building and co-creation events bringing together robotics community and citizens, advocating for the responsible robotics among all stakeholder groups, incl. policy makers, developing a responsible robotics maturity assessment model and bringing the project results to the standardization bodies. Robotics4EU will implement the following set of activities: 1) assessing the needs and developing a responsible robotics maturity assessment model that is a practical tool for the robotics developers and helps them to strategically plan and the uptake of the legal, societal and ethical aspects of robotics; 2) empowering the robotics community by organising capacity building events in healthcare, agri-food, agile production and infrastructure; 3) assessing robotics ideas and applications provided by the industry with end-users (via online consultation and co-creation workshops); 4) reaching out to the policy makers by compiling a responsible robotics advocacy report, organising a high-level policy debate and transferring the results to the standardization bodies.

The innovation ecosystem of the EU is suffering from a strong fragmentation with a big gap between innovation leader regions and emerging innovators. This divide severely limits the potential for innovative Start-ups from emerging and moderate innovator region to access capital and get adequate support for bringing their innovations to market. To tackle these challenges, INNOVATE-EU will strengthen and connect five local innovation ecosystems: the innovation leader region Baden-Württemberg (BW) in Germany, the moderate innovator regions of Lithuania and Aragon in Spain and the emerging innovator regions of Latvia and Northeast Romania. Its goal is to address the innovation gap between these regions, connect them to an EU-wide network of innovation ecosystems, and strengthen their deep tech Start-ups and Scale-ups by building on three (fundamental) pillars: i) a detailed analysis of the target groups and needs of the local innovation ecosystems followed by knowledge exchange and a detailed action plan to address the disparities, ii) the formation of the interconnected and inclusive INNOVATE-EU innovation support community and its connection to European communities, iii) direct support and trainings for promising deep tech Start-ups and Scale-ups providing them with the necessary knowledge, tools, and contacts for successfully upscaling their business models and bringing their products to market. Through this approach INNOVATE-EU will create an interconnected and inclusive innovation ecosystem with access to a wider European innovation support community and concrete pathways for existing and emerging deep tech entrepreneurs to access growth and investment opportunities. This will result in the overcoming of the innovation gap between moderately and highly innovative regions in Europe and the unveiling of disruptive and otherwise hidden Start-ups and Scale-ups in deep tech.

Due to a lack of a holistic approach combining physical and digital assets for optimal field performance and minimum environmental impact, AI models, data and autonomous robotic systems in crop care tasks have not reached a mature technological level. The conventional spraying methods result in excessive pesticide and fertilizer use, posing severe environmental impact - being responsible for soil, water and air pollution, and harming non-target plants, insects, animals and humans. Smart Droplets’ main objective is to advance both hardware and software capabilities to deliver a holistic system capable of translating large amounts of data into meaningful information and impactful spraying commands on the field. To demonstrate substantial impact on the Green Deal, Smart Droplets will implement Autonomous retrofit tractors with Direct Injection System (DIS) for intelligent spraying - avoiding exposure of farmers to hazardous chemicals. Through the combination of high-level technologies (>TRL 7), Smart Droplets adopts a hybrid approach for spraying operations, combining Data/AI/Digital Farm Twin technologies designed to translate data into actionable information, and real-time data collected from Field demonstrators evaluating and demonstrating optimised technologies in the real environments. Smart Droplets will exploit synergies with relevant stakeholders, and intensify Community & Capacity building through dedicated training programs designed for non-expert users of AI, data and robotics systems. The Smart Droplets Consortium consists of all agricultural AI, data and robotics value chain actors, and is well balanced in terms of expertise, entity type, and geographical distribution necessary to meet its objectives. Smart Droplets will demonstrate how autonomous robotic platforms, innovative spraying, digital twin and AI models, can deliver environmental, economic, regulatory, business, scientific, and societal benefits, assisting in the achievement of Green Deal goals.