Joining forces for a real digitisation of the agri-food sector in Spain and Portugal 

The Iberian Regional Cluster (RC) is led by the Andalusian Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development (CAPDER), and co-led by an advisory company experienced in the Portuguese agri-food sector. It is a public-private network with a strong focus on new policies in order to reinforce digitisation in the agri-food sector and is integrated with the Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3P) by means of the S3P Agrifood T&BD partnership.

The RC seeks to establish an innovation ecosystem in the peninsula effectively open to all agri-food businesses, investors, researchers and other stakeholders to align innovation with the sector’s needs. To this end, it identifies and integrates Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs)  and attempts to enhance coordination and collaboration amongst them, Competence Centres (CCs) and Flagship Experiment Initiatives (FIEs) across the Iberian Peninsula and beyond. 

The facilitation of the agri-food sector’s transition to the digital economy by establishing new projects and laboratories is one of its main goals, as well as ultimately establishing permanent, self-sustaining networks within the SmartAgriHubs (SAH) project. This is to be achieved through the dissemination of results, the connection of regional agents and the promotion of relevant open calls. In short, the RC aims to establish an ecosystem which helps participating partners with capacity-building in order to move forward on the digital transformation of the European agrifood sector.