How can we connect the dots? The opening session will focus on  bringing together the different communities involved in digital innovation in agrifood. We will examine the topic from European, national, regional, and practical viewpoints, delving into the European Commission's various EU programs and exploring how local and regional initiatives can be linked and coordinated.

Speakers:

George Beers, Chair of the SmartAgriHubs Community

Andres Montero, Special Advisor of the President of the Spanish Government for Agriculture challenges

Doris Marquardt, DG CNECT, European Commission

Presentation by: Joost Schuttelaar, Managing Partner, Schuttelaar & Partners

The following workshops will be running in parallel:

Workshop 1: Digital transformation in food processing: The HIGHFIVE approach to support SME’s (SS4AF, FoodScalEUp, HIGHFIVE) 

Location: Auditorium

Workshop 2: QuantiFarm toolkit: An all-in-one service for digital agriculture technology solutions (QuantiFarm)

Location: A1

Workshop 3: WeatherWize: bridging technological divide in rural communities (FUTURAL)

Location: S10

Workshop 4: Helping farmers and rural stakeholders navigate the world of digital technologies (COMMECT)

Location: S9

Workshop 5: Validation services for SMEs leveraging AI and robotics in the agrifood sector (AgrifoodTEF)

Location: A2

Workshop 6: Extreme Food Risk Analytics for Enhanced Food Safety (FoodDataQuest & EFRA)

Location: S12

Workshop 7: Transforming advisory services: Embracing digital tools and overcoming challenges (ModernAKIS)

Location: A4

Workshop 8: Onboarding and specialisation of African Digital Innovation Hubs - a playbook for African DIH (INCiTiS-FOOD)

Location: S6

Workshop 9: How to improve official training using new technologies (Renovate)

Location: S5

Workshop 10: Collaborative innovation for European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) (Joint workshop by EDIH Bretagne, ENTIRE EDIH and DigiAgriFood EDIH Greece)

Location: S11

European research projects will showcase their vision, goals, and achievements in digitising the agri-food sector. This session will feature a dynamic and interactive format, offering the audience a fresh perspective on these projects.

Pitches by: 4Growth, HIGHFIVE, Aliance, BBTWINS, AgrifoodTEF, COMMECT & BEATLES, ModernAKIS, IAA

In recent years, we've seen a shift from traditional agricultural perspectives to a broader food systems approach, championed by initiatives like Food2030 and Farm-to-Fork. Yet, there’s a critical gap: food processing is often overlooked in key reports, policy discussions, and even EU-funded projects. With over 90% of food products undergoing some form of processing—whether it’s cutting, boiling, or sterilizing—this oversight is astonishing.

Without integrating food processors into our conversations, valuable farm-level data won’t reach consumers, and supermarkets won’t be able to provide the transparency that modern consumers are increasingly demanding. Join us for a dynamic discussion on why food processing is the missing link in driving innovation and transparency in the food system—and why it’s time to give it the attention it deserves.

Speakers:

Wim Haentjens, Policy Officer, DG Research & Innovation

Veerle De Graef, Innovation Manager, Flanders' FOOD

Prof. Laurette Dube, Professor, James McGill Chair of Consumer and Lifestyle Psychology, McGill University

Gert-Jan van Fessem, Food for Analytics 

Moderated by: Simon Maas, AgriFood Capital

European research projects will showcase their vision, goals, and achievements in digitising the agri-food sector. This session will feature a dynamic and interactive format, offering the audience a fresh perspective on these projects.

Pitches by: FUTURAL, OpenAgri, FS4AFRICA, EU4Advice, Food-scalEUp, PoliRuralPlus, STELLA, Farmtopia

European research projects will showcase their vision, goals, and achievements in digitising the agri-food sector. This session will feature a dynamic and interactive format, offering the audience a fresh perspective on these projects.

Pitches by: Watson, QuantiFarm, Data4Food2030, EFRA, Nostradamus, Theros, RENOVATE, SS4AF, FoodDataQuest 

The following projects will be running in parallel:

Workshop 11: Exploring the potential of private data sharing: Identification of gain creators, needs and opportunities (FoodDataQuest)

Location: S10

Workshop 12: How can Agrifood TEF - a 60 million project - help EDIHs support SMEs?(AgrifoodTEF)

Location: A4

Workshop 13: New multipurpose Hub for managing and presentation of agriculture and rural related information (PoliRuralPlus, ALIANCE, COMUNIDAD, SmartAgriHubs, Plus Change, DALIA)

Location: A2

Workshop 14: Assessing socio-economic impact of connectivity solutions for rural communities (COMMECT)

Location: S6

Workshop 15: Extended reality as a catalyst for rural-urban synergies in the agri-food sector (RURBANIVE) 

Location: S5

Workshop 16: Technology, transparency, and trust: Addressing food fraud vulnerability in European agri-food supply chains (Watson)

Location: S11

Workshop 17: Data flows and framework conditions in agriculture & forestry (4Growth)

Location: Auditorium

Workshop 18: Digital transformation in agri-food industries (BBTWINS)

Location: S12

Workshop 19: Realising data spaces for the future data economy – Managing organisational and technical challenges from interoperability to trust (Data4Food2030)

Location: A1

Workshop 20: Mapping data requirements for effective and informed decision-making (Nostradamus)

Location: S9

European research projects will showcase their vision, goals, and achievements in digitising the agri-food sector. This session will feature a dynamic and interactive format, offering the audience a fresh perspective on these projects.

Pitches by: ROBS4CROPS, TITAN, GRASS CEILING, GAIA, INCITIS-FOOD, COMUNIDAD, RURBANIVE, Choice

The panel will be discussing smart farming, including its pitfalls, benefits, uptake assessment, and barriers for further deployment. The discussion will also cover collaboration between the research community, the agricultural machinery industry, and farmers, as well as bridging the gap between technology users and providers.

Panel speakers:

Francesco Iadecola, Research Programme Officer, DG AGRI - European Commission

Ignacio Ruiz, Secretary General, ANSEMAT

Dr. Filippo Maria Renga, Founder of the Smart AgriFood Observatory, Digital Innovation Observatories, Politecnico di Milano

Moderated by: Vanja Bisevac, European Agricultural Machinery Association (CEMA)

This plenary session aims to reveal some best practices of management of the different actors that intervene in the process of innovation ‘genesis and uptake. Through 3 different and contrasted cases, the speakers will show how they cope with the different challenges, objectives, constraints, cultures and skills of the actors to generate innovation in different territorial innovation schemes such as the S3 strategies at Regional level, EDIH and Living Labs. The presentations will be followed by a round table and exchanges with the audience.

Keynote speech:

Eduardo Cuoco, Director, IFOAM Organics Europe

Panel speakers: 

Jaume Sio, General Director for Agriculture in the Catalan Government

Bill O'Gorman, Professor, Director for Research, CEDRE, School of Business, South East Technological University (SETU)

Thomas Lainé, European Project Manager, Bretagne Développement Innovation – EDIH Bretagne

Moderated by: Adrien Guichaoua, ACTA (The French Agricultural Technical Institute)

Hear from some of the participating European Digital Innovation hubs who will be presenting their work. This session will feature a dynamic and interactive format, offering the audience a fresh perspective on these projects.

Presentations from: ENTIRE, Location Innovation Hub, DigiAgriFood & BOOST.

Speakers: 

Irene López de Vallejo, Head of EU Affairs, CTIC Centro Tecnológico

Sally Shortall, Duke of Northumberland Chair of Rural Economy

Sara Cosgrove, Behavioural Coach 

Moderated by: Lorena van de Kolk, Schuttelaar & Partners

The following workshops will be running in parallel:

Workshop 21: OpenAgri and Farmtopia Open Calls presentation (OpenAgri and Farmtopia)

Location: Auditorium

Workshop 22: Beyond the buzz: Practical applications of generative AI in behavior science (FoodDataQuest)

Location: A4

Workshop 23: The future of knowledge and innovation platforms (FS4Africa)

Location: S5

Workshop 24: How AI can improve earth monitoring for agriculture (ALIANCE, COMUNIDAD, PoliRuralPlus, EO-Informed Agent-Based Models for Digital Twins Applications)

Location: A2

Workshop 25: Role-playing knowledge flows in the agri-sector: Navigating barriers and challenges (modernAKIS)

Location: S12

Workshop 26: Policy for food system transparency: priorities and pathways (TITAN)

Location: S11

Workshop 27: How fair is your smart solution (BEATLES)

Location: S10

Workshop 28: Assessing Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects (ELSA) of digital technologies (Data4Food2030 & AgrifoodTEF)

Location: A1

Workshop 29: Advancing equality for rural and farm women in Europe (Grass Ceiling)

Location: S6

Workshop 30: European innovation ecosystems: Building stronger rural Communities in a changing Europe (Dungarvan Enterprise Centre and ENTIRE EDIH)

Location: S9

Workshop 31: New EU partnership “Agriculture of data”: Introduction, Stakeholder Engagement and Knowledge Hub (AgData partnership)

Location: A3

The EDIH network is linking in with businesses and public service organisations to enhance their digital transformation. During this session we will be hearing from 3 SMEs that have engaged EDIH services: The CUBE (Ireland), Asefor (Spain) & Dungarvan Enterprise Centre (Ireland). 

This will be followed by a panel discussion, hosted by EDIH ENTIRE, featuring the Location Innovation Hub, DigiAgriFood and BOOST. They will discuss lessons learnt, the impact they have had for their region and clients and next steps for the EDIH Network.

How is the fight against food loss and waste is being tackled through regional government initiatives? We will be learning from Catalonia’s experience and their longstanding efforts to prevent food waste. Their initiatives aim to generate knowledge, raise awareness, promote best practices, provide guidance to the sector, and establish regulations and co-governance. 

A presentation by: Alba Graells Roca, Technician on Food Losses and Food Waste (Catalan Ministry Department of Agriculture, Farming, Fisheries and Food (DARPA)

Speakers: 

Dana Bonaldi, Coordinator of EU project activities, Digital Innovation Observatories, Politecnico di Milano

Nina Cvar, Associate Researcher and Assistant Professor, University of Ljubljana

Alfonso Bonet Pastor, Coordinator of European projects, Fundación Dieta Mediterránea

Moderated by: Dolores Ordoñez, AnySolution

The following workshops will be running in parallel:

Workshop 32: Autonomous robots, tomorrow’s crop care friend (Robs4Crops)

Location: A1

Workshop 33: Start-ups and scale-ups support in food processing (Food-scalEUp, Smart Sensors 4 Agri Food (SS4AF) and HighFive)

Location: A2

Workshop 34: Building digital bridges: Insights from COMMECT Living Labs (COMMECT)

Location: S9

Workshop 35: Is it possible to use generic AI and large language models in agriculture and rural development? (PoliRuralPlus, Aliance, COMUNIDAD, cooperation with ADRA and BDVE)

Location: A4

Workshop 36: Mindset is key to enabling healthy EDI practices (GAIA)

Location: S5

Workshop 37: Driving food safety innovation – World café workshop (Catalyse)

Location: S11

Workshop 38: Mapping data requirements for strategic policy shaping (Nostradamus)

Location: S12

Workshop 39: Watson project solutions: Fraud detection and prevention in the fish value chain (Watson, FishEUTrust & THEROS)

Location: S6

Workshop 40: Trends in data economy: what is the value of data (Data4Food2030)

Location: Auditorium

Workshop 41: Digital Transformation of Cloud Seeding- Enhanced Agricultural Resilience (IAA Weather Modification)

Location: S10