Collective projects

Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and applications are bringing fundamental changes to all sectors of activity and are therefore an essential element of the Next Generation Internet. The challenge is to leverage EU technological strength to develop the next generation of IoT devices and systems that build on enhanced sensing/actuating, reasoning capabilities and computational power to the edges, but also new capabilities on the backend, such as artificial intelligence, deep semantic interoperability and novel contractual arrangements like Blockchains.

Future social networks, media and platforms will become the way our societies operate for communication, exchange, business, creation, learning and knowledge acquisition. The challenge is to mobilise a positive vision as to the role that Social Media will increasingly play in all these areas, and to overcome today's critical issues about trust and governance through democratic reputation mechanisms, and user experience.

Systems biology and synthetic biology are scientific fields with potential to transform our way to understand and interact with nature. Synthetic biology combines knowledge and tools from biology and engineering for the design of biological systems that are thus programmed to do what we want them to do, be it for pharmaceutical products (e.g. active pharmaceutical agents or enzymes), in the environment (e.g. bio-pesticides), or industry (e.g. biochemicals).

The deployment of information and communication technologies induces changes that impact individuals, societies and the environment in profound and pervasive ways. Agriculture and rural areas will be changing significantly with the multiplication of devices, their increased "intelligence", autonomous behaviour and connectivity. Aside from the benefits of digital innovations, there are also challenges, and sometimes threats, that need to be addressed to ensure that technological innovations go hand in hand with societal needs and expectations.

Digitisation represents a huge opportunity to leverage the information and day-to-day knowledge generation on farms. While the more technology savvy farmers may be able to benefit from their data immediately, the majority of the EU’s 12 million farmers will need support from intermediaries such as farm advisors to take up technologies and to make decisions on ICT use adapted to their specific farm context. The best way to motivate independent advisors to embrace the upcoming digital revolution is to build on tools that are already familiar to farmers and advisors.

The EU eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020 calls on the modernisation of public administrations in Europe and improving the interaction with citizens and businesses. This modernisation aims to reduce administrative burden on stakeholders, including farmers, based on the reuse of common services. A set of cross border services in key policy areas such as health, procurement, justice and identification have been successfully developed in the past through Large Scale Pilots. A key domain of application is the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The links between the richness of the natural environment and farming practices are complex. Many valuable habitats in Europe are maintained by extensive farming and forestry, but inappropriate agricultural practices and land uses have also had an adverse impact on natural resources, such as soil, water and air pollution, fragmentation of habitats and loss of native biodiversity in farmland landscapes, as well as on climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Increasingly, consumers are paying attention to healthier food diets, "healthy" food attributes (such as "freshness", "naturalness" and "nutritional value") and overall sustainability of production and processing methods. To meet these demands food production and processing need to further evolve in terms of better preservation of the raw material and natural food properties while ensuring healthy, tasty and sustainable food.

Bioeconomy is a major opportunity for regional and local communities. Despite broad political agreement, the potential of many European regions to develop a thriving circular bio-based economy using their own resources remains largely untapped.

The outputs of beekeeping can be private goods (e.g. honey production), public goods and services (e.g. pollination of wild flowers) or in-between (e.g. non-contracted pollination of crops). Many initiatives aim to expand knowledge on honeybee colonies and their environment. However, the lack of a holistic approach makes it difficult to use this knowledge to best effect. Key factors for healthy and sustainable European beekeeping are determined by what happens in or around hives but also by wider socioeconomic and ecological conditions.