The Agricultural University of Athens (AUA) is the 3rd oldest university in Greece. Since 1920, it contributes consistently and continuously to Greek and European primary sector development, by conducting basic and applied research in agricultural related sciences. AUA research funding schemes come from the private sector as well EU and Greek research projects.

The Laboratory of Viticulture belongs to the Crop Science Department. Its main mission is to provide education and training in viticulture at undergraduate and post- graduate levels. Its educational topics include structure of the vine (morphology and anatomy), grapevine propagation, vineyard establishment, principles of pruning, training and supports for vines, physiology and ecology of the vine, cultural methods and techniques in the vineyard and ampelography. Its activities include research in topics such as clonal selection in Greek grape cultivars, ampelographic description and classification of Greek grape cultivars, identification and genetic study of Greek grape cultivars by biochemical and molecular methods, improved grapevines by cell – and tissue- culture, fertilization, irrigation and phytosanitary topics, and the study of the quality characters of the grapes.

AUA has participated in major EU (ICT PSP, VOA3R, H2020 BigDataGrapes) and Greek research projects (EPET-II, Leader-II). Members of the team have been participated in several national R&D programs related to all topics of viticulture.

Role in the project:

AUA, agricultural expert, is the coordinator of the SmartVitNet project and is responsible for the proper project management and smooth collaboration between partners. Furthermore, AUA will coordinate the piloting activities of the project related to WP8. AUA is involved in most of the project activities, as well as on demonstration and dissemination of the project outcome within scientific events and open days.

Iscte is a public university established in 1972 pursuing teaching, research and community service activities. With more than 9600 students enrolled in undergraduate (44%) and postgraduate (56%) programs, more than 300 professors and 400 integrated researchers, Iscte is one of the most dynamic and innovative universities in the Portugal producing, transmitting and transferring knowledge to society according with the highest international standards. The strategic objectives of Iscte are: innovation, quality, internationalization and development of an entrepreneurial culture in the main scientific fields of Management and Economics, Humanities, Social Sciences and Public Policy, ICT and Architecture. Iscte develops strong cooperation with more than 100 international entities, private and 3rd sector organizations, is annually running more than 200 scientific projects and publishing more than 1400 international scientific papers. It follows a multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary approach that includes 8 research units, 6 laboratories, as well as the 16 Departments and 4 Schools that form main organizational structures.

Role in the project:

ISCTE brings pedagogical expertise into the SmartVitiNet project, being responsible for the Competence Centre for Precision Viticulture in the European wine ecosystem. The Competence Centre will be a shared facility providing leadership, good practices, research support and training for wine stakeholders; it will bring together hardware providers, innovative software and business specialists, responding to the growing need of wine makers for innovative technologies.

Future Needs Management Consulting Ltd is an interdisciplinary socio-technical research and technology development SME. The staff of Future Needs has a long record of successful project management and coordination as well as design and development of digital services, policy evaluation, business development and science communication. Future Needs specialises in shaping the development of technology to best suit the needs of practitioners/end-users. As a team, we bring the latest technology trends and aspects of creativity, (youth) entrepreneurship and start-up mentality to projects we are involved in. We help our clients elicit user requirements for the development of new products and services, we develop R&D roadmaps aiming at product and service commercialisation, and we ensure security standards compliance for services and products we work on before they hit the market. We help our clients from the public and not-for-profit sectors to carry out Impact Assessments and policy evaluation studies, while ensuring secure, ethical and privacy-considerate processes and following the “better regulation guidelines” of the European Commission. Finally, we leverage our relationship with a variety of stakeholders ranging from technical specialists and key industry players to policy-makers and citizen groups when offering dissemination and community-building services. Information technology & telecommunications, education, migration, healthcare, transport, regional development, culture and finance.

Role in the project:

In SmartVitiNet project, Future Needs leads the dissemination and exploitation of the project, encompassing the formulation of a robust communication strategy, the exploration of market potential, IPR management, and the development of business modeling. Additionally, Future Needs will lead the requirements analysis and the supervision of architecture design. A key responsibility also includes evaluating the business impact of SmartVitiNet solutions, and contributing to the overall success and growth of the project.

Hellenic Drones is a drone services and manufacturing and reseller company active since 2017 in the field of unmanned aerial systems solutions under the greek legal name "Artemis Agraia Consultant S.A.". HD has 4 offices and training centres in Greece and subsidiaries in Cyprus and the UK focusing on services and R&D. HD offers integrated solutions and services for the mapping of both large and small areas, precision agriculture applications, 3D surveying of industrial sites and mines, and the surveillance of wind turbines, cellular phone masts and electricity pylons.

HD’s staff includes drone pilots and instructors approved by EASA, the head of training who is an authorised EASA examiner, aircraft and helicopter pilots, air traffic controllers, electrical and mechanical engineers with experience in civil and military aviation operations and R&D, and experienced sales personnel and legal experts.

Finally, HD owns a fully equipped lab which includes: soldering equipment, multimeter, power supply and tools, 3D printers, CNC machines and a 6-stage production line for the design, production and equipping of unmanned aerial platforms, as well as a highly advanced cutting-edge electronic digital infrastructure for data processing and analysis.

Role in the project:

The Hellenic Drones’ role in the SmartVitiNet project is to further develop and enhance the onboard hardware & software framework to enable drones: to autonomously navigate above the target fields, receive information from the vineyard diagnostic algorithms, and spray the infected vines.

Additionally HD will further develop and finalise a smart charging station that will enable continuous drone flights with minimum human interference.

Dronint is a consulting, services & training organisation in the field of unmanned aerial systems solutions, founded in 2018 in Nicosia Cyprus. Dronint provides a wide range of services and products related to UAV training, technology and R&D, and operations. Dronint is Cyprus’s leading UAV training provider and has trained more than many UAV pilots and technicians.

Apart from training, the company provides UAV-related services. These include security monitoring, inspections of industrial facilities, spraying of agricultural fields, monitoring of construction projects, solar panel health monitoring, mapping of agricultural fields, and delivery of goods using drones. Moreover, the company has significant expertise in inspections of critical infrastructures (internal and external) using drones.

Dronint team consists of experienced professionals in the fields of aviation, aerospace engineering, electronics, computer science, security operations, topography, and business development.

Role in the project:

In the SmartVitiNet project Dronint will lead the release of the SmartVitiNet DSS and portal and provide users with a manual on how to use both. Further Dronint is in charge for the development of the lenses enabling hyperspectral functionality of RGB cameras and in collaboration with HD will finalise the automated diagnostic and spraying system targeting vines’ diseases and water stress.

CASA DO JOA rises in the village of Parada, around 12,5 miles from the main city Bragança. A very typical village whose name is etymologically associated with historical and geographical circumstances as a place to “Stop”. By rehabilitating an old haystack and preserving it’s original stone walls, rises the new Wine House that holds this dreamy project. Despite being a new structure, the harmony was kept without distorting the landscape. It’s in this land that JOA (Jorge Ortega Afonso) holds his origins and made total sense to call Casa (Home) to the place where the soul feels happy.

Parada is a high land, about 2600 feet high. In other times it was very rich in tin and wolfram. In these people’s time it’s rich in chestnut trees, olives trees and vineyards. These in particular are pure, in many ungrafted basis and resistant to phylloxera, have more than 130 years and 20 different grape varieties. Because they are centenary and due to the grafting made by other generations, there are strains that can hold different grape varieties in all the different stick. At Casa DO-JOA you can feel the genuineness of the people of Parada, their traditions and cultures.

The wines are produced with the most traditional method that is possible.

Besides the indispensable for protection, nothing is added during the process. Neither yeast, enzymes or fining agents in order to maintain the process as natural as possible without losing its essence, its origins.

Role in the project:

Casa do JOA will serve as a pilot in the project, contributing with some of its vineyards as field study, and also with its knowledge to help finding ways of adding value to this technology in terms of agricultural use.

Since 1997 Almadesign has leveraged its core competencies in product and service design, and design management - structuring product development methodologies and implementing innovation processes. With these tools, we help companies to use and effectively manage design, by creating new products and services based on differentiation and strategic positioning in the global market, and by promoting the advancement of knowledge and a culture of constant innovation that creates value and satisfaction among employees, customers, and suppliers.

Through collaborative brainstorming processes, visualisation tools, modelling processes, and design thinking methods, our design work allows us to create tangible visions for each project, supporting convergence and decision processes. Our collaboration experiences with multidisciplinary partners throughout the product development process offers the studio a unique approach to generating new lines for design research and R&D projects, as well as new ranges of products with the contribution of different perspectives.

Broad experience across different industries – from transportation to products and interiors - has led the team to develop innovative solutions based on the often-unexpected collaboration between different companies, migrating and integrating state-of-the-art technologies, implementing new manufacturing processes, and applying novel materials.

Role in the project:

As a design consultancy with expertise on Product, Industrial a Communication Design, Almadesign will assist partners in the project’s results, both dissemination and communication, in addressing the market potential and business modelling of the solutions developed, in the improvement of the existing UAS spraying system prototype, the refinement of the viticultural UAS prototype and finally on the design of the UAS charging station prototype.

2013. This was the year brothers Pedro and Nuno Ramilo were challenged by their father to embrace a family tradition of 4 generations. They said yes, but with one condition: they would do it their own way. From that moment on, they would not be just another wine producer, making good wines, that don’t stand out.

They believed their future laid in their ancestors’ roots, hidden in the Lizandro River slopes and in the sandy properties of Colares, in the unique grape varieties of the region, among the terraces and ancient stone walls of the old family vineyards. They rebuilt the family estates, saved old vines and planted new ones. The brothers were firm in the idea of replanting the long forsaken ungrafted Ramisco vineyards of Colares, and have become, today, the largest private producer of these rare wines.

Role in the project:

Ramilo Wines will serve as a pilot in the project, contributing with some of its vineyards as field study, and also with its knowledge to help finding ways of adding value to this technology in terms of agricultural use.

Agroecology Lab helps the agrifood sector to its transition towards agroecology, through sustainable agricultural practices, methods and techniques that support organic production, carbon sequestration, climate change mitigation and adaptation. Agroecology Lab innovates on the basis of future climatic scenarios for the Mediterranean region. To understand what the future holds, the company brings together ecosystem stakeholders to conduct research in a variety of pedoclimatic conditions. The team of Agroecology lab consists of agronomists, soil scientists and other subject matter experts who conceptualise, develop and test agroecological practices that can apply to local agrifood systems today.

Role in the project:

Agroecology lab is responsible for the Greek Pilot that will take place in vineyards located in the area of Ancient Corinth in the region of the Peloponnese. The goal is to decrease the agricultural inputs needed for grape cultivation and wine production, while strengthening the agroecological practices that are followed by the farmers. The pilots will be implemented in 4 plots, spanning from altitude of 202 m to 600 m above the sea level, planted with indigenous grape varieties, ranging from loam to limestone soil and from flat to high elevation. Moreover, the company is leading the validation design and implementation task across all pilots that will define KPIs for pilot partners and also will coordinate public demonstrations in Greece, Portugal and Cyprus.

The Arribas Wine Company project began in 2017, when Frederico Machado and Ricardo Alves decided after many national and international experiences that the time to start a more personal project had arrived, thus reflecting their own philosophy and winemaking style. The quest for diversity and a spot with unique characteristics took them to Bemposta, a small village from Mogadouro, where the grandparents of one of the founders were born. There they found very old vineyards, some of them recently abandoned due to the owner's old age. Tinta Gorda, Malvasia, Bastardo, Verdelho, Rufete, Bastardo Branco, Verdelho Vermelho, Tinta Serrana among other varieties yet to be identified, altitude, a wide variation of soils and exposures, traditional and sustainable viticulture and minimal intervention winemaking are the conducting wires of this project, which aims at elevating the full potential of Arribas do Douro and its vineyards. Nowadays, AWC works with grapes and vineyards from 7 different villages, and which are vinified separately, in order to highlight the variations of soils, altitudes, exposures and varietal field blends observed throughout the region.

Role in the project:

Arribas Wine Company will serve as a pilot in the project, contributing with some of its vineyards as field study, and also with its knowledge to help finding ways of adding value to this technology in terms of agricultural use.

Founded in 2018, WaltR is a startup that exploits a patented space technology from the CNES that enables the precise mapping of gaseous and particulate pollutant emissions from a city, an industrial site, intensive agriculture activities, airport or port infrastructures, etc.. WaltR responds to a growing need to objectivize the performance of emissions measurement and control in key sectors of the economy, and provide these sectors with information and tools to cost-efficiently reduce their footprint.

WaltR’s mission-driven services aim to contribute directly to the environmental transition (climate) and to the improvement of air quality (health), answering the precepts of our era, as well as the needs of a deep and growing market. Our team's expertise in Deeptech applied to space and ground imagery is aimed at customers that wish to control and reduce their environmental impact, helping them to prioritise their actions according to regulatory and economic criteria.

Role in the project:

WaltR participates and shares expertise from its segment and from French viticulture practices at many activities/WPs in SmartVitiNet. It is responsible for the clarification, collection, and treatment of external data sets, as well as for researching and identifying the opportunities and challenges of satellite data to viticulture and drone assisted viticulture (SmartVitiNet). Moreover, in close collaboration with all the technical partners, WaltR leads the development of the online portal in WP7 that visualises the results of the project and provides access and interaction to farmers and third parties stakeholders.