1st Press Release of SmartVitiNet Project
RELEASE DATE:
May 2023
SmartVitiNet - a three-year EU project for Smart and Sustainable Drone-assisted Viticulture Excellence Network
SmartVitiNet is a European project which aims to transform the viticulture sector by piloting and commercialising an innovative phytosanitary and plant protection system. This holistic approach leverages unmanned aerial vehicles, new observational platforms, and ready-to-use sensors. Additionally, the project will establish a Competence Center for Precision Viticulture to upskill professionals, create expert networks, and facilitate knowledge transfer between academia, innovative SMEs, viticulture professionals, and regional authorities. The project has received recognition and funding from the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) under the topic I3-2021-INV2a-GREEN.
SmartVitiNet is expected to significantly impact regional and EU sectors of Agriculture, Health, Environment, and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) by addressing several S3 priorities. The project will provide valuable tools and knowledge to reduce pollution and its negative health effects on sector workers, minimise agriculture losses and mitigate climate change consequences. SmartVitiNet will also promote the rational use of natural resources, protect cultural heritage, and increase the competitiveness of innovative EU tech-SMEs active in the sector of precision viticulture.
According to the European Parliament's Scientific and Technological Options Assessment (STOA) Study, precision agriculture technologies enable the production of “'more with less", benefiting farmers and the environment. The SmartVitiNet proposal takes a holistic and systematic approach to address these interrelated challenges, incorporating data collection, cloud computing, cyber-physical systems, IoT actuation, decision support systems, and autonomous vehicles like drones.
The consortium involves 11 partners, representing 4 countries, and will last 3 years. SmartVitiNet will enable project partners to offer a variety of new tools and product characteristics and features aligned with the requirements of the end-users thus offering them additional value.
Participating organisations in the SmartVitiNet project include the Agricultural University of Athens, Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, FUTURE NEEDS MANAGEMENT CONSULTING LTD, Hellenic Drones, Dronint Ltd, CASA do JOA, AlmaDesign, Ramilo Wines, Arribas Wines, AgroecologyLab, and WaltR. This collaboration between members of the quadruple helix will utilise their complementary knowledge, experiences, and infrastructure to achieve the proposed innovative results.
The SmartVitiNet project started in December 2022 and held its kick-off meeting on January 16-17, 2023 in Athens, Greece. Over the following months project news, publications, and outputs will be available on the official project webpage at www.smartvitinet.eu and distributed via the project’s social media channels on LinkedIn and Twitter @smartvitinet.
Co-Funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement number 101083737. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European’s Union’s European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.