Synergy Days 2024
Join us in Barcelona!
The Synergy Days is the most important conference connecting the digital innovators of the European agri-food sector.
Synergy Days is the most important conference connecting the digital innovators of the European agri-food sector.
Building onto the legacy of the SmartAgriHubs project, for 3 years in a row, the event offers a space for our community to meet, debate and exchange knowledge. We connect the dots in the agri-food sector by bringing together EU projects, policy-makers, European and Digital Innovations Hubs, farmers and more.
You can expect two action-packed days of crucial discussions, workshops, live demonstrations, EU project pitches, designed to create more networking connections than ever before.
This year's edition will also feature additional speaking slots focusing on the work of the European Digital Innovation Hubs network.
Become a partner or sponsor of the Synergy Days
Join us at Synergy Days 2024, where our ecosystem comes together to create a world of possibilities!
For partners: As a European-funded project, EDIH or initiative, you have the opportunity to actively participate, showcase your work, and find new partners. From our exhibition hall to the possibility to organise workshops, Synergy Days offers the perfect platform to reach your communications objectives and share your results with a wider audience.
For sponsors: As a company or a business, you have the opportunity to sponsor certain activities and parts of the event, increasing your visibility and getting access to the vast Synergy Days ecosystem. Become part of the key event for digital innovation in the European agri-food sector.
Take the leap and be part of this inspiring event - contact us now to receive more information and conditions. Your contribution will make a difference!
Take a look at last year's edition below:
Day 1
08:00 - 09:00 • Registration
09:00 - 10:00 • Connecting Communities on Digital Innovation in Agrifood
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
10:00 - 10:20 • Project pitches I
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
10:20 - 10:40 • Coffee break
10:40 - 11:00 • Project pitches II
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: COMUNIDAD, SS4AF, Farmtopia, INCITIS-FOOD, FoodDataQuest, ModernAKIS, IAA
11:00 - 12:30 • Project workshops I
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)
Workshop 2: QuantiFarm toolkit: An all-in-one service for digital agriculture technology solutions (QuantiFarm)
Workshop 3: WeatherWize: bridging technological divide in rural communities (FUTURAL)
Workshop 4: Helping farmers and rural stakeholders navigate the world of digital technologies (COMMECT)
Workshop 5: Validation services for SMEs leveraging AI and robotics in the agrifood sector (AgrifoodTEF)
Workshop 6: Advanced analytics for emerging food safety risks (FoodDataQuest & EFRA)
Workshop 7: Transforming advisory services: Embracing digital tools and overcoming challenges (ModernAKIS)
Workshop 8: Onboarding and specialisation of African Digital Innovation Hubs - a playbook for African DIH (INCiTiS-FOOD)
Workshop 9: How to improve official training using new technologies (Renovate)
Workshop 10: Collaborative innovation for European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) (Joint workshop by EDIH Bretagne and ENTIRE EDIH)
12:30 - 13:45 • Lunch break
13:45 - 14:45 • Food and innovation
Over the last years we have shifted from a pure agriculture value chain perspective to a food systems approach (Food2030, Farm-to-Fork, ...). However, if you look carefully at all reports, policy papers and even EU-funded projects, food processing is still hard to be found. With >90% of products having undergone a form of food processing (not always ultra-processed, but simple cutting, boiling, sterilizing, etc.) before they reach the consumers this is in my mind unbelievable. If we fail to connect food processors to our initiatives, data gathered at the farm level will never reach consumers and supermarkets will not be able to report on the origin of products in their stores. Time to take food processing seriously!
Keynote speaker:
Wim Haentjens, Policy Officer, DG Research & Innovation
Panel 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
Eduardo Cuoco, Director, IFOAM Europe
Alba Graells Roca, Technician on Food Losses and Food Waste (Catalan Ministry of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda -DACC) (TBC)
Gert-Jan van Fessem, Food for Analytics (TBC)
Moderated by: Simon Maas, AgriFood Capital
14:45 - 15:05 • Project pitches III
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
15:05 - 15:20 • Coffee break
15:20 - 15:40 • Project pitches IV
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
15:40 - 16:55 • Project workshops II
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)
Workshop 12: How can Agrifood TEF - a 60 million project - help EDIHs support SMEs?(AgrifoodTEF)
Workshop 13: New multipurpose Hub for managing and presentation of agriculture and rural related information (PoliRuralPlus, ALIANCE, COMUNIDAD, SmartAgriHubs, Plus Change, DALIA)
Workshop 14: Assessing socio-economic impact of connectivity solutions for rural communities (COMMECT)
Workshop 15: Extended reality as a catalyst for rural-urban synergies in the agri-food sector (RURBANIVE)
Workshop 16: Technology, transparency, and trust: Addressing food fraud vulnerability in European agri-food supply chains (Watson)
Workshop 17: Data flows and framework conditions in agriculture & forestry (4Growth)
Workshop 18: Digital transformation in agri-food industries (BBTWINS)
Workshop 19: Realising data spaces for the future data economy – Managing organisational and technical challenges from interoperability to trust (Data4Food2030)
Workshop 20: Mapping data requirements for effective and informed decision-making (Nostradamus)
16:55 - 17:15 • Project pitches V
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, Choice, TITAN, RURBANIVE, GRASS CEILING, GAIA
17:15 - 18:15 • Smart farming
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.
Keynote speaker:
Francesco Iadecola, Research Programme Officer, DG AGRI - European Commission
Panel speakers:
Ignacio Ruiz, Secretary General, ANSEMAT
Dr. Filippo Maria Renga, Founder of the Smart AgriFood Observatory, Digital Innovation Observatories, Politecnico di Milano
Francesco Iadecola, Research Programme Officer, DG AGRI - European Commission
Moderated by: Vanja Bisevac, European Agricultural Machinery Association (CEMA)
Day 2
08:00 - 08:30 • Registration
08:30 - 09:30 • The interplay between the challenges, objectives, skills and capabilities of the players to foster the genesis and adoption of innovations
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.
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
1 Living Lab coordinator/member (TBC)
Moderated by: Adrien Guichaoua, ACTA (The French Agricultural Technical Institute)
09:30 - 10:00 • European Digital Innovation Hubs plenary session
10:00 - 10:45 • Empowering women in rural communities
Speakers:
Irene López de Vallejo, Head of EU Affairs, CTIC Centro Tecnológico (TBC)
Sally Shortall, Duke of Northumberland Chair of Rural Economy
Sara Cosgrove, Behavioural Coach
Moderated by: Lorena van de Kolk, Schuttelaar & Partners
10:45 - 11:00 • Coffee break
11:00 - 12:30 • Project workshops III
The following workshops will be running in parallel:
Workshop 21: OpenAgri and Farmtopia Open Calls presentation (OpenAgri and Farmtopia)
Workshop 22: Beyond the buzz: Practical applications of generative AI in behavior science (FoodDataQuest)
Workshop 23: The future of knowledge and innovation platforms (FS4Africa)
Workshop 24: How AI can improve earth monitoring for agriculture (ALIANCE, COMUNIDAD, PoliRuralPlus, EO-Informed Agent-Based Models for Digital Twins Applications)
Workshop 25: Role-playing knowledge flows in the agri-sector: Navigating barriers and challenges (modernAKIS)
Workshop 26: Policy for food system transparency: priorities and pathways (TITAN)
Workshop 27: How fair is your smart solution (BEATLES)
Workshop 28: Assessing Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects (ELSA) of digital technologies (Data4Food2030 & AgrifoodTEF)
Workshop 29: Advancing equality for rural and farm women in Europe (Grass Ceiling)
Workshop 30: European innovation ecosystems: Building stronger rural Communities in a changing Europe (Dungarvan Enterprise Centre and ENTIRE EDIH)
12:30 - 13:30 • Lunch break
13:30 - 14:00 • Investment and startup funding
14:00 - 14:45 • Boosting the potentialities of the agrifood sector by generating synergies with tourism
Speakers:
Dana Bonaldi, Politecnico de Milano
Nina Cvar, Universidad de Ljubljana
Alfonso Bonet Pastor, Fundación Dieta Mediterránea
Moderated by: Dolores Ordoñez, AnySolution
14:45 - 14:55 • Inspiration talk
15:00 - 16:15 • Project workshops IV
The following workshops will be running in parallel:
Workshop 31: Autonomous robots, tomorrow’s crop care friend (Robs4Crops)
Workshop 32: Start-ups and scale-ups support in food processing (Food-scalEUp, Smart Sensors 4 Agri Food (SS4AF) and HighFive)
Workshop 33: Building digital bridges: Insights from COMMECT Living Labs (COMMECT)
Workshop 34: Is it possible to use generic AI and large language models in agriculture and rural development? (PoliRuralPlus, Aliance, COMUNIDAD, cooperation with ADRA and BDVE)
Workshop 35: Mindset is key to enabling healthy EDI practices (GAIA)
Workshop 36: Stakeholder-interviews with Catalyse project (TITAN)
Workshop 37: Mapping data requirements for strategic policy shaping (Nostradamus)
Workshop 38: Watson project solutions: Fraud detection and prevention in the fish value chain (Watson)
Workshop 39: Trends in data economy: what is the value of data (Data4Food2030)
Workshop 40: Digital Transformation of Cloud Seeding- Enhanced Agricultural Resilience (IAA Weather Modification)
16:15 - 16:30 • Closing plenary
Participating projects
Participating European Digital Innovation Hubs
Organising Committee
