European Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems towards innovation-driven research in Smart Farming Technology (Smart-AKIS)

Smart Farming has a real potential to deliver a more productive and sustainable agricultural production, based on a more precise and resource-efficient approach. Smart Farming Technology encompasses Farm Management Information Systems, Precision Agriculture and Agriculture automation and robotics. The Smart-AKIS project aimed to set up a self-sustainable Thematic Network, following a particular format of multi-actor projects promoted by EIP-AGRI and funded by EU’s Horizon 2020 programme on Smart Farming Technology (SFT) for the effective exchange between research, industry, extension and the farming community in order to disseminate direct applicable research and commercial solutions and capture grassroot level needs and innovative ideas. Smart-AKIS collected existing knowledge related to SFT and produced easily accessible end-user material under the EIP-Agri common format, with the objective to:

1. Create an inventory of direct applicable solutions from the large stock of research results and commercial applications.
2. Assess end-user needs and interests, and identify factors influencing adoption taking into account regional/national specificities.
3. Generate multi-actor, innovation-based collaborations among different stakeholders.
4. Set up an ICT tool for the on-line assessment of the Smart Farming Technology solutions and the crowdsourcing of grassroots-level ideas and needs.
5. Liaise with EIP-AGRI and its structures.
6. A Smart Farming Community Platform was developed with the aim to ensure long term accessibility of results.

The Smart Farming Platform, developed in the framework of Smart-AKIS,  is a free platform providing a number of tools for disseminating and making easier the use of Smart Farming technologies, with the aim to ensure long term accessibility of the project results. The Platform is open to farmers, advisory services, agriculture consultants, and farming equipment providers, setting up an open community where these groups can interact. For an overview of the platform, watch this video.