Horizon 2020 and its successor, Horizon Europe, play a key role in accelerating the digital transformation in EU agriculture

On the 20th of February, the Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner, Phil Hogan, addressed his keynote speech at the dinner debate “Smart Equipment for Sustainable Agriculture” co-organized by the European Agricultural Machinery Industry Association CEMA and the European Forum for Manufacturing EFM in the European Parliament.

Mr Hogan particularly mentioned the role of Horizon 2020 and its successor, Horizon Europe, in accelerating the digital transformation in EU agriculture.

To this extent, Commissioner Hogan mentioned several main points that should be taken into account, such as the need for efficient advisory services for supporting innovation uptake at a farmers’ level, the role of the EIP-AGRI in supporting networking and knowledge exchange activities, and the need of adequate financial support to fund innovative projects, particularly multi-actor ones. As about the latter, Commissioner Hogan specifically mentioned our IoF2020 project as one of the most successful ongoing multi-actor projects funded under H2020.

The solutions proposed by Commissioner Hogan for Horizon Europe are particularly welcomed by CEMA, already involved in multi-actor projects, following a user-centered approach and closely working with the EIP-AGRI, such as Smart-AKIS, INNOSETA, Fairshare, NEFERTITI, SmartAgriHubs and IoF2020.