The QuantiFarm project focusses on supporting the further deployment of digital technologies in agriculture (DATs) as key enablers for enhancing the sustainability (economic, environmental, social) performance and competitiveness of the agricultural sector. It will achieve this by establishing a framework for assessing the impact and effectiveness of DATs in agriculture and developing innovative tools, services and recommendations for farmers, advisors and policy makers. Following a multi-actor approach, QuantiFarm will build the project activities around 30 Test Cases (TCs) which span over 20 countries in 10 (of the 11) Biogeographical regions across Europe, capturing multiple geo-political and financial settings. All 30 TCs take place in commercial farms of different types, sizes, ownership and operating conditions from 7 agricultural sectors. Different aspects of these TCs will be examined in the context of different work packages (WPs). The TCs’ actors will be engaged in participatory observation activities to offer valuable input and actively support the behavioural analysis (WP1), the establishment of the Assessment Framework (WP2) and the co-design of an innovative Toolkit for farmers, advisors and policy makers (WP3). The lean multi-actor approach will be used in the testing activities to evaluate the QuantiFarm Toolkit and validate the Assessment Framework by testing the various DATs in real life conditions, across 3 iterations/growing seasons (WP4). The outcomes will be transformed into policy recommendations (WP5) and will feed the QuantiFarm DIA that will help build the capacities of farmers’ advisors in DATs. Finally, a WP on dissemination, ecosystem building and exploitation (WP6), will guarantee the wider dissemination and knowledge transfer in a multi-actor context of the outputs of the project. QuantiFarm includes 32 partners, 12 of them representing farmers and advisors.

Sustainability in coatings covers aspects related to energy and resource conservation, waste minimization or efficiency and the use of renewable and non-toxic products. The coatings industry has been driven by regulatory issues to diminish the content of volatile organic compounds to improve indoor and outdoor air quality, shifting from solvent borne systems (still the preferred choice globally) to waterborne ones. However, even in the case of products labelled as “environmentally friendly” their bio-based content is usually small (up to 30-40%). The challenge is to substitute fossil-based resins maintaining at least the same performance. New bio-based value chains are necessary. Lignin is an underutilized product with a high potential to provide not only economic returns, but also environmental benefits if value-added applications are found. Although lignin is a topic of great interest, the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into real products is not trivial and still no commercial options are available. LIGNICOAT proposal provides new synthetic routes to obtain bioresins “à la carte” (PUD, ALKYD and EPOXY) based on lignin intermediates (Polyols, Epoxies, phosphorylated, polyacids and carbonates) for application in coatings and validated in an industrial relevant environment (TRL5). The target is not only to increase the biobased content and ensure performance, but also take advantage of lignin specific characteristics, to develop bioadditives (enzymes, chitosan, sugars, …), increasing the biocontent and providing anticorrosive, fireproof and antimicrobial/antiviral features in high-volume market case studies. Depending on the intermediates and the resins used, the estimated biocontent of the coatings will vary between 60-90%. A multidisciplinary and complementary consortium consists in 9 industrial partners BARPIMO, VENCOREX, AEP, WESTLAKE, FORESA, BRS, IRIS, ECOAT and AXIA and 4 RTOs, TECNALIA, VITO, VTT, NORCE and ARDITEC.

The discussion on the modernisation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is in full progress and one element is how the CAP will benefit from and stimulate ongoing digitisation of the agricultural sector. Digitisation accelerates a cost-effective administration of CAP payments, the update of CAP instruments, stimulates data (re) use for monitoring the societal benefits of agriculture towards climate, environment and rural development and thus improves the sustainability and competitiveness of the sector. Administrative bodies from 9 EU Member States join forces to realise a new vision on the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) – the instrument for CAP governance – in this project called: “New IACS Vision in Action” (NIVA). The project is built on an iterative work plan. This ensures fast results, built-in flexibility and greater involvement of stakeholders. NIVA strives for maximum impact by involving all EU paying agencies and other relevant actors in the stakeholder board, by reserving a substantial budget for supporting third parties and the set-up of an innovation ecosystem that will continue after the project. NIVA manages cross cutting digital innovations as well as standardization issues in dedicated work packages as defining, accepting and defending common standards is exemplifying the desire for collaboration. The nine prime use cases are demonstrated in three waves, from national to multi-national to pan-European, hence underlining our ambition to make a significant contribution to improved digital competences, awareness and innovation at the European scale. The project’s results are a suite of digital innovations and a roadmap for IACS transformation. The project will speed up innovation, reduce administrative burden, sustain broader and deeper collaboration in an innovation ecosystem and provide methods to establish information flows to improve environmental performance.