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DEMETER Open Call #2 – DEPLOY

Deadline: 16-Feb-22

The DEMETER Open Call #2 – DEPLOY aims to increase the outreach of the DEMETER value proposition by funding small consortia of 2-3 partners for the deployment of new, high-value pilots in the agri-food sector.

These pilots will focus on employing DEMETER methodologies and technologies, addressing clear farmer needs, with particular focus on EU geographic regions not represented within DEMETER pilots.

This will expand the technological and/or business coverage of the project, towards digitalising and boosting the European agro-business sector. European countries not covered by DEMETER pilots are Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Slovakia and Sweden.

Objectives
  • Information Modelling: Analyse, adopt, enhance existing (and if necessary, introduce new) Information Models in the agri-food sector easing data sharing and interoperability across multiple Internet of Things (IoT) and Farming Management Information Systems (FMIS) and associated technologies. Use the information models to create a basis for trusted sharing/exposure of data between farmers.
  • Knowledge Exchange Mechanisms: Build knowledge exchange mechanisms, delivering an Interoperability Space for the agri-food domain, presenting technologies and data from different vendors, ensuring their interoperability, and using (and enhancing) a core set of open standards (adopted across all agri-food deployments) coupled with carefully planned security and privacy protection mechanisms (also addressing business confidentiality).
  • Data Ownership: Empower the farmer, as a prosumer, to gain control in the data-food-chain by identifying and demonstrating a series of new IoT-based, data-driven, business models for profit, collaboration and co-production for farmers and across the value chain, leading to disruptive new value creation models.
  • Benchmarking: Establish a benchmarking mechanism for agriculture solutions and business, targeting end-goals in terms of productivity and sustainability performance of farms, services, technologies, and practices based on a set of key performance indicators that are relevant to the farming community.
  • User-Orientated Solutions: Reverse the relationship with suppliers, through an innovative model in which suppliers are responsible for ensuring that a final solution is optimal to the farmer’s existing context and expressed needs.
  • Real World Impact: Demonstrate the impact of digital innovations across a variety of sectors and at European level.
Challenges
  • Control of Knowledge: Farmers should be in control of the knowledge they can obtain from the data relevant to their specific requirements and activities, i.e., moving from the present situation in which farmers can be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of data to one in which they benefit from the insights of that data.
  • Deployment Models: A context where the lifespan of agricultural technology extends in some cases over 20+ years requires solutions and innovations to be deployed over existing machines. Protecting the existing investments made by farmers while making them part of a digitally enriched environment is a major driver for DEMETER.
  • Optimal Data Analysis: For useful trends and patterns to emerge, there is a need to work on large sets of data obtained across multiple farms. A key transformation resides in the ability to collect more data and measurements about the production: soil quality, irrigation levels, weather, presence of insects and pests, etc. In this context, reaping the full value of data requires the creation of trusted cooperation spaces in which data can be collected and shared, taking into account conflicting interests, competition etc. However, this is also an opportunity to put farmers fully in control of their rights on the data they generate.
  • Overcoming Market Barriers: Large players have aimed, early on, to establish themselves in dominant positions through supplier-operated technological and data platforms. This effectively increases the lock-in of farmers to a single or a selected group of suppliers, limiting their access to innovation. The challenge is in creating an innovative ecosystem for SMEs and entrepreneurs.
  • Interoperability: Interoperability and adoption of technological standards are key to ensure compatibility and to support data exchange and standardised communication that links the different systems together in a unified system covering all aspects of the agricultural exploitation.
Funding Information
  • Up to €150,000 equity-free funding per consortia available per successful project.
Eligibility Criteria
  • The DEMETER Open Call #2 – DEPLOY will fund consortia composed of two or three:
    • micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs),
    • secondary and higher education establishments, research institutes and other not-for profit research entities.
  • Only applicants legally established in any of the following countries are eligible:
    • The Member States (MS) of the European Union (EU), including their outermost regions;
    • The Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) linked to the Member States;
    • H2020 associated countries: according to the updated list published by the EC;
    • The UK applicants are eligible under the conditions set by the EC for H2020 participation at the time of the deadline of the call.
  • English is the official language for DEMETER Open Call #2 – DEPLOY. Submissions done in any other language will not be evaluated. English is also the only official language during the whole execution of the DEMETER programme. This means any requested submission of deliverables will be done in English in order to be eligible.
  • Only one proposal will be accepted for funding per applicant.
  • In the case of a multiple submission, only the last one received (timestamp of the system) will enter into the evaluation process, the rest being declared as non-eligible. If the last submitted proposal is declared then non-eligible or fails to reach the thresholds of the evaluation, the other proposals submitted earlier will not be considered for evaluation in any case.
  • Any document requested in any of the phases must be submitted electronically in PDF format without restrictions for printing.

For more information, visit https://h2020-demeter.eu/open-call-deploy/