Good practice:

INNO4AGRO- "Innovative Ecosystem for a Smart Agro-Food Sector"

The project is structured through 4 operations:
1) AGROINDUSTRIAL TECHNIFICATION, which will promote strategic R&D projects as levers of innovation generation.
2) TECHNOLOGICAL IMPULTS OF ECONOMIC FABRIC, which focuses on technological surveillance and technology transfer to companies in the sector.
3) AGROLIVINGLAB, aimed at adapting and energizing an innovation and laboratory space for companies with citizen participation, the creation of a brand and the work for the development of an Internet application platform for the things in the agri-food sector.
4) AGROINTELLIGENT TOURISM, to relate the agri-food sector to tourism and the heritage and cultural assets.
The stakeholders and beneficiaries are: Ajuntament de Lleida, Universitat de Lleida (UdL), Parc Científic i Tecnològic Agroalimentari de Lleida (PCiTAL), Turisme de Lleida, Infoporc SL, Associació Lleida Drone, AKIS Research SL, Indulleida SA, Sargaire SL, Fruits de Ponent SCCL, Associació Ruta del Vi de Lleida, Castell del Remei SL, GLOBALleida, Institut Municipal d'Ocupació (IMO).
The approach of the objectives and actions of the project respond to the problems identified and the context.
- Difficulty in attracting and retaining talent.
- To date, it lacks a global strategy that positions it as the capital of innovation in the agri-food sector and attracts more visitors to the territory.
- It has natural and cultural values throughout the territory that are not sufficiently valued as complementary assets.

Total budget: 3,675,309,60 FEDER grant (50%): 1,837,654.80
Human Resources at City Hall (coordinating entity).
The beneficiary members Turisme de Lleida and University of Lleida have also hired staff to carry out the planned actions. In the Science Park, a person dedicated with 40% of their salary

It will be evaluated at its end, however some results are already observed which are deemed to have a positive impact in the challenges addressed. It is worth highlighting the technological platforms at the service of the innovative ecosystem and agri-food companyies, such as the food technology pilot plant or the agritech big data platform. These actions are considered as very relevant and having good results for the dynamization of the ecosystem.

- The implementation of a collaborative working methodology among the different local agents.
- The alignment of the identified agrifood sector challenges with the ones of the territory and the SDGs.
- The recognition of city councils as drivers of change among the agents of the territory.

The approach of the objectives and actions of the INNO4AGRO project respond to the problems identified and the context of the economy of Lleida territory.
The project was built on the weaknesses and threats identified in the territory, that could be most probably the same in other EU territories with similar characteristics:
- Its low technology-based industries.
- Little innovative capacity.
- A business fabric based on small businesses.
- Lack of more skilled labour force.
As said, it is still on-going, so many actions have still not been carried out. However, some did, as the technological platforms informed of before, and are deemed as being positive, so could be replicated in other EU territories.