ICT-AGRI: Efforts and progress on harmonizing European agricultural research in ICT and robotics and related environmental issues

The ICT-AGRI ERA-NET is a consortium of organizations and people from several European countries with the aim to provide a central structured framework to strengthen and coordinate European research regarding ICT and robotics in agriculture. An inventory of the existing research in the research area led to the creation of the Meta Knowledge Base (MKB). This online web application (http://db-ictagri.eu) hosts information regarding researchers and research topics in ICT and robotics in agriculture. The MKB was extended with extra features to support the development of a common European research agenda (SRA) based on online consultation of experts in the field. The ICT-AGRI SRA is based on shared priorities and supports the coordination of European research and innovation efforts. The results of the SRA are guiding the topics for the second jointly organized research call that is launched in 2012. Using a virtual common pot funding scenario, national research funding resources are coordinated on a European level in order to associate researchers and companies from different European countries. The Public-Private-Partnership initiative (PPP) puts efforts in the cooperation between public and private players in the field.