National Research Centre for Agricultural Technologies – Agritech

Funder: Project funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.4 - Call for tender No. 3138 of 16/12/2021 of Italian Ministry of University and Research funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU 

Award Number: Project code CN00000022, Concession Decree No. 1032 of 17/06/2022 adopted by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, CUP D93C22000420001, “National Research Centre for Agricultural Technologies” (Agritech)

Start date: 01.09.2022

End date: 31.08.2025

Total NRRP funding for the whole project: € 320.070.095

Total NRRP funding for Unipr: € 3.810.398

Objectives

The Center researches and advances innovative technologies in agriculture to enhance quantity and quality food production chain. It focuses on sustainable adaptation to climate change, agro-ecological principles, and conservation agriculture to diversify production and reduce waste and environmental impacts.

The Center uses AI and advanced methods to promote precision agriculture, minimizing agrochemical use and emissions. It also utilizes waste biomass through biotechnology and circular economy strategies, creating sustainable supply chains for all farmers. The Center applies AI in agriculture to enhance safety, traceability, and supply chain attributes. Finally, its research and innovation initiatives are crucial for finding solutions for marginal and erosion-prone areas, promoting resilience and sustainability of agricultural enterprises.

The Agritech Center has five general research objectives:

• Resilience: Ensuring adaptability of productions to sustainability criteria and climate change
• Low impact: Reducing waste and environmental impact
• Circular economy: Developing strategies for circular economy
• Recovery: Sustainable development of marginal areas
• Traceability: Promoting safety, traceability, and uniqueness in agri-food supply chains

Activities

The general objectives outlined above can be achieved by allocating Agritech research efforts on 9 different strategic thematic areas, that will be the domains of investigation and exploitation of 9 different spokes:

• Spoke 1 – Plant, animal and microbial genetic resources and adaptation to climatic changes
• Spoke 2 – Crop Health, a multidisciplinary system approach to reduce the use of agrochemicals
• Spoke 3 – Enabling technologies and sustainable strategies for the smart management of agricultural systems and their environmental impact
• Spoke 4 – Multifunctional and resilient agriculture and forestry systems for the mitigation of climate change risks
• Spoke 5 – Sustainable productivity and mitigation of environmental impact in livestock systems
• Spoke 6 – Management models to promote sustainability and resilience of agricultural systems
• Spoke 7 – Integrated models for the development of marginal areas to promote multifunctional production systems enhancing agroecological and socio-economic sustainability
• Spoke 8 – New models of circular economy in agriculture through waste valorization and recycling
• Spoke 9 – New technologies and methodologies for traceability, quality, safety, measurements, and certifications to enhance the value and protect the typical traits in agri-food chains

UNIPR is involved in the following Spokes as affiliated entity:

Spoke 3 – Enabling technologies and sustainable strategies for the smart management of agricultural systems and their environmental impact

• Smart solutions for precise and sustainable management of agricultural systems
• Innovative strategies to protect natural resources and reduce agriculture environmental impact
• Evaluation and demonstration for stakeholder engagement and innovation exploitation

Spoke 8 – Circular economy in agriculture through waste valorization and recycling

• Producing new products to upgrade waste value
• Agro-energy production from wastes to reduce energy dependence
• Nutrient and organic matter recovery from wastes to reduce the use of agrochemicals and closing waste cycle
• Multidimensional sustainability assessment of circular technologies in agriculture

• Department of Engineering and Architecture
• Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability
• Department of Food and Drug
• Department of Economics and Management
• CIDEA - Interdepartmental Center for Energy and Environment

The Agritech project consists of 24 public universities, 4 private universities, 5 research centers, and 18 companies:

• Università di Napoli Federico II
• Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
• Università degli Studi di Bari
• Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
• Università degli Studi di Milano
• Università di Padova
• Università di Siena
• Università degli Studi di Torino
• Università degli Studi della Tuscia
• Centro Euro-Med sui Cambiamenti Climatici
• Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria
• ENEA - New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development
• Fondazione Edmund Mach
• Politecnico di Milano
• Politecnico di Torino
• Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna
• Università degli Studi della Basilicata
• Libera Università di Bolzano
• Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma
• Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
• Università di Catania
• Università di Foggia
• Università di Firenze
• Università degli Studi di Genova
• Università di Perugia
• Università di Pisa
• Università di Parma
• Università di Reggio Calabria
• Sapienza Università di Roma
• Università di Salerno
• Università di Sassari
• Università di Udine
• Università delle Marche
• Antares Vision S.p.A.
• Consorzi Agrari d'Italia S.p.A.
• Casillo Partecipazione S.p.A.
• CNH Industrial Italia S.p.A.
• De Matteis Agroalimentare S.p.A.
• Egeos S.p.A.
• Engineering Ingegneria Informatica S.p.A.
• Eni S.p.A.
• Graded S.p.A.
• IBF Servizi S.p.A.
• Irritec S.p.A.
• Relatech S.p.A.
• S.I.S. Società Sementi Italiana S.p.A.
• Telespazio S.p.A.
• Bonifiche Ferraresi S.p.A.
• Fondazione Cassa Depositi e Prestiti
• Intesa San Paolo S.p.A.
• Nestlé S.p.A.

Agritech will establish strong and lasting connections with all stakeholders in the agricultural sector, driven by the real demand for innovation. This will generate new knowledge to develop innovative solutions for agricultural systems. Through direct connections with industrial companies and the farming sector, Agritech will facilitate continuous exchange of information with public research institutions, fostering the co-generation of new technologies and tools to address real needs. This approach will lead to deep, widespread, and continuous impacts in terms of strategic interaction, relevance to needs. Agritech is expected to generate a wide range of socio-economic impacts that will enhance Italy's prestige on the international scene. These impacts will be achieved through exploitable research results, innovations transferred to the agricultural sector for economic and social development, and the training and enhancement of human capital. The collaboration among the Spokes within Agritech will contribute to these results, guided by core principles of integrity, quality, transparency, continuous evaluation, strategic partnership, capacity building, and knowledge sharing.

https://agritechcenter.it