The Agritech EU project, "Digital Agriculture for Sustainable Development", is underway. With a budget of about 3.5 million Euros, co-financed at 50% under the Digital Europe program, it is coordinated by professor Gianluca Brunori of the University of Pisa: the university consortium Quinn, CNR-Isti, the University of Macerata, the Universities of Ghent, Athens, Almeria, and Montpellier, and some agritech companies are participating. The goal of Agritech, an official statement emphasizes, "is to develop educational modules that build high-level skills in the area of digitization for sustainable agriculture, with a special emphasis on the principles of agroecology and responsible innovation". 

The topics of precision agriculture, use of drones for monitoring purposes, farm data management, application of artificial intelligence, automation of agricultural operations, and digitization of supply chain traceability, among others, will be addressed. "For each of these topics -the note adds- socio-economic, including risks and unintended consequences, and legal implications will also be analyzed. The courses will be based on interdisciplinary programs that combine technological, agronomic, and socio-economic expertise".

The modules will be aimed primarily at students with bachelor's degrees in agricultural science, computer science, and computer engineering. "The project -explains the release- aspires to build a European catalog of blended learning activities, focusing on innovative experience-based teaching, strongly oriented on online tools". Student and faculty mobility and the activation of joint degrees are planned.

"We aim to enhance the experience gained in various European projects and in the postgraduate course activated by Disaaa in partnership with DI, DII, CNR, Quinn and to create synergies with the initiatives launched within the Contamination Lab -specifies Brunori-. For the University, which participates with the Department of Agricultural, Food and Agro-environmental sciences in collaboration with the departments of Computer engineering and computer science, the project represents a valuable opportunity to qualify itself in the European context as one of the universities of excellence on the topic of digital agriculture".