OBJECTIVES
The tasks and activities included within WP1 ensured the fulfilment of the project’s goals within the time and budget constraints. It addresses financial management, coordination within the project team and between the project consortium and external organisations, quality control of deliverable documents and the representation of the consortium with respect to the Research Executive Agency.
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OBJECTIVES
The aim of this work package was to identify, analyse and prioritise the needs of users in the three pilot countries with respect to agricultural services based on Earth Observation, to translate these requirements into technical specifications, and to define the use cases for the validation of the services.
As a key part of this work package, different approaches were followed to define user requirements. In particular, semi-structured questionnaires and focus group surveys were conducted in the three pilot sites in order to identify them. Also, beta testing by the stakeholders helped on the platform’s co-creation process.
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OBJECTIVES
This work pacakage used Earth Observation, meteorological, and auxiliary data to produce – in a highly automated way – a series of data products describing agricultural parameters such as soil moisture, temperature, precipitation, crop condition and biomass. The work package ensured that these data are processed so that they are comparable in space and time. The data products were validated in terms of data completeness, precision and accuracy with respect to the spatio-temporal target scale of the APOLLO service.
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OBJECTIVES
In this work package, the set of services for small farmers and agronomists was defined and developed. The services make use of the data products developed in WP3, integrated into state-of-the-art agronomic models. Services are developed at field and sub-field scale (site-specific) in order to allow the application of precision agriculture practices.
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OBJECTIVES
This work package delivered the APOLLO platform: the underlying system which orchestrates the service provision. The work package set up the system architecture and integration framework for incorporating the data products and services developed in WPs 3 and 4. The platform was tested, validated and adapted on the basis of the feedback received from the pilot activities. The end product are web, mobile and/or tablet applications that offer high quality, agricultural services to the end users.
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OBJECTIVES
This work package enabled the APOLLO services to be tested and evaluated in the context of three country pilots in Spain, Greece and Serbia. The feedback from the pilot studies allowed the services to be improved. Training was provided for stakeholders where this was deemed necessary.
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OBJECTIVES
The aim of this activity was twofold: to understand the commercial environment and develop a solid exploitation strategy for the commercialisation of the services after the end of the project, and ultimately to foster a sustainable customer base by communicating the results and benefits of the project to relevant target audiences, and by raising awareness amongst other key stakeholders, academia and the general public. The WP7 team identified and evaluated potential business models (pricing, financing, sales strategies), understanding the requirements for operationalisation (new legal entity, agreements) and analysing issues associated with knowledge management and intellectual property.
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TIMELINE
The main milestones of the APOLLO project are presented on the timeline below.
TEAM
The APOLLO project brought together nine partners from five European countries (Greece, Spain, Austria, Belgium and Serbia), and combined expertise in agronomy, agricultural services, soil science, remote sensing and Earth Observation.
The consortium was proud to include two farmers’ associations – the Agricultural Cooperative of Pella in Greece, and the Association of Farmers of the Municipality of Ruma in Serbia, who piloted and tested early versions of the services. A third pilot was carried out in Spain.
Advisory Board
The Advisory Board of APOLLO provides high-level steering of the project’s progress. The members of the Advisory Board are shown below.
Ms. Paula Antunes
Paula Antunes is Full Professor at the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa. She teaches Environmental Management, Corporate Environmental Management, Ecological Economics and Sustainability Science both in MSc and PhD programs. She currently is the Director of CENSE – Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research, classified as Excellent in the scope of the Programa de Financiamento Plurianual de Unidades de I&D of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT-MCTES). She has a background in environmental engineering and considerable experience in developing interdisciplinary research and coordinating multidisciplinary research teams in the interface between natural and social sciences. Her research interests are oriented around ecological economics with an emphasis in sustainability assessment, system dynamics modelling, environmental management and methods and tools for stakeholder engagement in environmental planning and decision support. She has coordinated and participated in several research projects, financed by the European Commission and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. She has also participated in numerous studies both for public and private organizations, dealing with environmental assessment, support to the development and implementation of environmental policies, sustainability monitoring and benchmarking. She has authored and co-authored a significant number of publications in peer-reviewed journals and books and she has taken part in several national and international expert panels. She is Associate Editor of Ecological Economics and has been Vice-President of the European Society for Ecological Economics (ESEE) between 2006-2009 and has served in the board of the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE) (2002-2004). She was a member of the Portuguese Council for Sustainable Development between 2009-2011 and is a member of the Scientific Council for Natural Resources and the Environment of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.
Mr. Claus Aage Grøn Sørensen
Claus Grøn Sørensen is a Senior Scientist/Head of Research Unit in the Operations Management division of the Department of Engineering, Aarhus University, Denmark. He holds a PhD in Production and Operations Management. He has over 25 years of experience in production and operations management, decision analysis, information modelling, system analysis, and simulation and modelling of technology application in agriculture. His research topics include resource analyses and optimisations, whole farm analyses and optimisations, the feasibility of introducing robotic systems in agriculture, development of management information systems and smart applications (e.g. FP7, FutureFarm, AgriFood2). He has participated (as project coordinator, WP leader, and partner coordinator) in multiple international projects. He is the author of more than 350 articles in peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings. He is currently the President (and Danish representative) of the Executive Council of the European Society of Agricultural Engineers (EugAgEng) and Honorary Chair for the International Commission of Agricultural Engineering’s (CIGR) Section V on System Management.
Ms. Brigitte Holt Andersen
Brigitte Holt Andersen has profound experience with the European Union, working as Commission staff at the Joint Research Centre in Ispra (Space Institute) and DG TREN (Galileo Unit). She has worked intensively with projects for the European Space Agency (ESA) in relation to the GMES/COPERNICUS (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) Programme. Through her employment with the European Commission and later as Chief Project Manager for a large Consultancy firm, she gained experiences with European policies from leading assignments for various EC customers in particular Regional Development Fund, European Investment Bank, and General Directorate for Environment. She has participated in several European research projects as business partner responsible for economic feasibility analysis, development of relevant business models and market exploitation strategies. On a regular basis she acts as expert evaluator and reviewer of EC Research Programmes: Horizon 2020 (Space, Environment), Eurostar. Her analytical tool box includes policy impact assessment, cost benefit analysis, structural analysis of industries, value chain assessment and dynamics, competition analysis, market assessments, environmental and socio-economic analyses, life cycle cost analysis, externalities. She holds a PhD in Corporate Strategy, and a Master degree in Economics.