HortiCo 4.0

Background and Objective

The HortiCo 4.0 project aimed to link the actors involved in research and development (R&D) projects on Horticulture 4.0, in order to promote synergies, to support the transfer of results into practice and inform a broad public.

The objectives of HortiCo 4.0 were:

1. Networking of R&D projects with each other and with similar projects not funded within the Horticulture 4.0 funding program as well as with actors of the value chain and politics.
2. Clustering of R&D projects according to their technical content in order to identify potential synergies, to support the implementation of these synergy effects, and to secure research data long-term.
3. Technical and economic analysis of the innovation clusters.
4. Critical analysis of the potential technical and economic benefits of the innovation clusters and evaluation of the effects in companies, on the sector and for the society.
5. Facilitate the adoption of innovations in the horticultural value chain through transfer of important results of R&D projects to the target groups. The knowledge transfer targets in particular horticulture enterprises, technical consultation, technical school training, enterprises of the horticultural value chain as well as politics and administration.
6. Development of recommendations for innovation policies and identification of further research needs.

Approach

An organizational framework was created to support an intensive networking of R&D projects, to strengthen the exchange of information and experience between all project participants and to involve actors from industry and research outside horticulture.

A virtual kick-off event served as a platform for getting to know each other and to identify thematic clusters in a participatory process together with the R&D projects. Annual networking workshops for all R&D projects ("Netzwerktage 2021" and "Netzwerktage 2022") promoted regular change between project participants. The networking continued with the final event "Forum Zukunft Gartenbau" and enabled the transfer of project results to the horticultural industry.

An advisory board accompanied the HortiCo 4.0 project and provided regular feedback and support.

Data and Methods

• Guideline-based interviews with experts from twelve R&D projects of the funding priority Horticulture 4.0.
• Technology assessment of 4.0 technologies being developed in the R&D projects.
• Sector-related SWOT analysis on the actual strengths and weaknesses of horticulture and the opportunities and risks for horticulture through 4.0 technologies.

Our Research Questions

• What kind of economic, ecological and social effects are expected from a widespread use of the 4.0 technologies being developed in the R&D projects?
• What kind of opportunities and risks does digitalization pose for the horticulture sector?

Results

Due to the diversity of research topics in the twelve R&D projects, a content-related networking on innovation clusters could not be established. Thus, the networking workshops focussed on cross-cutting issues namely the legal framework for 4.0 technologies, data standardization and research communication.

Based on the 4.0 technologies being developed in the twelve R&D projects, three use cases were developed: (1) Digital Pest Management, (2) Digital Crop Management and (3) AI-based Information Management Systems. A technology assessment based on these use cases focused on horticultural-specific implications, internal challenges of the innovation process and social impacts of 4.0 technologies.

The SWOT analysis on the opportunities and risks for horticulture by digitalization was conducted on three different future scenarios: trend scenario, worst-case scenario and best-case scenario.

Finally, results from technology assessment and SWOT analysis served as a basis for recommendations for policy-making and stakeholders of the horticultural value chain focusing on the research environment, education and knowledge transfer, the management of digital data and the legal and technical framework conditions.

Links and Downloads

www.hortico40.de