From Skills to Solutions: Enabling Sustainable Agri-Food and Bioeconomy Transformation through Education, Digital Tools and Ecosystems
- Angeliki Milioti
- Mar 18
- 3 min read
On 16 March 2026, the TALLHEDA project successfully hosted a clustering webinar titled "From Skills to Solutions: Enabling Sustainable Agri-Food and Bioeconomy Transformation through Education, Digital Tools and Ecosystems." The event brought together seven Erasmus+ and Horizon-funded projects to share experiences, forge cross-project connections, and explore how education and training can better respond to the evolving needs of the agri-food and bioeconomy sectors.
A Platform for Collaboration Across Funded Projects
The webinar was welcomed and moderated by Angeliki Milioti of Smart Agro Hub, whose opening remarks framed the session around a key challenge shared by all participating projects: how to translate digital innovation and sustainability commitments into concrete skills and educational outcomes for farmers, students, SMEs, and rural communities.
The event was structured across three sessions, each addressing a distinct dimension of this challenge — from skills and training systems, to digital and nature-based solutions, to workforce development in the agri-food sector.
Session 1: From Skills to Solutions in Agri-Food Education
The first session spotlighted four projects working at the intersection of agricultural education, digital competence, and labour market alignment:
TALLHEDA — Presented by Effrosyni Bitakou (Agricultural University of Athens), the TALLHEDA project outlined its mission to build digital agriculture skills and foster alliances for innovation across widening regions in Europe. The project focuses on equipping farmers, researchers, and students with the competences needed to engage with modern agricultural technologies and data-driven practices.
BEAMING — Alina Butu (National Institute of Research and Development for Biological Sciences / NUST Politehnica Bucharest) and Aniko Feher (Budapest University of Technology and Economics) presented BEAMING's approach to promoting innovation and knowledge valorisation in the bioeconomy through Higher Education Institution (HEI) cooperation, highlighting the role of universities as bridges between research, industry, and society.
CultiVETing — Marievi Gretsi (IEK AKMI International) described this initiative's work bridging Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems and labour market needs in the agri-food sector in the Western Balkans — a region where aligning training provision with real employer demand remains a persistent challenge.
MY FARM — Paraskevi Liakopoulou (REZOS Brands) presented MY FARM's vision of multifunctional farming as a driver of rural resilience and new skills, connecting diversified farm models to the changing competence profiles needed by the rural workforce.
A moderated Q&A discussion, facilitated by Paraskevi Liakopoulou, invited participants to reflect on the question: How can education and training systems better respond to emerging sustainability and labour market needs? The conversation highlighted the need for flexible, modular curricula, stronger university–industry partnerships, and the inclusion of marginalised and under-connected communities in training design.
Session 2: Scaling Digital and Nature-Based Solutions for Farmers
ECONUTRI — Vangelis Karousis (Agricultural University of Athens) presented ECONUTRI's work on nature-based solutions for sustainable nutrient management in agriculture, supported by digital technologies. The project explores how precision tools and ecological approaches can be combined to reduce input use and improve soil and water health.
The session's facilitated discussion — also led by Vangelis Karousis — centred on the question of how digital and nature-based solutions can be scaled up and meaningfully adopted by farmers, particularly in regions with limited digital infrastructure or technical capacity.
Session 3: Workforce Development and Digital Skills in Agri-Food
MANTRA — Angelica Marsico and Maria Paola Conte (EIT Manufacturing) outlined MANTRA's mission to empower SMEs for digital and sustainable transformation through tailored support services, including training, mentoring, and ecosystem-building tools.
XR2Learn — Inés Vázquez Iglesias (ASINCAR) and Manuel Vidal (Enclave Formacion) addressed the critical importance of improving workforce skills in environments such as the agri-food sector, with a focus on immersive and extended reality (XR) technologies as tools for experiential learning.
Reflections and the Way Forward
The webinar closed with a wrap-up session by Angeliki Milioti (Smart Agro Hub), who synthesised key themes emerging from all three sessions: the urgency of aligning skills development with real agricultural and bioeconomy transitions; the value of cross-project learning and mutual reinforcement between funded initiatives; and the need to centre farmer and community voices in the design of training and digital tools.
Participants expressed strong interest in continuing collaborative exchanges and exploring opportunities for joint activities — including shared training resources, co-authored materials, and cross-referencing of outputs across projects.
You can find the recording here:
You can find the presentations here:
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