PowerPoint Presentation

[Audio] Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to everyone joining us from different parts of Europe and beyond. Welcome to this webinar, "Digital Value Chains and Business Ecosystems in Agriculture," which is part of the TALLHEDA webinar series. Before we begin, a word about the format. This is a long session, and it has been designed as a journey. We will start from the foundations, meaning what we actually mean by a value chain and a business ecosystem. Then we will move step by step towards digital technologies, data, business models, policy, and real cases from the field. By the end, I hope you will see agriculture not as a sequence of isolated farms, but as a connected, data-driven system in which many different actors create and share value together. Please keep in mind that this webinar is the result of collaborative work within the TALLHEDA project, a Horizon Europe initiative that focuses on the digital transformation of agricultural higher education and on strengthening the link between education, research, and the agri-food sector. The views we will present are those of the speakers and project partners, and they do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the granting authority. During the session, I will pause at several points to invite reflection. If you are watching live, please use the chat to share your thoughts, experiences, and questions. If you are watching the recording, I encourage you to pause the video at these moments and think about your own context, whether you are a student, a researcher, a lecturer, a farm advisor, an entrepreneur, or a policy maker. Let us begin by placing this webinar in its wider context..

[Audio] Let us look at what you can expect to take away from this webinar. I have organised the learning objectives into six points, and each one corresponds to a part of our journey. First, we will build a shared vocabulary. Terms such as "value chain," "supply chain," "value network," and "business ecosystem" are often used as if they were interchangeable, but they are not. Understanding the differences will help you analyse real situations much more precisely. Second, we will go through the agri-food chain from farm to fork and see how digital technologies are changing each stage: input supply, primary production, processing, logistics, retail, and the consumer. We will look at technologies such as the Internet of Things, remote sensing, drones, artificial intelligence, blockchain and digital twins, but always from the perspective of the value they create, not as technology for its own sake. Third, we will spend considerable time on data. Data is increasingly the connecting thread between actors, and the question of who owns, controls, and shares data is one of the most debated topics in digital agriculture today. We will discuss platforms, interoperability, FAIR principles, and data spaces. Fourth, we will move to business models and ecosystem roles. Who are the orchestrators, the complementors, and the beneficiaries? How are new services monetised, and why do some digital initiatives succeed while others fail? Fifth, we will review the European policy landscape and the funding opportunities that support this transformation. And finally, we will reflect on skills and education, because no digital value chain functions without people who understand it. This is the point at which our topic connects directly with the mission of TALLHEDA..

[Audio] Before we dive in, let me explain why this topic deserves three hours of your time. Agriculture today faces a set of pressures that are all happening at once. We are expected to produce safe, nutritious food for a growing population, while reducing the environmental footprint of production, adapting to climate change, protecting biodiversity, and keeping rural areas economically alive. At the same time, input costs fluctuate strongly, weather events are less predictable, and regulatory and market requirements keep increasing, from sustainability reporting to traceability. In this context, one fact is frequently highlighted in studies of food systems: farmers often capture only a modest share of the final consumer price. Value is added, and also captured, at other points of the chain, in processing, branding, distribution, and retail. This raises a strategic question for farmers and cooperatives: how can they strengthen their position and get a fairer return for the value they create? Digital technologies offer part of the answer, but not automatically. Sensors, satellites, and software generate data, and data can improve decisions, reduce costs, prove sustainability credentials, and open the way to new services. But to realise this potential, farmers cannot work alone. They need advisors, technology providers, input suppliers, processors, retailers, research institutions, and public authorities to work together, and to exchange information in a way that is trusted and fair. That is what we mean by a business ecosystem: a network of interdependent actors who create and share value together. Throughout this webinar we will keep returning to a simple but powerful question: who creates value, with whom, and who captures it? I would like you to pause here for a moment. Think about your own context, whether it is a farm, a company, a university, or an advisory service. Who are the three or four actors you depend on most to create value? Keep them in mind, because we will use them as a reference when we introduce the ecosystem concept in the next module..

[Audio] Thank you!. thank you!. TALLHEDA has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 101136578. Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them..