Innovation in the case study

The most innovative element of the project lies in the multi-actor and multidisciplinary approach to university education, which paves the way for a change in the design, content and teaching of university programmes, not only those dealing with the use of agricultural engineering technologies.

Collaboration between higher education/research institutions, farms, support organisations and SMEs in designing university training courses is a novelty in the agricultural sector, which aims to contribute to reducing the knowledge gap between research achievements, university training programmes and farmers’ needs in terms of effective application of innovations.

In the case of SPARKLE, the synergy between these actors has resulted in an innovative training module for agricultural engineering dealing with interdisciplinary topics balanced between technology, economics and impacts of technology.