**7. Conclusions**

*Sustainability Assessment at the 21st Century*

The UN and democratic states are working toward this goal, but many changes are still needed

There are common efforts and cooperation initiatives being implemented

*Comparative analysis of sustainable development scenarios.*

Goal 16: Peace and justice strong institutions

Goal 17: Partnerships to achieve the goals

**Table 2.**

**UN SDG [20] No change Smart agriculture Full bioeconomy**

There is a limited connection between better food and work options and institutional development

The impact on international cooperation is limited due to the constrains of the sector

Changing economic balances and lifting countries out of poverty should improve peace

prospects

relations

New companies, regions and countries will develop in new directions, improving

**90**

**Figure 7.**

*Weighted comparison of scenarios—Pugh's method.*

There is a significant potential for developing and implementing smart agriculture solutions in the Danube region, both in terms of policies and scientific contributions, and the elements presented in this chapter constitute building blocks of a proper ecosystem for this. Agriculture has historically been a strong sector for both Romania and Slovakia, and there are national policies as well as private initiatives attempting to recapture this competitive advantage in the form of smart devices, technologies, or projects. There is a good and diverse capability for developing this domain (strong IT sector, developed universities in the technical and life sciences areas, fast Internet, and good penetration of technology in rural areas), and we believe cooperation frameworks, like the Danube Transfer Centers Network and the Interreg-Danube projects, can contribute to transforming this capability through proper policies and instruments into concrete results. This is even more timely in the present with increasing discussion about possible food crises in the future, as well as an increasing focus on finding biological and ecological solutions for supporting a circular and sustainable industry, like growing fuels, construction materials, and ingredients specific to the pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

The international and transnational dimensions of cooperation in this sector come to complement the economic driving axis, because smaller countries that are cooperating in macro-regional (i.e., Danube region) or supranational (i.e., the European Union) contexts have improved chances of being competitive and developing fast in the current setting of a globalized economy. As proposed in the chapter, smart farming is only the first step in implementing a full-scale bioeconomy approach and should be undertaken soon to help change the status quo.

*Sustainability Assessment at the 21st Century*
