**2. Current situation of smart agriculture in Europe**

The European Union and to a larger extent all the countries of Europe, as they have strong ties to the union, are searching for a pathway to competitiveness for a long time now. First came the Lisbon Strategy, then the Europe 2020 Strategy, and now the Future of Europe toward 2030 is being discussed. These fundamental guidelines helped maintain Europe on a strong development course in terms of economic growth, social inclusion, and competitiveness through troubling times like the 2008 financial crises and significant structural transformation like Industry 4.0. In all these documents, the issues of environmental accountability and efforts to protect the diversity of European ecosystems have been in the spotlight, constituting a signature trait of the union in the international arena. On the operational plane, sectoral strategies for agriculture and bioeconomy have been developed in the past years that include the concept of "smartness," thus fostering the appearance of smart and precision agriculture policies, funding instruments, technologies, solutions, and implementers. The support for this approach has led to the development of a competitive agricultural sector while at the same time ensuring the protection and safeguarding of the environment. This easily noticeable within the European Innovation Partnership "Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability" initiative acts as an innovation highway between EU's rural development programs and research and development programs and their associated stakeholders [11].

The main goals and directions of intervention of the EU bioeconomy strategy are summed up in **Figure 1**.

The three main axes are targeting sea and oceans, the replacement of fossil fuels and resources with bioresources (i.e., that can be grown), and the food and energy security of European citizens. Agriculture plays an important role as the source for many of the raw materials needed to implement these changes. Also, it is in its turn affected by the need to reduce the water footprint and the usage of fertilizers, while at the same increasing the yields and the quality of agricultural products. There are multiple ramifications to finding solutions relating to these issues, with smart and

**Figure 1.** *EU's approach to bioeconomy [12] (figure adapted by the authors).*

precision agriculture dealing with some of them, while genetic engineering and circular economy are also forces to be reckoned with.

The future common agricultural policy (CAP) 2021–2027 has nine objectives that will reshape the sector within the European Union in the next 7 years (**Figure 2**):

Most of these priorities can benefit from the implementation of smart agriculture-based approaches in terms of sensors and precision guidance of agricultural equipment, Internet of things (IoT), and cloud solutions for infield interventions and ubiquitous computing and big data analytics for optimization and waste reduction in the production and processing stages.

Among the component structures of the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research at European level (SCAR), the strategic working group Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) had been working for almost a decade on developing policy recommendations for supporting innovation frameworks in bioeconomy [14]. These guidelines will become part of the CAP strategic plans addressing the above-mentioned priorities and are expected to further boost the competitiveness of the agricultural sector in Europe.

In most Central and Eastern European countries, the implementation of smart agriculture is still developing, although some interesting solutions (e.g., anti-hail rockets launched based on computerized weather forecasts) are implemented and coexist with traditional farming methods. In our studied case, Slovakia can be considered a good practice for Romania, with important smart agriculture solutions being deployed on a considerable scale. This makes the domain ready for a massive influx of know-how, which can only come from a wide geographical area (e.g., the Danube region) and that will have significant impacts in the early stages of the digital transformation.

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*International Cooperation for Smart and Sustainable Agriculture*

the customers and can be achieved faster in the new paradigm.

Although other European countries are more advanced and have had for decades

an industrialized agricultural sector, they are also facing important challenges in implementing smart approaches. As part of the effort to increase the trust of consumers, especially in the new bio- and eco-products as alternatives to the mass production of foodstuff, there is considerable contribution that can be made by the use of smart devices and software to process data and monitor agricultural production and product parameters. Mass implementation of such measures is desired by

**3. The Danube transfer centers network: a collaboration framework**

The Danube transfer centers network (DTCN) has been growing strong since 2012 and has been an active participant in the field of technology transfer, innovation support, and transnational cooperation. It stems from a pilot initiative of the government of the state of Baden-Württemberg (federal state of Germany) implemented by Steinbeis Europa Zentrum (SEZ) and Steinbeis-Donau-Zentrum (SDZ) according the Steinbeis model in this domain, which is a success story on a national and European level. Starting with three pilot centers in Nitra, Novi Sad, and Cluj-Napoca, it has expanded through several cycles coordinated by SEZ to include centers in Bucharest (RO), Ruse (BG), Slavonski Hrast/Vukovar (HR), Maribor

This very wide presence in the Danube region makes it a good choice for any stakeholders (companies on the one side and research institutions on the other side) to seek assistance in finding partners, solutions, or new project ideas to develop together. The network is predicated on the belief that transnational knowledge transfer is one of the main keys of sustainable development, economic growth, and social inclusion [15] and that the Danube region, due to its dimension and diversity,

The network has developed an important online presence, and the platform www.dtcnetwork.eu hosts both presentation pages for the centers and links to instruments and tools for training, communication, and project management. The most important tool developed in-house by the Danube transfer center (DTC) Cluj-Napoca within the Interreg-DTP project "Made in Danube" is called Danube Transnational Innovation Cooperation (DTIC) and is full online system for partner matching and innovative project development from idea to results. It is available free of charge at this address, http://www.muri.utcluj.ro/tin-etool/index. php?page=login, and is operational for more than 1 year already (see **Figure 3**).

Due to the nature of the Danube region, specifically focused on the river and its related ecosystem, as well as due to the characteristics of the projects undertaken so far in common, the DTCN has developed a focus on eco-responsible innovation with preoccupations for bioeconomy, renewable energy, and international outreach toward the Eastern partnership countries and Western Balkan countries. Agriculture and food production are integral parts of this approach, and the need for smart agriculture solutions has become more noticeable over time, in confer-

DTC Cluj-Napoca, where three of the authors of this chapter are active, has a networked structure in itself and includes offices that activate in four universities in the city of Cluj-Napoca (the technical, the social and natural, the medical, and the agricultural ones), and one university (a comprehensive one) in the city of Sibiu. This creates multiple opportunities for interdisciplinary contacts among scientific disciplines and research areas, including modern agriculture and modern technology. The fourth author leads the Union of Slovak Clusters and is in close contact

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86464*

(SI), Pannon/Györ (HU), and Craiova (RO).

can be a good practice model for the entire European Union.

ences, bilateral talks, or DTIC platform searches.

**Figure 2.** *EU's priorities for agriculture [13] (figure adapted by the authors).*

*Sustainability Assessment at the 21st Century*

circular economy are also forces to be reckoned with.

competitiveness of the agricultural sector in Europe.

*EU's priorities for agriculture [13] (figure adapted by the authors).*

digital transformation.

and waste reduction in the production and processing stages.

precision agriculture dealing with some of them, while genetic engineering and

will reshape the sector within the European Union in the next 7 years (**Figure 2**): Most of these priorities can benefit from the implementation of smart agriculture-based approaches in terms of sensors and precision guidance of agricultural equipment, Internet of things (IoT), and cloud solutions for infield interventions and ubiquitous computing and big data analytics for optimization

The future common agricultural policy (CAP) 2021–2027 has nine objectives that

Among the component structures of the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research at European level (SCAR), the strategic working group Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) had been working for almost a decade on developing policy recommendations for supporting innovation frameworks in bioeconomy [14]. These guidelines will become part of the CAP strategic plans addressing the above-mentioned priorities and are expected to further boost the

In most Central and Eastern European countries, the implementation of smart agriculture is still developing, although some interesting solutions (e.g., anti-hail rockets launched based on computerized weather forecasts) are implemented and coexist with traditional farming methods. In our studied case, Slovakia can be considered a good practice for Romania, with important smart agriculture solutions being deployed on a considerable scale. This makes the domain ready for a massive influx of know-how, which can only come from a wide geographical area (e.g., the Danube region) and that will have significant impacts in the early stages of the

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**Figure 2.**

Although other European countries are more advanced and have had for decades an industrialized agricultural sector, they are also facing important challenges in implementing smart approaches. As part of the effort to increase the trust of consumers, especially in the new bio- and eco-products as alternatives to the mass production of foodstuff, there is considerable contribution that can be made by the use of smart devices and software to process data and monitor agricultural production and product parameters. Mass implementation of such measures is desired by the customers and can be achieved faster in the new paradigm.
