The GRANULAR project at the Agrarian Perspectives conference

11. 9. 2025 Research Projects Cooperation

At this year's 34th edition of the Agrarian Perspectives International Scientific Conference, held on 10-11

The European research project GRANULAR (Giving Rural Actors Novel data and Re-Useable tools to Lead public Action in Rural areas) was presented at this year's 34th international scientific conference Agrarian Perspectives, organized on September 10-11, 2025 by the Faculty of Operational Economics of the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague.

This four-year project funded by the Horizon Europe program combines cutting-edge technologies, participatory approaches and innovative methodologies to support the sustainable development of rural areas.

As part of the Digitalization and Precision Agriculture workshop, the conference participants got acquainted with the goals of the project, which aim to strengthen the ability of rural actors to design and implement policies adapted to specific local conditions.

Representatives of the PEF ČZU Department of Information Technologies presented the already implemented outputs of the project, especially examples of the first datasets and visualizations, which are created by a combination of various sources - from satellite remote sensing to mobile and crowd-sourced data to data obtained by web scraping. These outputs are the basis of the upcoming Rural Compass platform, which will enable a clear visualization and comparison of rural areas in various degrees of detail.

Discussion and sharing of synergies

The conference created space for the mutual connection of projects focused on digitization and innovation in agriculture. In addition to GRANULAR, projects such as CODECS, RURBANIVE, BrightSpace, AGRITECH EU and SmartSkills were presented.

It was this confrontation and joint discussion that showed the importance of synergies between projects:

  • Sharing of methodologies and data approaches – tools developed in GRANULAR can also be used in projects focused on the digitization of agriculture or the development of rural innovations.
  • Connecting actors – thanks to Multi-Actor Labs, it is possible to involve local government, entrepreneurs and civil society in research, which inspires other projects.
  • Using the outputs in political practice – visualization and analytical tools of GRANULAR can complement the results of projects dedicated to education, knowledge transfer or the development of digital ecosystems.

Participation in the Agrarian Perspectives conference confirmed that the GRANULAR project is an important part of the European scientific community in the field of digitization of the countryside and agriculture. The presented outputs prove that work on the project is in an advanced stage and that its results can already be used for other academic and practical activities.

Sharing experiences with partner projects brings not only new knowledge, but also opportunities for future cooperation and involvement of CZU in other international research initiatives.