At this year's 34th international scientific conference Agrarian perspectives, organized on September 10-11, 2025 by the Faculty of Business Economics of the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, a European research project was presented GRANULAR (Giving Rural Actors Novel data and Re-Useable tools to Lead public Action in Rural areas).
This four-year project, funded by the Horizon Europe It combines cutting-edge technologies, participatory approaches and innovative methodologies to support the sustainable development of rural areas.
As part of the workshop Digitization and Precision Agriculture The conference participants learned about the project's objectives, which aim to strengthen the ability of rural actors to design and implement policies adapted to specific local conditions.
Representatives of the Department of Information Technology of the Faculty of Economics and Business of the Czech University of Life Sciences presented the already implemented project outputs, especially examples of the first datasets and visualizations, which are created by combining various sources – from satellite remote sensing to mobile and crowd-sourced data to data obtained through web scraping. These outputs are the basis of the prepared platform Rural Compass, which will allow for clear visualization and comparison of rural areas at various levels of detail.
Discussion and sharing of synergies
The conference created a space for the interconnection of projects focused on digitalization and innovation in agriculture. In addition to GRANULAR, projects such as CODECS, RURBANIVE, BrightSpace, AGRITECH EU whose SmartSkills.
It was this confrontation and joint discussion that showed the importance synergies between projects:
- Sharing methodologies and data approaches – tools developed in GRANULAR can also be used in projects focused on the digitalization of agriculture or the development of rural innovations.
- Connecting actors – thanks to Multi-Actor Labs, local governments, entrepreneurs and civil society are successfully involved in research, which also inspires other projects.
- Use of outputs in political practice – GRANULAR's visualization and analytical tools 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 rural and agricultural digitalization. The presented outputs demonstrate that the work on the project is at an advanced stage and that its results are already usable for further academic and practical activities.
Sharing experiences with partner projects brings not only new knowledge, but also opportunities for future cooperation and the involvement of CULS in other international research initiatives.
