General Aspects
The DIVA project , fully named “Boosting innovative DIgitech Value chains for Agrofood, forestry and environment” is an European initiative funded and supported by the largest European Programme for Research and Innovation: Horizon 2020.
DIVA aims to provide support to the emergence and development of new industrial digitech value chains with applications to the agro-food, forestry and environment sectors.
The DIVA project concept relies on the creation of open-spaces in order to boost crossfertilisation between SMEs, stakeholders from the application sectors and operators of the digital economy. Direct and Indirect support to SMEs will be provided in order to accelerate new ideas all along the innovation chain, from idea emergence up to the demonstration and the internationalization stages with a focus on the creation of new value chains.
You extend the information about the project and download the descriptive brochure of DIVA here. It is available in six different languages.
Project DIVA aims to provide support to the emergence and development of new industrial digitech value chains with applications to the agro-food, forestry and environment sectors. Specifically, the project will support innovative SMEs by:
- Fostering new cross-sectoral and cross-border collaborations, set-up collaboration of stakeholders around joint business models
- Introducing SME with potential customers
- Having them participate in large scale demonstrators
- Supporting them at building critical mass offers at the European scale to reinforce their position in the EU-wide market
- Finding value-adding investors able to accelerate their growth
You can find more information about DIVA partners in the section “Get in touch with DIVA”
Only SME’s based in DIVA countries (France, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Spain) are elegible for DIVA open calls, but all kind of entities can be involved in DIVA projects or activities somehow. You can contact your National Contact Point or send your question through the contact form for more information
Does exist a list of potential applications and technologies to address by the DIVA funded projects?
Below is a list of potential new technologies that could be further explored and deployed by the DIVA “Call for Challenges”. This list does not pretend to be exhaustive:
- Data management and storage
- Dynamic presentation of data according to purpose
- Indoor positioning of moving objects
- Communication technology alternatives
- Environmental protection
- Low power consumption
- Context-based decision support
- Peer-to-peer networks in rural areas
- Precision farming in a real world setting
- Development and validation of a business model canvas
- Agricultural knowledge base for smart control
- IoT based solution, big data, machine learning algorithms
- IoT Marketplace Innovations
With the purpose to stimulate innovation and creativity, DIVA assumes a user-centered design process and an open innovation approach. This way, all stakeholders along the value chain (for example, cooperatives, seed producers, equipment manufacturers, food manufacturers, input manufacturers, insurance companies) are solicited to express their needs through a “Call for challenges”. In the same way, innovative digital solution providers, this is, SME’s and start-ups with competence in Digital marketplace, Iot connectivity, Artificial intelligence. Big Data, Cloud Computing, Robotics and Digital electronic and Photonic components, will be solicited to express the full potential to be expected from new ICT.
DIVA Call for Challenges uses challenge-based innovation to foster start-ups and SMEs capable of meeting Challenges by companies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. Specifically, the project will support innovative SMEs by:
- Fostering new cross-sectoral and cross-border collaborations, set-up collaboration of stakeholders around joint business models;
- Introducing SME with potential customers;
- Having them participate in large scale demonstrators;
- Supporting them at building critical mass offers at the European scale to reinforce their position in the EU-wide market;
- Connecting with potential customers and potential technology providers;
- Demonstrate your solution at large scale;
- Open to new international markets.
- The proposed challenge should be in line with the objectives and priorities of the call and addresses relevant challenges at the European level.
- Who can apply: The stakeholders along the agrofood, forestry and environment value chain, for example, cooperatives, seed producers, equipment manufacturers, food manufacturers, input manufacturers, insurance companies, among others.
- How to apply: It is mandatory to fill the DIVA Challenge form in the Call for Challenges section in DIVA website. The challenge seekers should register their organization at and complete their profile. The profile includes the name of the organization, name of the person of contact, the e-mail address, the city and country of the challenge seeker.
“I am an agricultural cooperative and I need a global solution to monitor the soil of my farmers continuously in order to better anticipate fertilization and irrigation needs for each plot and even inside each plot. This solution has to be plugged with its current software packages”.
A range of technologies from sensors, ICT and robotics drives the digital transformation of organizations. DIVA will focus on analysing the existing Digital Value Chain frameworks and identifying the implications and opportunities brought by digital technologies to the Agro-food, Forestry and Environment sectors.
A Digital Trends Map for the Agro food, Forestry and Environment sectors will be produced, taking into account existing digital value chain frameworks as a starting point to identify and elaborate on potentially valuable intersections between digital trends / opportunities and needs / challenges of the forestry, environment and agro-food sectors. The Map will be worked out with the help of experts and stakeholders and will lead to a final outcome where those intersections shall be clearly mapped and inspire proposals for ICT-based solutions.
DIVA Digital Trends Map will be available soon HERE.
The DIVA “Digitech Value Chain inspiration framework for Agrifood, Forestry and Environment” that translates the Digital Trends Map into further detailed main transnational digital business challenges affecting the Agro food, Forestry and Environment value chains. These challenges will set the boundaries and inspiration for ICT-based solutions proposals to submit to DIVA open calls.
Entities based outside DIVA countries cannot compete for funding in DIVA open calls, however they can be an active part of the funded projects as subcontracted entities or either participate in the rest of the activities promoted by the DIVA project. For example, they can promote themselves as experts, apply for a DIVA demonstrator or participate in DIVA events.
You can send your enquiry through the official contact form
A typical demonstrator should offer a set of fields or pilot process chains for real conditions experiments alongside a working environment including various sensors (e.g., weather stations, soil moisture and satellite imagery) and a mobile and real-time data processing and management cloud infrastructure.
Demonstrator activities must be carried out in at least one of the following sectors: Agro-food, forestry and environment.
Demonstration facilities can be registered as DIVA demonstrators submitting an especific application form, meeting the following basic and mandatory requirements.
Each facility supplier will have the possibility to activate some services, according to the SMEs’ needs and specific agreement signed between supplier and SME. The support of qualified personnel endorsed by the DIVA project to assist as coachers for setting up the large-scale demonstrators will be also included.
Ask your National Contact Point (NCP) in your country for further information.
To take part as a DIVA demonstrator, a facility and its owner holding must meet the following basic and mandatory requirements:
- The owner will participate in the project and is ready to spend time working with experts and SMEs.
- The owner agrees that the farm/other facility will be used as a demonstration site for other farmers or SMEs during the project.
- The owner has staff available to dedicate to the necessary activities defined with the SME based on a specific contract to sign.
- The owner of the holding (or its representative) agrees to be explaining and demonstrating management methods to those interested and sharing experience in sustainable management.
- The facility is registered in the Register of Taxpayers of the State Revenue Service of the [indicate the State].
- The property in which the farm’s representative operates, is owned or is legally hired.
- The property is in compliance with any document system required by National/EU laws.
- The farm/facility is located in the territory of [specify territory]…… and it is easy accessible.
- The farm/facility will be accurately described in the application form
For facilities that meet the basic requirements and have decided to apply for their participation in the project, must fill and submit the on-line application form, which will be available in electronic format on DIVA project website here
The application form will have 2 Sections, the first is for FARM and the second for other kind of POST-HARVEST PROCESSING UNITS & OTHER FACILITY.
The letter of declaration for participation in the project DIVA which include mandatory requirements must be submitted together with the on-line Application Form.
Any queries regarding the details of the DIVA project should be forwarded to the query area available in the DIVA website or by email to your National Contact Point of DIVA project.
DIVA project manages a complete list of professional resources as experts, mentors, accelerators, demonstration facilities, etc. that could be provided as support tools for funded entities.
If you want to access to these resources, please, get in contact with your NCP at your country (you can find the complete list of NCP’s here) and explain him your own case
Funding Calls
The type of activity that can be funded by DIVA are innovation actions defined as followed:
- Action primarily consisting of activities directly aiming at producing plans and arrangements or designs for new, altered or improved products, processes or services. For this purpose they may include prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation and market replication.
- A ‘demonstration or pilot’ aims to validate the technical and economic viability of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution in an operational (or near to operational) environment, whether industrial or otherwise, involving where appropriate a larger scale prototype or demonstrator.
- A ‘market replication’ aims to support the first application/deployment in the market of an innovation that has already been demonstrated but not yet applied/deployed in the market due to market failures/barriers to uptake. ‘Market replication’ does not cover multiple applications in the market of an innovation that has already been applied successfully once in the market. ‘First’ means new at least to Europe or new at least to the application sector in question. Often such projects involve a validation of technical and economic performance at system level in real life operating conditions provided by the market
- Projects may include limited research and development activities.
In the DIVA project, the following industrial sectors will be supported:
- Agrifood
- Forestry
- Environment
- ICT and all surrounding sectors as robotics, automatics, electronics, machinery, etc.
The accepted applicants for DIVA open calls and vouchers have to be:
Beneficiaries of DIVA funding are for-profit SMEs (as defined in the EU recommendation 2003/361[1].), including young companies and start-ups, legally constituted and established in one of the following EU Member States: France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
[1] Staff headcount < 250 persons and turnover < 50 M€ or balance sheet total < 43 M€
Five types of vouchers will be available and all of them will be delivered as a lump sum:
For further information about the different types of vouchers please visit the section “DIVA Funding Calls” HERE.
The maximum amount of financial support provided by DIVA may not exceed 60 000€ for each SME. This grant may not necessarily come from one single proposal.
Ask your NCP for further information about this restriction.
A lump sum is a single payment of the grant, as opposed to a series of payments made over time.
A lump sum grant simplifies administrative and finantial burden, that means no financial reporting, no time sheets and no financial audit are requested. The payment is exclusively based on completion of activity and a technical report of results.
DIVA Project will proceed with a two-stage lump sum to beneficiaries as follows:
- one pre-financing payment corresponding to 50% of the grant.
- one payment of the balance corresponding to 50% of the grant.
Yes, if necessary to implement the action, the beneficiaries may award subcontracts covering the implementation of certain action tasks
Please, go to the Guide for Applicants for further information about subcontrating rules and procedures
Yes. An SME can apply for both open calls, taking into account the restriction of the maximum overall amount of financial support provided by DIVA (may not exceed 60 000€ for the same SME).
An SME can apply to different project types (acceleration, demonstration, internationalisation – see below) during the same call. The overall accumulated grant from several applications, will be 60.000€ as maximum for the same SME.
Two competitive calls for proposals will be launched: the first one at the end of 2018, and the second one at the end of 2019.
Indicative budget will be the following:
- First call for proposals: 1,35M€ approximately.
- Second call for proposals: 1,35M€ approximately.
Each call will include different funding instruments:
Participation rules of the calls may be eventually consulted in the Funding Calls section
The call scheme is in one step submission.
The call will remain open at least for 2 months, from its launching day.
Applicants must submit online through the submission tool available in the funding calls section. Applicants must register to the application, fulfil administrative form and upload in PDF format the Description of Work (DoW) following template provided into the application.
Proposals shall be submitted in English.
Applicants are strongly recommended to contact their national DIVA contact point before submitting in order to receive technical support during the proposal preparation stage
As for the selected SMEs, after a complete check of their legal documents, a grant agreement will be signed between a DIVA partner and the SME. Each signatory, the DIVA partner and the SME, will be situated in the same country to facilitate eventual legal procedures. For demonstration and internationalisation vouchers, that necessity at least 2, respectively 3 SMEs, a consortium agreement will be required before any payment.
The lump sum will be delivered in two stages as followed:
- 50% after grant agreement and consortium agreement signature,
- 50% at the end of the action according to the objective achievement.
DIVA can help you find the perfect partner for your project in several ways.
You can contact your National Contact Point to ask for support or you can also register and participate in DIVA events in which specific tools for matchmaking will be enabled among the stakeholders of ICT, agrofood, forestal and enviroment sectors. For example, an online B2B meetings tool will be available for participants of the first DIVA European event to be held in January 2019.
DIVA Events
DIVA events include cross-fertilization activities such as cross-sectoral meetings, matchmaking and brokerage events with seminars and B2B meetings in dedicated open-spaces. You will find two levels of events organised by DIVA:
- Regional/National Events: Over 30 regional or national workshops enabling stakeholders to take into account the different national contexts and regional backgrounds.
- European Events: Two European events designed to bring up the best national practices to the European level and to create opportunities for SMEs to meet to discuss possible collaboration in new value chains.
Stay updated about DIVA events and access to the registration forms in the specific section “DIVA events”
Latest information about Regional, National and European DIVA Events will be available in the section “DIVA Events” in DIVA official website.
Furthermore, updated information about incoming events will be announced in the six-monthly DIVA Newsletter. You can subscribe to the DIVA Newsletter here.
Connect with DIVA Project
DIVA project manages a complete list of professional resources as experts, mentors, accelerators, demonstration facilities, etc. that could be provided as support tools for funded entities.
If you want to access to these resources, please, get in contact with your NCP at your country (you can find the complete list of NCP’s here) and explain him your own case
There are different ways to get in contact with the DIVA project:
- Subscribing to the six-monthly Newsletter. You will be updated about the most relevant activities carried out within the project and the incoming calls, events, etc. You can complete your subscription to the Newsletter here
- Through the contact form available in DIVA Official website. You can send an enquiry about any topic related to DIVA. You will be answered in less that 72 hours.
- Contacting your DIVA NCP in your country for a personalized attendance. You can access the contact details of all DIVA NCP here
- Attending the DIVA Regional, National & European events. You will have the opportunity to stay updated to latest news in advance.
You can complete the subscription to DIVA Newsletter here. You will keep informed about latest news and activities of DIVA every six months.
The DIVA National Contact Points (NCP) act as Front Desk for queries at a national level. All stakeholders interested in the DIVA project or in any of its activities can formulate their queries or ask for support via email or phone call directly with your NCP.
There are two different NCP for each country, depending on your company domain: an NCP for ICT/Tech companies and another one for agrofood, forestry and environment stakeholders. Choose your own NCP for a high quality of service.
The conversation with your NCP will be in your own language to make the communication easier.
You can find the complete list of DIVA NCP here