Agrifood Lithuania DIH

I represent AgriFood Lithuania DIH (AFL), a non-profit innovation cluster connecting farmers, agri-food businesses, research organisations, technology providers, public authorities and other ecosystem actors. We coordinate and implement European R&D&I projects focused on sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, digitalisation, climate resilience, nature restoration and the transition towards nature-positive food and land-use systems.

For the HORIZON-NATURE-2027 calls, AFL is particularly interested in the following topics:

HORIZON-NATURE-2027-02-01 – Assessing direct and indirect drivers of biodiversity decline of invertebrates.
AFL can provide real agricultural landscapes and farmer networks for case studies and validation activities. We can contribute to the integration of field, land-use, environmental, satellite and UAV data, as well as AI-based modelling and decision-support tools. We are particularly interested in translating scientific knowledge on biodiversity decline into practical recommendations and tools for farmers and other land managers.

HORIZON-NATURE-2027-02-02 – Living labs co-creating solutions for the restoration of ecosystems addressing implementation bottlenecks and improving resilience to risks.
AFL can establish and coordinate a Lithuanian Living Lab involving farmers, landowners, researchers, municipalities, public authorities, businesses and NGOs. We can support co-creation and testing of restoration solutions in real agricultural and forest landscapes, identify economic, regulatory and practical implementation barriers, develop MRV approaches and assess scalability, costs and business models. We can also contribute digital monitoring, UAV-based observations, AI modelling and stakeholder-driven decision-support tools. AFL is interested in coordinating or leading Living Lab and demonstration activities.

HORIZON-NATURE-2027-02-03 – Networking to scale up living labs for nature restoration solutions and address implementation bottlenecks.
AFL has extensive experience in stakeholder engagement, Living Lab coordination, capacity building, exploitation and networking across European projects. We can contribute to mapping and connecting Living Labs, developing common methodologies and implementation frameworks, organising peer-to-peer learning, engaging farmers and land managers, and translating Living Lab results into practical policy, financing and business recommendations.

HORIZON-NATURE-2027-02-05 – Cost-effective biodiversity monitoring for EU policies.
Our strongest interest is Area A – EU Pollinators Monitoring Scheme. Together with Lithuanian research partners, we can provide expertise in pollinator ecology, genetics, DNA barcoding, metabarcoding, sequencing, bioinformatics and DNA reference libraries. We are developing a Lithuanian pilot combining conventional pollinator monitoring with a distributed network of bee hives, hive-derived sampling, molecular monitoring and automated/AI-supported observation. AFL can coordinate the demo-case, engage end users and competent authorities, and contribute to cost-effectiveness, scalability and policy uptake.

Across these topics, AFL can offer real-life Lithuanian demonstration sites, access to farmers and agri-food businesses, Living Lab and multi-actor coordination, UAV and remote-sensing monitoring, AI and data modelling, digital decision-support, MRV, stakeholder and policy engagement, business-model development, exploitation and replication activities.

We are looking to join consortia preparing proposals for these HORIZON-NATURE calls, where AFL can contribute as a Lithuanian pilot, Living Lab, demonstration, technology-integration, stakeholder engagement, exploitation and scale-up partner. We are particularly interested in consortia working on biodiversity and ecosystem restoration, invertebrate and pollinator ecology, biodiversity monitoring, AI and modelling, Living Labs, restoration finance, governance and policy implementation.