ACRONYM: SmartBIC, CODE: 5047106, in the Operational Program "Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation" with priority axis: 03 "Development of entrepreneurship support mechanisms", which is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), entitled "Supporting Regional Excellence".
Scientific Project Manager: Professor Spyridon Kintzios, Rector of the Agricultural University of Athens
The Agricultural University of Athens is creating an Innovation Hub in Smart Agriculture and the Circular Bioeconomy at its facilities in the Region of Central Greece. The goal of the SmartBIC project is to create a sustainable research infrastructure that will provide a comprehensive range of services that will strengthen research for the production of the region's Agri-Food Products.
The aim is to create a modern research infrastructure in the Region of Central Greece aimed at the technologies and systems of intelligent agricultural production and circular bioeconomy. The proposed research infrastructure will expand, combine and network the basic research infrastructure that the Agricultural University of Athens has in Kopaida (Aliartos) and with new infrastructures in the new departments in Thiva and Amfissa.
The Thiva research group (Department of Agribusiness and Supply Chain Management) undertook the implementation of the largest part of WP4: Sustainable Supply Chains & Innovative Business Practices/Solutions (Sustainable Supply Chains & Innovative business practices/solutions) in the Region of Central Greece.
Objectives/ Desired results:

• Creation of research infrastructure for planning and modeling supply chain flows and processes, simulation and decision making of supply chain planning and management
• Creation of research infrastructure for modern Enterprise Resources Planning applications, with an emphasis on SMEs in the agri-food sector
• Sustainability analysis, environmental footprint & design of supply chains in the context of sustainable supply chains and circular economy with an emphasis on agri-food
• Development of innovation, entrepreneurship & digital marketing by applying models with emphasis on agri-food highlighting the cultural and touristic identity of the region
• Enhancing the tourist visitor experience by connecting agri-food with the culture sector, through integrated augmented reality and simulation systems
• Improving the quality of life, and work-life balance, promoting diversity and gender equality in the agri-food sector, highlighting cultural identity.

Head of Thiva Research Group: Professor P. Trivellas
website: https://www.smartbic.org/

The study's purpose is to investigate the benefits of a unified digital auction process for vegetable products in Ierapetra. Such an innovation is expected to improve market competition, which in turn is expected to significantly improve farmers' market power.

The scope of the Green Logιstics in Cereals/Rice Sector project is to develop and deliver a customised e-training program to all stakeholders across the supply chain of grains (employees, managers, farmers, producers, transporters) in four Euro-med countries (Greece, Spain, Portugal & Cyprus), based on an extended survey detecting their training needs. Building on the integration of the knowledge triangle (higher education, research and business), a training requirements survey mapping the current skills & competencies profiles of the logisticians in alignment with the best practices provided by the cereal and rice sector professionals, lays the foundation for the e-training program for the grain supply chain. Distance learning program incorporates various areas of interest such as green logistics, sustainable development, precision agriculture, organic farming and rural tourism acknowledging cultural diversity in the targeted countries. In addition, a qualification framework proposed for the grain logistics sector.

Research Funding Program: Erasmus+, KA2 - Cooperation for Innovation and the Exchange of Good Practices, Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training, Συντονιστής: ΤΕΙΣΤΕ (Greece), (2015-1-EL01-KA202-014015)

website: http://green-logistics.aua.gr/wp/?page_id=2

The project concerns industrial research in an object that has not been scientifically developed sufficiently, the optimization of routing via neural network algorithms using the modified function (transform) method. The final result of the project will be a system capable of running machine learning applications and direct application to all logistics systems whether they relate to 3rd party logistics (3PL) or transports and deliveries. Its implementation will lead to a reduction in delivery and receipt times as well as reduced service costs and a corresponding reduction in environmental footprint. It can be applied to many businesses after customization even in urban transport, and its future uses with self-propelled vehicles and deliveries of drones are obvious.

The aim of the project is to initially research the distribution market in the urban environment and to identify the problems faced by businesses operating in the field. At the same time, research was carried out on the utilization of routing algorithms and their utilization based on the Hopfield algorithm. The aforementioned research actions leads to the development of a new dynamic algorithm that will utilize machine learning to support businesses in their daily operations. Project innovation lies in an algorithm that can be exploited in a variety of fleet applications and distribution activities, taking into account temporal, spatial, and customer, distributor or vehicle characteristics. The outcome of the project is expected to be a platform for managing orders and grouping them for distribution. The platform is based on cloud computing infrastructure and services and will be offered internationally to maximize the benefits of this project.

website: https://www.smart-delivery.gr/

Co‐financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH – CREATE - INNOVATE (project code:Τ1EDK-02266)

Air transport liberalization has created an environment of fierce competition among air carriers regarding the destinations, in contrast to commercially unattractive remote areas, including many of the Greek islands. Acknowledging the high geopolitical and social importance of retaining the air connection of peripheral nodes with central hubs, European Commission issued the Public Service Obligation (PSO) Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 which provides authorized air carriers with monopoly privileges and subsidies in order to maintain specific air routes falling under the PSO regime. 28 such routes are currently active in Greece, 26 of them serving island destinations. The operational schedules of the carriers serving the Greek air PSO network, are designed independently, based in three main criteria: fleet assignment, aircraft maintenance routing and crew scheduling. This fragmented situation doesn’t take provisions for the needs of the local communities often leading to overlapping services and long delays. Therefore, the need for redesigning the entire scheduling of the Greek islands PSO air network, creating an integrated synchromodal transport system is profound.

The aim of this project is the creation of an air-passengers flow optimization model, able to balance the demands and limitations of the main stakeholder groups (passengers, air carriers, airports, local communities, regulatory authorities). Fuzzy networks methodology, especially the Benders and the Magnanti-Wong algorithms is used to build the optimization model. The final deliverable of this project will be a decision making tool which will be to the benefit of all major stakeholders: passengers and local communities will enjoy better air services, air carriers will increase productivity by creating economies of scale and density and regulatory authorities will safeguard that the strategic aim of the PSO policy (that is, the increase in connectivity and cohesion of European peripheral areas) has been achieved.

Deliverables: A patent (OBI no. 1010524/10-8-2023: Hellenic Industrial Property Organisation) for an integrated decision-making tool (Innovative Air Network Optimization System/IANOS-DSS), which synthesizes the requirements and constraints of the core stakeholders (in remote and isolated communities served by Public Service Obligation/PSO routes via a cocreation method), in order to optimize and increase the coherence of the PSO route network, maximizing social & economic impacts and reducing the environmental footprint.

website: ianos.upatras.gr

Co‐financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH – CREATE - INNOVATE

The AgroPro project aspires to provide agriculture professionals with acquaintance with the available airborne technology & software as well as with UAV international legislation & regulations. In addition, it aims at the acquaintance with mission planning & the available open source and commercial tools.
Website: https://agropro-drone.eu/

The aim of STEPS project was to design and implement a modern MSc programme on “Sustainable food production systems” compatible to the Bologna convention. The overall objective is to provide the background and support the design of the STEPS programme in order to meet the labor market and society’s needs and expectations.
Website: http://steps-project.eu/