The project

Occitanum is a commitment to the deployment of digital technologies to foster agro-ecological transition and regionalize the food supply via:

• Multidisciplinary scientific capital based on solid experience in action research.
• An open innovation process involving companies, local authorities, researcher, farmers, consumers, and citizens.
• A dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem.
• A network of territorial Open Labs that are focal points for experimentation and demonstrations.
• A learning and capitalization framework for the replication of experience.
• Investments in innovative Agtech companies.
• An 8-year period to set up, experiment, evaluate and deploy innovative solutions.

Our objective: innovative agriculture serving the first local food supply chain in France

With regards to agriculture, the main goal is to establish an entrepreneurial ecosystem, and to accelerate the take up of digital technologies, by improving and supporting them through training and demonstration. In the targeted territories, this will result in:

• the reduction in the environmental footprint of agricultural production (expected 20-30% decrease),
• optimal adaptation to climate change,
• increases in farmers' income and improved agricultural career attractivity.

Thanks to the repeatability of experience and the roll out of innovation, Occitanum will thus contribute to the restoration of the link between agriculture and society, and to how agriculture is perceived in the Occitanie region and beyond.

Concerning food, the main objective is improved access to local food products thanks to the development of a platform referencing local products, and of an efficient and sustainable supply chain, which would be a first for France.

The Main Axes: Agriculture – Food - Capitalisation/ Perpetuation

The Occitanum project is based on 3 operational axes:

1. Axis A, on agro-ecological, economic, and social transitions
2. Axis B, on the local food supply
3.  Axis C to capitalize on and perpetuate the Occitanum experience

The 3 Axes are based on measures dedicated to the development and implementation of innovative projects:  stakeholder involvement, training, coordination, data collection, valorisation, and replication. Investments in innovative AgTech companies involved in the project are also planned. The Occitanum project aims to make a total investment of 90M€ including 10M€ for support purposes (of which 4,9M€ will be financed by the Banque des Territoires).

Axis A, which is devoted to Agroecological Transition, must promote a competitive agriculture sector addressing environmental issues that can adapt to climate change, by bringing into play 3 drivers: reduced agricultural inputs, practice and input substitution, and re-conception of agricultural production systems. It will be implemented based on technologies such as: remote sensing, sensors (in the field, and carried by animals, etc.) - models and decision support systems, traceability systems, biodiversity monitoring systems. The aim is also to make agriculture more attractive, and to restore its connection with society. This will entail the evolution of economic models (short circuits, income diversification etc.).The Occitanum project is based on 3 operational axes: axis A, on agro-ecological, economic, and social transitions, axis on the local food supply, and axis C to capitalize on and perpetuate the Occitanum experience. The 3 Axes are based on measures dedicated to the development and implementation of innovative projects:  stakeholder involvement, training, coordination, data collection, valorisation, and replication. Investments in innovative AgTech companies involved in the project are also planned. The Occitanum project aims to make a total investment of 90M€ including   10M€ for support purposes (of which 4,9M€ will be financed by the Banque des Territoires).

In Axis B, local food supply will be nurtured by the evolution of horticultural production practices based on digital technology (e.g., robots, planning tools...) and by the development of sustainable logistics that are easy to use by farmers.

Finally, Axis C will be focused on the creation of the resources crucial to the success of the Living Lab: support to foster the activities of different sites and emerging innovative projects, and for capitalising on experience, with the creation of an observatory of the Living Lab, and a framework for sharing agricultural data with research institutions. Farmers will be involved via the Chamber of Agriculture, the cooperatives, and associations. Research institutes (INRAE, Institut Agro, ACTA) are involved in co-designing the overall system with professionals and through support of the collective experiment while also ensuring compliance with scientific standards, proposing methods for assessing the use value of innovative technologies, capitalising on, and strengthening skills, through training, and finally by creating knowledge from the data produced and understanding the innovation process.