Thematic Event 4: Smart Soils: Smart Specialisation meets EU Soil Mission

The fourth thematic event Smart Soils: Smart Specialisation meets EU Soil Mission, organised by FUNDECYT-PCTEX, took place on 24 January 2024 at 10:00 CET. It explicitly addressed two objectives of the EU Mission: A Soil Deal for Europe: reduce the EU global footprint on soils and improve soil literacy in society.

A Europe-wide discussion in a virtual session about the relationship, at regional level, between the Smart Specialization Research and Innovation Strategies (RIS3) and the Soil Mission (SM) was the focus of one of the Nati00ns thematic events.

It integrated policy makers, experts, technicians and citizens involved in regional policy making and implementation of innovation programs with the following challenges: identify examples of connections that already exist/are foreseen/intuited between RIS3 and the SM objectives; discover the possibilities fo the implementation of the strategies to solve soil troubles and conclude on policy good practices to guide the processes of orienting RIS3 towards the mission and viceversa.

Soil is the foundation of our food systems. It provides clean water and habitats for biodiversity while contributing to climate resilience. It supports our cultural heritage and landscapes and is the basis of our economy and prosperity. RIS3 are demonstrating from 2013 their utility at local level to foster transformative changes through innovation.