The AgriBusiness Forum, in collaboration with ELGO-Demeter, the Agricultural University of Athens, the Hellenic Space Center, and the i-BEC Interbalkan Environment Centre, organizing a working meeting on Tuesday, 9/12/2025, on the topic: “The New European Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience” to review the soil resources monitoring requirements, the monitoring framework, its integration into the current and new Common Agricultural Policy, the management of the energy footprint, and the impact of these factors on the overall primary sector’s ecosystem, including processing, distribution, and the consumption of agricultural products.
]]>Organization: Interbalkan Environment Center (i-BEC)
Location: On-site (Thermi, Greece)
Start Date: September 1, 2025
Contract Duration: Until December 31, 2025, with renewal subject to negotiation
Application Deadline: June 30, 2025
Position Overview
The Interbalkan Environment Center (i-BEC) is seeking a Research Associate with strong expertise in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for the development of data-driven applications focused on soil health monitoring using remote sensing (RS) data.
The selected candidate will contribute to applied research and project implementation by designing and deploying advanced models and tools that extract environmental insights from large-scale Earth observation datasets. This role is ideal for professionals with a strong programming background and a practical focus on real-world environmental challenges.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop and apply AI/ML models to analyze satellite data for soil health monitoring, including soil properties estimation, land-use pattern recognition, and detection of agricultural practices or events.
- Process and analyze Earth observation data from Sentinel missions, hyperspectral sensors, and optionally radar datasets, to derive biophysical and environmental indicators.
- Design and deploy data-driven applications for environmental monitoring and decision support.
- Work with Open Data Cube platforms to manage and access multi-temporal EO data at scale.
- Contribute to national and EU-funded research projects
- Be part of an interdisciplinary team of environmental scientists, data engineers, and agronomists.
Required Qualifications
- PhD in Computer Science, Remote Sensing, Geoinformatics, Environmental Science, or a related field.
- Minimum 3 years of experience in research or applied projects involving ML/AI and EO data.
- Proven programming skills in Python, with experience in:
- Scikit-learn
- TensorFlow / Keras
- GDAL, NumPy, Pandas
- Familiarity with Open Data Cube architectures and EO data pipelines.
- Experience with Docker or other containerization technologies.
- Demonstrated ability to develop scalable, production-ready code for geospatial analysis.
- Excellent communication skills in English (written and spoken).
- Relative research publications
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with cloud-based geospatial tools (e.g., Google Earth Engine, AWS, Copernicus DIAS).
- Experience in physical process models
- Experience contributing to open-source geospatial or scientific computing projects.
What We Offer
- Collaboration with a mission-driven organization at the intersection of technology and environmental science.
- Opportunity to work on impactful projects with real-world environmental and societal benefits funded from European Union or European Space Agency
- Work in a dynamic, interdisciplinary team environment
- Salary based on qualifications
- Contribution to a wide research team and participation to peer reviewed publications
How to Apply
Please submit the following to [email protected] by June 30, 2025:
- CV (max 3 pages)
- Cover Letter (1 page) outlining your motivation and relevant experience
- (Optional) Links to relevant code repositories, publications, or past project work
- Include at the subject of the email “RS modelling application – [your name]”
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Organization: Interbalkan Environment Center (i-BEC)
Position Type: Full-time, project-based collaboration
Location: On-site (Thermi, Greece)
Start Date: Immediately
Contract Duration: Until December 31, 2025, with renewal subject to negotiation
Application Deadline: June 30, 2025
Position Overview
The Interbalkan Environment Center (i-BEC) is seeking a colaborator with a background in Computer Science, Electrical & Computer Engineering, or a related field to support the development of software tools and web applications for environmental data processing, including Earth Observation (EO) and Remote Sensing (RS) applications.
This position offers an excellent opportunity to contribute to the implementation of European-funded research and innovation projects.
Key Responsibilities
- Design and implement applications for environmental and EO data analysis.
- Develop and maintain web applications using technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
- Process geospatial and remote sensing data using R and/or Python.
- Use and maintain version control systems such as Git for collaborative software development.
- Contribute to the delivery of research project outputs, reports, and technical documentation.
- Participate in interdisciplinary project teams and support the integration of software tools into environmental services.
- Develop Web-based platforms for geospatial data visualization
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s or equivalent degree in Computer Science or Electrical & Computer Engineering (or related fields).
- Very good command of the English language (C1 level).
- Minimum 1 year of experience in software development projects.
- Good knowledge of R and/or Python programming languages.
- Good understanding of web development technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript).
- Experience with version control systems, particularly GitHub.
Preferred Qualifications
- Master’s degree in a related field.
- Experience in processing remote sensing or EO data.
- Participation in EU-funded research projects.
- Experience in writing technical deliverables or scientific reports.
What We Offer
- Involvement in cutting-edge environmental and geospatial research projects.
- Full-time employment at i-BEC’s facilities in Thermi.
- Collaboration with multidisciplinary teams working at the interface of data science and environmental sustainability.
How to Apply
Send your CV and cover letter via email to: [email protected]
Include at the subject of the email “Environmental software developed – [Your Name]”
For questions or further information, you may contact: +30 2310 991778
Application deadline: June 30, 2025
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We are excited to announce that the Interbalkan Environment Center (i-BEC) will participate in the 2nd Carbon Farming Summit in Dublin, Ireland, on March 4-6, 2025!
Our team will deliver an oral presentation titled:
“Integrating MRV methodologies, and incentives to reduce N₂O emissions in carbon farming”
Date & Time: March 4, 2025 | 11:00 – 12:30
This presentation is a joint effort with @Proba, focusing on the role of Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) methodologies and incentive structures in reducing N₂O emissions in carbon farming practices.
Representing i-BEC at the summit:
Paraskevi Chantzi – Director of Research & Innovation, i-BEC
Georgios Galanis – Research Associate, i-BEC
Kostas Karyotis – BSc Mathematics, MSc Webscience, PhD Candidate, Scientific Associate, i-BEC
Daphne Kitsou – Agronomist MSci, PhD Candidate (AUTh), Project Manager of the Carbonica project
Carbon farming plays a crucial role in sustainable agriculture and climate change mitigation. We look forward to sharing insights, discussing innovative solutions, and connecting with experts in the field!
Learn more about the event: https://www.carbonfarmingsummit.eu/programme
#CarbonFarming #Sustainability #ClimateAction #CarbonReduction #AgricultureInnovation #iBEC #CarbonicaProject
o
Training Workshop
“Carbon Farming: New business opportunities in the agricultural sector, Demonstration in the field”
Democritus University of Thrace, leading partner of the first European Digital Innovation Hub in the Hellenic Agri-food sector, #DigiAgriFood and the Interbalkan Environment Centre, scientific coordinator of European Project Carbonica EU “Carbon Sequestration Initiative for Climate Resilient Agriculture” are organizing an open educational Seminar – Demonstration in the Field on the subject:
«Carbon Farming: New business opportunities in the agricultural sector, Demonstration in the field»
On Friday, 29/11/2024 and time 11:00-14:30, in the area of Chrysoupolis, Kavala.
Coordinates: 40°57’03.3″N 24°42’50.1″E
As the Carbonica project lays the foundations for Carbon Sequestering Agriculture, it is developing an ISO-standards-based methodology for monitoring, reporting and verifying greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural practices, as well as reducing them using nature-based solutions.
The monitoring system relies on a range of tools, including climate change stations, field measurement equipment and soil laboratory analyses. This system is being tested in pilot fields for the application of carbon farming, such as the field where the demonstration will take place, and has kiwi cultivation.
More specifically, there will be a presentation of the installed climate change station, a portable field toolkit for measuring soil indicators in the field and the soil sampling methodology for further analysis in a soil laboratory.
This educational workshop is aimed at those active in the agricultural sector to expand the knowledge, abilities and skills of stakeholders in carbon farming practices. Emphasizing agricultural professionals, the project aspires to provide deep knowledge in innovative carbon sequestering farming practices adapted to local crops and other relevant characteristics.
Additionally, the DigiAgrifood Hub will present the services it offers free of charge to its audience.
The event will be held with the support of the Sandros company, which will inform the public about the use of special nutrition products, specifically bioactivators – soil improvers and beneficial microorganisms.
The event is open to the public, with free participation, referring mainly to Farmers, Agricultural Cooperatives, Environmentalists, Agriculturists, students, etc. and certificates of participation will be issued.
Pre-registration is required at the link: https://forms.gle/x9PccP8pzJbCutLw8
Language of the Seminar: Greek
In case of bad weather, the event will be moved to a hall in Chrysoupoli.
Program:
11:00 – 11:40 DigiAgrifood: Presentation of services and Project
11:40 – 13:40 Carbonica: Project presentation and field demonstration
13:40 – 14:15 Sandros: Presentation of services and products
14:15 – 15:00 Lunch – Souvlaki party!
A few words about the Carbonica project:
The Carbonica project aims to promote the implementation of carbon sequestration agriculture practices in the enlargement countries, Greece, the Republic of North Macedonia and Cyprus. To achieve this goal, the Carbonica Hub of Excellence will connect and strengthen the innovation ecosystems in the three countries by rationalizing Research & Innovation among them to support carbon sequestering agriculture.
Carbonica will achieve this through new business models for agriculture that take into account carbon sequestration, connecting policy makers with civil society, while simultaneously promoting a reduction in the carbon footprint.
Carbonica goals:
- Enhancing innovation and excellence in carbon farming taking into account the ecosystem and needs at the local level aiming for collective understanding and widespread adoption
- Forge long-term cross-border partnerships and develop strong sustainable linkages between carbon farming actors to achieve knowledge transfer, foster business skills and enhance collective capacity
- Deliver business opportunities in carbon farming by bridging the gap between science and industry, and creating attractions for innovative entrepreneurs and investors for widespread adoption of results.
More information: https://carbonica-hub.eu
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GREENLAND TRAINS YOU IN GREEN AND CIRCULAR ECONOMY!
THE PROJECT
The project GREENLAND (GREEN-skiLls for a sustAiNable Development) promotes
social inclusion and fight against poverty by providing NEETs (young people under 30
years old, not in education, training, and employment) and women of all ages,
skills to find a job position in the Green and Circular economy sectors. GREENLAND is
an initiative of the European Territorial Cooperation whose proud partners for
Greece are the Interbalkan Environment Center (Thessaloniki) and the ERFC
(Athens), while 6 other Mediterranean countries participate (Italy, Lebanon, Jordan,
Egypt, Palestine, Portugal).
THE TRAINING
The courses will be provided free of charge and aim at 300 NEETs AND
WOMEN, who reside permanently in Central Macedonia or Thrace.
1. The first phase will be online, and based on individual learning of basic skills that
are useful for job placement in the Green and Circular economy (Soft skills,
Employment skills, and Green and Circular Economy skills). At the end of the courses,
a certificate of attendance will be granted (E-Portfolio certified by the project).
2. In the second phase, through an evaluation system, 120 participants will be
provided with one-week on-site training in Green and Circular Economy skills.
3. Finally, a further selection of 30 participants will have the opportunity to
undertake a 45-day internship, with the contribution of expenses, in one of the
enterprises participating in the project.
SIGN UP!!
Fill out the Registration Form below (Google form link) and we will contact you to
verify the requirements and for further information. Entries will continue until the
required number (300 NEETs and Women) is met.
More information about the project is on the Website:
https://www.enicbcmed.eu/projects/greenland
Follow GREENLAND on Facebook, στο Twitter και στο LinkedIn
#ENICBC #GOMED #GREENLAND
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The GREENLAND project aims to strengthen the skills of NEETs (18-30 years old) and unemployed women (of any age) in the pilot areas of the project for Greece (Central Macedonia and Thrace). Trainees will initially be instructed online in Employment Skills, Soft skills, and GaCE skills, obtaining comprehensive vocational training that will improve their entry into work, employability, and professional status.
Environmental change has been one of the key drivers of labor demand and skills supply across all sectors for the past years. Through the GREENLAND project, the Greek participants will be trained in “green” skills that will help them to strengthen their potential and will be the cornerstone for finding a job and/or creating personal small projects in the innovative fields of Green and Circular Economy.
Green courses, starting in 2023, will include:
1. Reduced Inputs Agriculture
2. Green business and entrepreneurship
3. Farming techniques through climate mitigation
4. Recycling and Waste management
5. Cultivation care of nurseries and orchards through Circular Economy.
Stay tuned for more information and registrations!
Together we can build a better and greener future!
Find out more about GREENLAND.
Follow GREENLAND on Facebook, το Twitter και το LinkedIn
#ENICBC #GOMED #GREENLAND
]]>For the implementation of the Project, i-BEC invites candidates to submit applications for 1 position through the award of a work contract, for the time period from the signing of the contract until 31/12/2020. The contract may be extended until the expiry date of the project 30/04/2023 (and if extended until expiry) and within the approved budget limits.
Position A: Computer Scientist / until 31/12/2021 / up to € 15,000.00
Job Description
Customization and development of tools and open source web applications to acquire, clean and prepare multispectral Earth Observation data. Production of documentation texts of the tools for their reuse.
The item above will be implemented as part of Work Package 3 – Implementation.
Required Qualifications
- University Bachelor’s degree in Informatics or Applied Informatics or Computer Engineering or any other related object
- Very good English language knowledge (Level C1)
- Experience of at least 6 months in the development and application of mechanical or in-depth learning algorithms
Additional Qualifications
- Experience in the use and / or processing of remote sensing and / or Earth Observation data
Qualifications Assessment
| Qualifications criteria | Credits
(Researchers) |
|
| 1 | Bachelor’s degree mark | mark * 40 |
| 2 | English language knowledge | 50 (very good), 70 (excellent) |
| 3 | Experience (per month) – 84 months max | 7 (per month) |
Documents Required:
- Application Form
- Curriculum Vitae
- Copies of the degrees
- Copies of the certifications mentioned in the CV and are relevant to the qualifications.
Those selected will work in the facilities of the Inter-Balkan Environmental Center, as well as where the research or training programs and projects of the I-BEC or the services related to its activities are provided and carried out, and within the operating hours of the I-BEC.
The submission of applications (according to the attached model) and other supporting documents is done exclusively via e-mail at [email protected] , from the day of posting this on the website of the Inter-Balkan Environment Center (www.i-bec. org) and until 19/10/2022.
For more information, please contact +302310991778.
EVALUATION PROCEDURE – OTHER CONDITIONS
- From all the applications submitted, according to the above specifications, the one that best meets the project’s requirements will be selected and awarded a work contract.
- Only applications submitted within the period mentioned above will be considered. In case of postal submission, the Interbalkan Environmental Center will not bear any responsibility for the submission time or the content of the files that will be sent. Changes to the application (replacements, corrections or submission of additional documents) are not allowed after the expiration of the deadline.
- It should be noted that the invitation for awarding work contracts in the framework of the project is not a competitive tendering procedure, while the potential selection of counterparties should be interpreted as an acceptance of a proposal for hiring and not as “hiring”. The aforementioned process will be completed with the announcement of a ranking list, while those candidates selected will be personally notified. In case of a tie, the candidate whose application has a) the longest experience, b) the greatest bachelor’s degree mark, or c) the greatest master’s degree mark, will be selected.
- The candidate who is first in the ranking list and has the highest score in all the criteria scored will be the one to be selected. If he / she is prevented, the next candidate is selected until the rank order is exhausted.
- Any submitted candidacy that does not meet the criteria of the call will not be examined any further and will be automatically rejected.
- Throughout the duration of the project it is possible that the selected candidate(s) may be replaced, if necessary, by other candidate(s) of the present call and in accordance with the ranking list.
- The contract may be extended without limitation, upon the decision of the competent body of the Interbalkan Environmental Center, provided that the required credit for the project is available, without a new invitation, until the project’s expiry date (and if the project is extended until expiry).
- This call for expression of interest does not, under any circumstances, bind the Interbalkan Environmental Center to establish cooperation with stakeholders and does not create any labor claims. The Interbalkan Environmental Center reserves the right to select the candidate, and it remains in the Committee’s full discretion to conclude or not the relevant contracts, excluding any claim by the candidates.
The work contract awarded shall comply with the general and specific guidelines of the funding mechanism.
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The DIONE consortium partners signed a Memorandum of Understanding in June 2022 with the intention to establish a DIONE Alliance joint venture, designed to serve as a leader in the commercialisation journey for the DIONE Toolbox. The DIONE Toolbox offers a digital, simplified, continuous and automated provision of agri-environmental information related to farmer parcels, minimizing the need for on-the-spot checks by relevant Paying Agencies and optimising the workflow required for monitoring compliance with Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) provisions. It is an integrated system that aims to address the existing gaps and shortcomings in the CAP monitoring domain and offer clear economic value as it significantly lowers related inspection costs while improving the overall monitoring of farmers’ compliance.
The DIONE Compliance Monitoring Tool Graphical user interface
Integrated EO-based monitoring solution
The DIONE Toolbox is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) innovative and scalable solution for modernising CAP area-based compliance checks and assessing respective environmental impact. It enables the European Paying Agencies to comply with the Modernised CAP regulations while conducting an environmental performance evaluation of the greening rules at a national or regional level, depending on the agency’s jurisdiction. Besides Paying Agencies as key beneficiaries, the DIONE Toolbox is designed to address the needs of a plethora of relevant stakeholders, among them being Certification and Control Bodies, Financial and Risk Management Institutions, and members of the wider EO and Agri-consulting community.
“Unpacking” DIONE Toolbox
DIONE Toolbox primarily consists of three main components: the Earth Observation (EO), In-situ and Green Accountability toolbox.
- DIONE Earth Observation component
The EO component attempts to replace the necessity for field visits and to provide a sustainable CAP monitoring schema, in which a plethora of multisource EO data enables the identification of different crop types and agricultural activities (e.g. grassland mowing/ploughing events, etc.) whereas the assimilation of aforementioned data sources allows efficient small-scale parcels and features monitoring (e.g. non-productive EFAs types).
What makes the EO component so advanced?
- Area monitoring markers include a set of image analysis and machine learning techniques, which utilises Sentinel signals for the identification of various crop and land types (including permanent pastures and Ecological Focus Areas) as well as the detection of agricultural activity (mowing, ploughing, harvesting) at several times during the growing season. The aforementioned outcomes are made available through the marker RESTful API, with the latest version including the following markers:
- Homogeneity – is used to determine if a parcel is described by a monoculture or a multi-culture;
- Similarity and distance scores – are used to give additional context to the crop classification and to detect erroneous claims;
- Bare soil marker – identified parcels under a bare soil condition. This indicates agricultural activity on the spatial extent of a single parcel (ploughing and harvest);
- Mowing marker – used to detect mowing events on meadow/grass-like features of interest;
- Crop marker – used to detect the specific crop growing on the spatial extent of a single parcel;
- Land marker – used to detect the land type and non-productive EFAs on the spatial extent of a single parcel;
- Mean NDVI marker – used to detect erroneous claims with no vegetation existence.
- The Drone platform is a combination of hardware and software tools that are employed for the conduction of drone flights in targeted areas of interest. The produced very high resolution data can facilitate small features monitoring in the agricultural parcels as well as address cases of limited data availability in areas with significant cloud cover.
- Super-resolution by augmenting the initial spatial resolution of Sentinel-2 with Very High Resolution (VHR) space-borne/drone data to identify essential parameters for CAP such as the small-scale features of non-productive EFAs, and many more. The goal of the implemented machine learning and data fusion algorithms is to allow the distinction of landscape features, which would otherwise not be available in Sentinel 2 data..
- Spatial augmentation of Sentinel 2 coarser resolution bands is a software tool that consists of a Deep Convolutional Neural Network (D-CNN) that enables the augmentation of the coarser resolution bands of Sentinel 2 bands (20m) to the resolution of the finer bands (10m).
- DIONE In-situ component
The in-situ component establishes an ecosystem of low-cost smart tools to complement Earth Observation(EO)-based monitoring. It includes a geotagged photos framework (consisting of mobile application for data collection and a server side part for integrity/anonymization of received data), portable soil spectrometers working in tandem with mobile application, a backend tool to support pre-processing, validation and management of soil spectra received and machine learning models to convert soil spectra to soil properties point observations and maps.
What makes the In-situ component so smart?
- The geotagged photos framework comprises different components and technical innovations towards assisting and guiding users to capture efficiently representative photos of their parcels while adhering to current technical recommendations and ensuring the security, validity and reliability of the collected photos. The data collection process is supported by a mobile application that allows users to view related content about their parcels, receive notifications about tasks that they need to undertake as well as get Augmented Reality enabled directions regarding the process of capturing appropriately photos of a given parcel. Additionally, in order to ensure that the file of the photo captured by the mobile application is not manipulated and is the same with respect to the location and time the photo was taken, an integrity framework has been also employed. Different algorithms have been implemented for a multifaceted solution and better security.
- The in-situ soil scanning system is based on a suitably selected low-cost spectral sensor employing microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology.. This sensor records the diffuse reflectance spectrum in the near infrared (1750 to 2150 nm) which is affected by several key soil properties. The spectrometer is operated through an Android/iOS application via a Bluetooth connection. The data are automatically transmitted to a central database for storage. Furthermore, at this stage a set of data pre-processing (including spectral standardization), outlier and novelty detection techniques are automatically applied to ensure the integrity and quality of the collected measurements.
- Novel machine learning algorithms are utilised for the transformation of the raw data collected through the in-situ soil scanning system to the appropriate soil properties (SOC, clay, pH and CaCO3), whilst a second toolset of machine learning algorithms is also employed that appropriately combines these point measurements with EO imagery and produces maps for the areas of interest.
- DIONE Green Accountability component
The Green Accountability component consists of a Compliance Monitoring tool, which decides on beneficiaries’ compliance and is integrated with the existing tools of paying agencies and an AI-enabled Environmental Performance tool, accompanied with a visualization engine.
What makes the Green Accountability component so eminent?
- The environmental performance tool represents an artificial intelligence tool for environmental performance estimation. The following indicators are computed via the tool:
- Land cover change which provides a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the change of land cover
- Organic farming provides a characterisation of a parcel into organic, under-conversion and non-organic according to the farming practices and the response of the spectral information.
- Soil erosion provides information about those areas affected by a certain rate of soil erosion.
- Soil organic matter determines Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) concentration.
- Greenhouse Gases emissions for monitoring the concentration of Methane, Carbon Dioxide and Nitrous Oxide alongside the country.
- Water quality monitors the Chlorophyll-α concentrations, Total Suspended Matter (TSM) and water temperature.
- Land irrigation provides a representation of the parcels that are under constant irrigation.
- Natura 2000 provides information about the areas that are protected by the legal framework of Natura 2000.
- High Nature Value (HNV) lands provide information about areas characterized as HNV.
- The Compliance Monitoring Tool is a web-based tool responsible for deciding on beneficiaries’ compliance with the CAP green direct payment scheme rules. Through this application, farmers, inspectors, Paying Agency officials, agronomic consultants and other stakeholders can check the compliance status of a farm. The compliance status is evaluated at different points in time (each time new EO or field data is available) using the products delivered by other DIONE system components, through a unified Toolbox Application Programming Interface (API) which integrates these components. The compliance engine uses the different available data together with the compliance rules for the specific country to determine the level of compliance in each parcel. At the same time, the users are able to see the farm’s parcels on an interactive web environment with different geospatial layers to illustrate the biophysical conditions on the field (NDVI, Chl index, RGB) and their temporal evolution as well as area monitoring markers (i.e, crop types, land features and agricultural activities) and other relevant data (i.e, drone based orthomosaics, soil measurements). The application supports also the display of the geotagged photos collected by the farmers on the field using the Geotagged photos mobile app, as well as requests for new photos by paying agency inspectors.
DIONE Toolbox pilot demonstration activities in Cyprus and Lithuania
The DIONE Toolbox components are currently being demonstrated in areas of Lithuania and Cyprus under the collaboration of the National Paying Agency of Lithuania and the Agricultural Payments Organisation of Cyprus respectively. Pilot demonstration activities have already been initiated since 2021 and are expected to be finalised by October 2022. The activities are executed in the context of end-to-end scenarios that facilate the assessment of the overall performance of DIONE Toolobox and its success in achieving envisaged outcomes and addressing real operational requirements of relevant stakeholders.
Editor notes
Short description:
DIONE proposes a close-to-market and integrated area-based direct payments monitoring toolbox that will address the forthcoming Modernised CAP regulation of using automated technologies to ensure more frequent, accurate and inexpensive compliance checks.
The project exploits DIAS’ storage of Copernicus data in its fullness, making use of not just the data but also DIAS provided services such as Data Catalogue as well as Sentinel Hub, which is operational on 3 DIASes. DIONE toolbox is enhanced through complementary data sources (VHR images from drones as well as ground-based images taken by the farmers). The DIONE toolbox includes a Green Accountability toolbox, allowing paying agencies to check the compliance of farmers but at the same time monitor the green direct payments’ environmental performance.
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GREENLAND project develops new training opportunities in Green & Circular economy sectors in Greece
The Interbalkan Environment Center (i-BEC), a proud partner of the GREENLAND project in Greece, is devoted to fulfill the main objectives of the project through the provision of skills and professional opportunities in the Green and Circular economy to young unemployed people and women in Greece giving expectations and hope for the improvement of their employment status.
The vulnerable position and the high difficulties faced by young persons and women, the high rates of flexible and precarious employment, the increased effort required for their integration into the modern labor market, and the shift to new economy sectors highlight the importance of the GREENLAND project for Greece and other Mediterranean countries. The training and specialization of the young professionals who will work in the innovative jobs in the Green and Circular economy become critical. The tools and skills that will be used as pilot activities for the Regional Units of Central Macedonia and Thrace in Greece will spread from a local and regional level to national and cross-border levels.
For the successful training of young unemployed and women in the regions of Central Macedonia and Thrace (Greece), i-BEC approached the local and regional community through local and regional authorities and enterprises operating in the sectors of Green and Circular economy to disseminated the goals and activities of the project, the training courses (online and onsite training) and the apprenticeship. Furthermore, a constantly updated online campaign of approach and participation has been developed, taking into account the COVID-19 pandemic that afflicted the regions.
In addition, to identify the necessary skills that participants need to acquire and are sought after by the local SMEs, to find suitable mentors who will support the trainees for the successful implementation of the training and internship, and to identify the proper areas of interest within the Green and Circular economy meetings were held with representatives of companies activated in these sectors.
After conducting labor market analysis to young unemployed and women in the pilot areas of the project in Greece (Central Macedonia and Thrace) but also with enterprises from the Green and Circular economy sectors, the significant need for training of young professionals with a holistic approach becomes apparent. The training, through the development of the appropriate curriculum, will combine the acquisition of technical skills (waste management, new farming techniques, agribusiness, etc.) and soft and employment skills (communication skills, digital skills, business skills, etc.), which will link the requirements of the labor market in Greece and equip the participants with marketable skills that will improve their competitiveness and increase their employability.
The GREENLAND project will train (online or/and onsite) 2.900 people in 7 Mediterranean countries (Italy, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Portugal, and Greece) with the support of experienced mentors and the adoption of innovative techniques and methods. Trainees will receive a certificate of attendance that includes all of their knowledge gained in green and circular skills. Finally, after the completion of the training, the apprenticeship program will follow with available jobs in local companies in the Green and Circular sector.
For the Interbalkan Environment Center, ensuring the sustainable management of natural resources, the protection of the environment but also the development and social inclusion of the communities are the principal and main mission for a better future!
The future is GREEN(LAND)!
For the expression of interest in participating in the activities of the GREENLAND project in Greece, fill in the form here!
Find out more about the GREENLAND project
Follow GREENLAND on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
#ENICBC #GOMED #GREENLAND
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