Needs assessment report: D4.1

Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) are one of the EU key initiatives to support digital transfor-mation in all sectors. SmartAgriHubs focuses on DIHs in the agrifood sector. However, DIHs are emerging in the regions without a clear strategy nor organized connections within a network or with the agrifood sector. This lack of contact with end users results in a gap be-tween the farming sector needs and the services offered by DIHs. The Needs Assessment conducted by SmartAgriHubs marks the starting point for the pro-ject’s activities on improving the capabilities of Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs). DIHs play an essential role in delivering relevant services as a ‘one-stop-shopping-window’ for parties working on digital innovations in agriculture. By means of the assessment, gaps were iden-tified between what DIHs deliver and what the farming sector needs. This in turn provides the SmartAgriHubs community actual demand-driven guidance on capability building priori-ties. Overall the results point towards a focus on productivity as the main driver of digital trans-formation in the farming sector. Less importance is ascribed to business model innovation and customer intimacy; yet these are key for ensuring the sustainability of the sector. We analysed the following items: Ecosystem, Digitalisation Needs, Vision on digitalisation and DIH Innovation services.