The document describes the ENVISION project which aims to develop tools for monitoring agricultural practices using earth observation. It received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 program. The project uses a coproduction approach involving stakeholders from different sectors to develop solutions iteratively. This includes identifying needs, generating ideas, prototyping tools, and testing them with feedback. The goal is to ensure the tools effectively address key challenges in a way that is sustainable beyond the project's lifetime.

1. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Legal notice: The ENVISION project and its content reflect only the author’s view, therefore the EASME is not responsible for
any use that may be made of the information it contains!
University of Reading - ENVISION WP2 leaders
Dr. Yiorgos Gadanakis, Dr. Georgios Pexas
University of Reading, UK, 17/03/2022
Monitoring of Environmental Practices for Sustainable
Agriculture Supported by Earth Observation

2. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Introduction to the ENVISION project
Why coproduction
Design Thinking method and phases
Take-home message

3. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Horizon 2020 Innovation Project
Project Title: Monitoring of Environmental Practices for
Sustainable Agriculture Supported by Earth Observation
Project Topic: Development of commercial activities and services
through the use of GEOSS and Copernicus data

4. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.

5. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
▪ Fulfil the need for remote, continuous and systematic monitoring
of agricultural land and agricultural practices
▪ Develop a fully automated and scalable toolbox, to facilitate
monitoring of
▪ Cultivated Crop Types
▪ Soil Organic Carbon
▪ Vegetation Status
▪ Crop Growth (organic vs conventional farming)
▪ Grassland Mowing / Ploughing
▪ Soil Erosion
Coproduction of
data products
and services
(WP2)

6. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Collaboration
between
stakeholders
Determine
problems
Identify &
produce
solutions
Citizens
Policy
makers
Researchers
Technology
developers

7. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
▪Key characteristics of coproduction
▪All stakeholders: all opinions should be heard / diversity
important
▪Involvement from beginning to end and even beyond project
lifetime
▪All stakeholders active in design and production of solutions
▪Iterative process

8. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Developers
DRAXIS, AgroApps
Researchers
ILVO, NOA, URDG
Facilitators of coproduction
URDG – WP2
Business cases / Users
CAPO, LV, NMA, OCS, LEAF
Farmers

9. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Researchers and developers
Development of solutions
Business planning – Commercialisation of solutions
Sustainable use of solutions by users beyond project lifetime
Future research on further needs and emerging threats

10. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Identifying user requirements and issues with
regards to platform, models and data products
Business cases
Active role in co-production of ENVISION tools
Testing demos of platform, models and data
products
Providing feedback to developers for updates

11. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Testing and reporting
Feedback and updating

12. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Iterative
5 phases of Design Thinking
Empathise Define Ideate Prototype Test
Non-linear
Understand
users
Challenge
assumptions
Redefine
problems
Innovative
solutions

13. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Aim
Understanding user needs, concerns, challenges, opportunities,
and threats
Anticipation ➔ exploration of emerging or possible threats, risks,
and impacts at an early stage of development
Methods
Interviews and observation, Focus groups, Workshops, Surveys

14. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
ENVISION
▪ Interactive workshops with commercial users - Paying Agencies
and Certification Bodies.
▪ Other potential users and Advisory board members
▪ Miro / EasyRetro / Jamboard / Menti - tools to gather information
and feedback
▪ Qualtrics questionnaires / surveys to other stakeholders

15. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.

16. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.

17. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
User stories
Short piece of text ➔ only essential elements of a requirement
WHO is it for?
WHAT is expected from the innovative solutions?
WHY is it important?
As Inspectors we want to visualise maps of
fields with environmental control points so that
we can identify problems areas quickly

18. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Aim
Define the main problems to be addressed.
Reflect on information collected in Empathise – needs, concerns,
challenges, opportunities, threats
Methods
Small group interactive workshops
Frequentist statistics on responses

19. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Prioritisation of user stories
Ranking
Weight : Effort
Urgency
Be aware of assumptions or biases when framing questions
Try to consider all problems but be realistic in what can be addressed
Problems framed in a way to facilitate solutions

20. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Aim
Idea generation ➔ identifying / designing / thinking of solutions
Methods
Technical meetings
Reflection on wireframes through workshops

21. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Wireframe of ENVISION platform

22. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Example of progress in Ideation through Trello platform

23. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Aim
Solutions decided in Ideation are developed into artifacts and
developers reflect on mistakes / problems
Methods
Technical meetings

24. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Aim
Refine the prototype
Reach an ideal solution that effectively
addresses the problems defined in the
previous phases
Methods
Feedback and update loop / surveys
Online platforms for feedback directly to
developers
Interactive workshops with all
stakeholders

25. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
Throughout the project lifetime
Evaluate if coproduction was successful from the perspective of all
stakeholders
Identify barriers in coproduction: communication, cultural,
collaboration
Understand problem areas, explore areas for improvement and
facilitate networking ➔ collaborations between stakeholders beyond
project lifetime

26. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 869366.
5 critical phases of coproduction: Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype,
and Test
Emphasise on understanding stakeholders and actively engaging them
from beginning to the end
Continuously gather outcome-based AND activity-based feedback
Coproduction facilitators: adaptable and flexible to accommodate
stakeholders and meet outcome-related targets

27. Simon Mortimer: s.r.mortimer@reading.ac.uk
Alice Mauchline: a.l.mauchline@reading.ac.uk
Georgios Pexas: g.pexas@reading.ac.uk
Yiorgos Gadanakis: g.gadanakis@reading.ac.uk