H2020 TechCare Project: Integrating innovative technologies along the value chain to improve the welfare management of small ruminants
- Type Project
- Status Firmado
- Execution 2020 -2025
- Assigned Budget 5.703.693,01 €
- Scope Europeo
- Main source of financing H2020
- Project website Proyecto TechCare
In Europe, especially in regions with harsh environmental conditions, the breeding of small ruminants (SR), such as sheep and goats, is an important source of meat, milk, and wool. However, SR farmers lack modern improvements in efficiency, performance, and welfare to meet their needs.
The development of novel and appropriate technologies can improve productivity and reduce costs. The EU-funded TechCare project will adopt a multi-stakeholder approach to identify specific RP welfare issues and design innovative technologies to monitor and improve RP welfare management, both at the individual and herd/flock levels, throughout the value chain. The project's objective is to create and validate innovative, demand-led solutions for RP welfare at all stages of RP production.
TechCare is a multi-stakeholder project that aims to develop appropriate business models using innovative technologies to improve welfare management in all small ruminant (SR) systems in the EU, enabling stakeholders to choose welfare-friendly products. SRs play a key socioeconomic role in Europe, especially in harsh environments where innovative technology is not widely deployed.
RS are often managed as a herd/flock, allowing only average welfare states to be considered. Innovative technologies are a unique opportunity to monitor and improve RS welfare management at the individual or herd/flock level, along the value chain. Based on the latest in RS social welfare, TechCare will adopt a multi-stakeholder approach to encapsulate stakeholders' expectations in terms of welfare and innovative technologies, and provide them with tailored solutions, in a co-design approach. TechCare will cover all stages of RS production and create novel welfare approaches to develop and validate tools, early warning systems, algorithms, and indicators for the efficient identification of welfare issues, including positive welfare, for inclusion in welfare management models. Innovative technologies identified in TechCare will go through different validation stages, from prototyping to large-scale studies. Therefore, the solutions identified by TechCare will be replicable and adaptable to different social welfare systems, production purposes, and value chains, to improve social welfare management across the EU.
Business models will be built and validated with stakeholders. Dissemination, communication, and exploitation materials will be produced and widely shared to facilitate the use of TechCare solutions, ensuring their adoption and relevance to all sectors and stakeholders. TechCare will deliver lasting improvements in RS welfare management using innovative technologies along the entire value chain and across the EU, and will serve as an example in terms of approaches and solutions for other species and production systems.
- SRUC
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