Clim4Vitis

Clim4Vitis is a three-year Horizon 2020 project funded by the European Union Research and Innovation program. It aims to strengthen and raise the science and technology (S&T) capacity and performance of the coordinating Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD, Portugal). Although among the top 10 Portuguese universities with a higher number of top-quality scientific papers published, and despite the growing attractiveness that it has been gaining in terms of research and teaching, UTAD is still far from the European high performing R&D institutions. The project is focusing on one of the research fields in which the University - and more specifically its research group CITAB - has become a national reference: viticulture. Within this broad area, particular attention is given to two main lines of research: 1) grapevine modelling and 2) tools for assessing climate change impacts on European viticulture, in general, and on grapevine productivity, quality attributes, and risk of diseases and pests in particular. To boost CITAB's competencies in these topics, the project gathers 4 international partners: Universita degli studi di Firenze (UniFI, Italy), Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST, Luxembourg), Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação (SPI, Portugal), and Potsdam Institut fuer Klimafolgenforschung (PIK, Germany). UniFI, LIST, and PIK are internationally-leading research institutions in the same field of study, but with complementary skills. SPI is an international consultancy firm intending to maximize the exploitation of the project's results and extending its outreach. The implementation of several twinning activities (thematic workshops, staff exchange, short courses, thematic seminars, webinars, conferences, among others) will enable the access to systematized knowledge and cutting edge-technology, as well as the knowledge and technology transfer between the high performing partners and the UTAD. Clim4Vitis is based on an integrated approach, which envisages the effective internationalization of UTAD, through extensive networking, dissemination, and the establishment of long-term transnational cooperation relationships with world-leading R&D institutions. Furthermore, the project actively contributes to the sustainability of UTAD, once it also foresees the increase of contracts with business partners and stakeholders.