Futureproof innovations and technologies for controlled environment agriculture
FIT4CEA
FIT4CEA advances sustainable, climate-resilient food production in greenhouses and vertical farms by combining emerging technologies, novel crops, and living lab pilots across Europe to strengthen future food systems.
48
Months
~€6M
Total Budget
21
Partners
4
Living Lab Countries
12
Countries Represented
Europe's food systems face increasing pressure from climate change, water scarcity, resource constraints, and geopolitical instability. FIT4CEA addresses these challenges through a holistic approach, combining social and natural sciences across a wide range of CEA typologies — from low-tech greenhouses to high-tech vertical farms.
Climate Resilience
Water & Resource Efficiency
Fossil-free & Circular Systems
Smart & Integrated Production
Nutritional Value & Novel Crops
Adoption & Policy
02 ____ Research Areas
FIT4CEA develops and validates innovations across the full range of CEA sustainability dimensions: environmental, economic, and social
AI & Autonomous Cultivation
Sensing and IoT
Photonics & Lighting
Water & Nutrient Systems
Renewable Energy Integration
Sustainability Assessment
03 ____ Living Labs
Real-world validation across four European countries
FIT4CEA validates innovations in real production environments through living labs in four countries, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and Greece, ensuring solutions are tested across different regional contexts, CEA typologies, and stakeholder communities.
04 ____ Project Work Packages
8 integrated work packages across 48 months
The project is structured across 8 work packages covering technology development, sustainability assessment, living lab pilots, exploitation, and communication — running over 48 months.
WP1
Project Management & Coordination
Lead: Wageningen University
WP2
Assessment of State-of-the-art
Lead: COEXPHAL
WP3
Social, Economic & Environmental Sustainability
Lead: Agroscope
WP4
Diverse & Nutritious Food
Lead: Università di Bologna
WP5
Circular Production Without Emissions
Lead: Athens
WP6
Fossil-Free & Circular Systems
Lead: Wageningen University & Research
WP7
Future Trajectories, Adoption, & Best Practices
Lead: INESC TEC
WP8
Communication, Dissemination & Exploitation
Lead: BGI
05 ____ Consortium
A pan-European consortium
Wageningen University
Coordinator
Wageningen Research
Agroscope
Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
University of Bologna
AmpliAqua
BGI
Blue Radix
COEXPHAL
Fravebot
Geoponiko Panepistimion Athinon
Agricultural University of Athens
Glastuinbouw Nederland
INESC TEC
IVL Swedish Environment Research Institute
Kilowatt Soc. Coop.
Nära Sverige
Seoul National University
Tectum Garden
Universidad de Almería
University of Almería
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Autonomous University of Barcelona
Université Laval
Laval University
Zemnieku Saeima
This project is funded by the European Union, under the grant no. 101287460.
Contact:
info@fit4cea.eu
Project Coordinator:
Professor Leo Marcelis
leo.marcelis@wur.nl
© 2026 FIT4CEA All Rights Reserved.