Shaping the content of a new website

During the last days, I dedicate most of my time in shaping the content for a new website: the website for NEUROPUBLIC's smart farming solutions. And I like that.

It all started a couple of weeks ago (the concept was discussed for quite a long time), with a meeting between our team and a marketing / digital communications agency team. During the meeting we presented our work and requirements and provided the raw material (content in the form of texts, slides, graphics, publications etc.). Then the agency had to go through all that stuff, get to understand it and came up with an initial layout and structure for the website. Based on that, and after some minor revisions, we started building the content with the help of the agency; we provided the content and they had to come up with more commercial versions of it, filling all gaps.

At this time, a small team inside NEUROPUBLIC (including me) is working closely with the agency, crafting each website section and paragraph, creating and revising content, working on alternative versions and exchanging ideas on new sections or layouts. Seeing our texts on web pages, I realized that we had to make bold revisions to the texts, so that they our expected different user types will be able to identify themselves in the texts and be attracted to the smart farming offerings of NEUROPUBLIC. I also found myself following the stereotypes at some points, getting stuck with a more formal representation of our work but I am working on simplifying the texts.

Even though it is too early to share any specific information on this, I can tell that the work is challenging; smart faring is very specific topic, the terminology used is also specific and the agency seems to have a hard time "commercializing" the texts and coming up with catchy quotes for the website (but still they're doing a lovely work in terms of both content and visuals)! While we have a specific way of expressing our work, we still need to understand that the alternative approach proposed by the agency might actually be the best way to go; in this sense, we understand that we need to balance our point of view and the agency's ideas. We need to make sure that our concepts are properly described and at the same time, we need to be open to new ways for that.

The deadline is really pressing and there are other tasks to be completed at the same time, but I believe that we will be able to come up with a first, decent version of the website - and the corresponding leaflet within the next days. :-)

General Assembly of the Hellenic Association of Space Industry

Today I found myself at Corallia, representing NEUROPUBLIC at the General Assembly of the Hellenic Association of Space Industry (HASI), an association  that represents the biggest part of Greece’s research and manufacturing in the space technology and applications sector, with currently 41 members (NEUROPUBLIC being one of them). It may sound strange, but it is true and proven: There is an active Greek space technology ecosystem and having all these companies sitting at the same table and working together towards a common goal, which is the sustainability of the whole ecosystem, as opposed to the sustainability of each company individually.

It was a meeting of people who have the same ambitions, similar expectations and share the same concerns. Their companies have proven expertise, successful collaborations with companies abroad, contracts with major customers and a list of EU-funded projects. They are skilled, innovative and competitive but still they face issues related to the sustainability of their business, mostly due to the unstable legal and financial environment of Greece, the recent changes in the representation of Greece in EU organizations like the European Space Agency (whose projects are a major funding source for many of HASI's members) and the increased competitiveness between the industry and the academic institutes; it is obvious that research is not applied in Greece, and this applies to space research as well. This creates a gap between the research conducted and the lack of corresponding commercial products, which becomes a major issue e.g. in the case of co-funded projects.

I found it amazing to participate in discussions about microsatellites, from design to implementation and even launch to space, all by Greek companies; at the same time, I was disappointed to see that all this potential was hindered and handicapped by unfair policies, wrong high-level decisions, and lack of support from the state (at least so far; this seems to be changing for the better, though, through the announcement of the Greek Space Agency and a related Directorate that aims to act as the central hub for all space-related activities in Greece). Indeed, the two representatives of the Directorate seemed to be more than willing to help companies overcome all existing barriers (to the extend possible) and improve their status in the context of EU projects.

I believe that by the end of the meeting, we all saw the light at the end of the tunnel :-)

Working on the AIOTI deliverable about Agriculture Digital Innovation Hubs

NEUROPUBLIC, the company that I am working for, is a member of the Alliance for Internet Of Things Innovation (AIOTI) and an active member of WG06 - AIOTI is organized around a number of Working Groups that focus on specific domains/topics related to Internet of Things, one of which is WG06 "Smart Farming and Food Security".

Each WG has a plan regarding its activities, including the preparation and publication of a number of deliverables. NEUROPUBLIC (and me, personally) offered to contribute to a number of deliverables and in this sense, I found myself, along with WG06 Chair Luis Perez-Freire from Gradiant (Spain) and Rodrigo de Oliveira from IRTA (Catalonia, Spain) working on the structure and content for a deliverable titled “Digital Innovation Hubs: democratising digital technologies in agriculture”.

The deliverable is about the concept of Agriculture Digital Innovation Hubs (ADIHs) in Europe and aims to provide a number of recommendations about their implementation in the near future. I was glad to ne able to contribute, as Digital Innovation Hubs for agriculture is a concept that I strongly believe in and have some experience, mostly based on my participation in the corresponding EIP-AGRI Seminar in Kilkenny, Ireland back in June 2017 as well as some background reading to help me better understand the concept.

It was a great collaborative work that started in July, right before the summer holidays, with a Table of Contents and some bits and pieces; we allocated responsibilities and started working on our parts, mostly in September. Despite the fact that everyone seemed to be on a fully-packed scheduled, we managed to come up with a 1st draft of the deliverable which we submitted today for internal review by the rest of the WG06 members.

Just by going through the document, I just came up with some ideas for revisions and improvements; I think I still have some time to allocate to the deliverable. :-)