On November 13^th to 15^th 2017, the consortium of VISCA project held their 1^st General meeting followed by the 1st Stakeholders Workshop in Portugal with the presence of members from the Project Advisory Board.

The General Meeting took place in Symington Family Estates main office, who are part of the consortium, located in Vila Noca de Gaia, Portugal. VISCA partners presented the current status of the project and the achieved milestones during its first 6 months. The occurred and expected risks and challenges as well as the next planned activities for the coming period were illustrated by each Work Package coordinator. The partners had the chance to finalise and discuss the next steps concerning the requirements of the end-users and the development of the tool.

On the following couple of days, VISCA 1st Stakeholder Workshop gathered members from the project advisory board (PAB) of the project and other invited end-users in Quinta do Bomfim, Pinhao, Portugal.  Representatives of the participating companies from the agriculture sector (vineyards, olive and rice) as well as related sectors included: INNOVI (Catalan Wine Cluster), AEMO (Spanish Oliva Association), DELTAMED (Mediterranean Deltas Association), Association of Dutch Vineyards (VNWP), Aprol Campania and Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA).

During the first day of the workshop, an introduction of the project, consortium and the PAB members and invitees were made. Then, a brainstorming session and a series of questions on how climate change is affecting the different sectors of agriculture including vineyards and the needs of farmers were organised. The participants discussed different topics where more insights on the expectations of the tool were collected. The first day was concluded with a field visit in the Bomfim vistor center and some wine tasting. On the second day of the workshop, participants had a training session on the primary mock-ups of the VISCA tool and a virtual guide through its main functionalities. Feedbacks from the participants were collected to make improvements in the tool.

The 1st General Meeting & Stakeholders Workshop of VISCA was disseminated in different Portuguese media! Check out the pictures of the event and the press releases (in Portuguese below):

• ‘Symington integra projecto europeu para enfrentar alterações climáticas’, Grandes Escolhas, November 13th 2017 (link)
• ‘Symington integra projeto europeu sobre alterações climáticas na vinha’, hipersuper, November 13^th 2017 (link)
• ‘Symington integra projeto europeu sobre alterações climáticas na vinha’, agronegocios, November 14th 2017 (link)
• ‘Symington integra projeto europeu sobre alterações climáticas na vinha’, Vidarural, November 14^th 2017 (link)
• ‘Symington em projeto Europeu que estuda efeito das alterações climáticas nas uvas’, Jornal de Noticias, November 16^th 2017 (link)
• ‘Symington integra projeto europeu sobre alterações climáticas na vinha’, Noticias do douro November 17^th 2017(link)
• ‘Douro tem vinhas que são laboratórios a céu aberto’, Renascença, November 20^th 2017 (link)

VISCA ‘Vineyards´ Integrated Smart Climate Application’ is to hold its 1^st General meeting on November 13^th 2017 followed by the 1^st Stakeholders Workshop on November 14^th and 15^th 2017 in Portugal.

The 1st General meeting will take place in Symington Family Estates main office, who are part of the consortium, located in Vila Noca de Gaia, Portugal. VISCA partners will present the current status of the project and the achieved milestones during its first 6 months. The occurred and expected risks and challenges as well as the next planned activities for the coming period will be illustrated by each Work package coordinator.

On the following couple of days, VISCA 1^st Stakeholder Workshop will gather members from the project advisory board (PAB) of the project and other invited end-users in Quinta do Bomfim, Pinhao, Portugal. During the first day, an introduction of the project, consortium and the PAB members will start-off the workshop. Then, a brainstorming session and a series of questions on how climate change is affecting the different sectors of agriculture including vineyards will be organised. This brainstorming session aims to gather more insights of the needs of the end-users and related stakeholders. The first workshop day will be concluded with a field visit in the Bomfim vistor center. On the second day of the workshop, participants will have a training session on the primary mock-ups of the VISCA tool and a virtual guide through its main functionalities. Feedback from the participants will be collected to make improvements in the tool.

VISCA will provide a Climate Service (CS) and Decision Support System (DSS) that integrate climate, agricultural and end-users specifications in order to design medium- and long-term adaptation strategies to climate change. The project is validated by real demonstrations with end-users on three demo sites in Spain, Italy and Portugal. VISCA started officially in May 2017 for a period of 3 years. It is led by Meteosim and it is composed of 11 members from different fields including end-users (Codorniu, Mastroberardino and Symington).