MonteVitis

Inspiration

Montenegro is one of the cradles of viticulture. However, research on climatic and soil factors remains limited. The EU-funded MONTEVITIS project will increase and improve the research and collaboration capacities of the University of Donja Gorica to enhance performance in climate change mitigation and adaptation in viticulture.

Innovation

The project will apply an integrated and operational European approach to combine the use and adaptation of existing analytical and modelling tools for assessing the effects of climate change at regional levels and understand them within physiological processes in the vine, yield, ripening, and quality of grapes and wines of different varieties. MONTEVITIS will then apply ICT technologies to enhance mitigation and adaptation measures in vineyards.

The principal objective (PO) of MONTEVITIS is thus to strengthen, homogenize and augment UDG and its involved faculties’ and labs’ research and collaboration capacities and performance, both in Montenegro and across the European prospect, in specific topics of climate change mitigation and adaptation in viticulture. Three defined operational topics constitute the pertinent needs of an integrated and operational European approach in tackling climate change in viticulture, now to be applied in Montenegro via UDG. Firstly, the project will set up, integrate, and validate the following topics: 1) use and adaptation of existing analytical and modelling tools for assessing the effects of climate change at regional levels, 2) understanding these effects on the course of physiological processes in the vine, yield, ripening, and quality of grapes and wines of different varieties.

MONTEVITIS will then combine a somewhat orthogonal topic coming from the ICT sphere of knowledge for efficiently applying the emerging technologies for enhancing the mitigation and adaptation measures in vineyards: 3) definition of precision viticulture technologies and usage scenarios in vineyard management.

The project is built upon the strengths of all of its consortium members and conducts the twining processes in combining the research methodologies with gradually expanding know-how and findings for the benefits of UDG and all participants.

LIST will bring in its strong background in viticulture, modelling and climatology. LIST’s expertise will bring cohesive, more comprehensive perspectives to MONTEVITIS’s fields of study. LIST will lead Task 1.1 on the development of grapevine models, and Task 5.5 on devising a sustainability and exploitation plan.

Impact

MONTEVITIS EU partners are in countries with worldwide recognized viticulture demarcated areas and have years of R&D and innovation experience in viticulture and climate studies. As well as being able to share valuable knowledge and experience, all partners will benefit from research, networking, capacity building, and knowledge transfer processes within this action and ongoing research projects and the general strengthening of many sustainability components.

Major deliverables will be peer-reviewed publications, international workshops, the report on the implementation of IoT devices for measuring environmental and grapevine parameters, the report on the implementation of a database of grapevine and environmental parameters and grapevine models on computer facilities, the development of mitigation and adaptation strategies for Montenegro viticulture, the White Paper on precision viticulture, the deployment of the MONTEVITIS web-based Decision Support Platform and the sustainability and exploitation platform.

UN - Sustainable Development Goals adressed by the project