COMITE EUROPEEN DES GROUPEMENTS DE CONSTRUCTEURS DU MACHINISME AGRICOLE

Their core work

CEMA is the European association representing agricultural machinery manufacturers — the industry voice for companies building tractors, harvesters, sprayers, and precision farming equipment across Europe. In H2020 projects, they bridge the gap between technology developers and the farming sector by providing industry requirements, facilitating adoption pathways, and connecting research consortia with their extensive network of machinery manufacturers. Their practical contribution centers on ensuring that digital farming tools, robotics, and IoT solutions meet real-world equipment standards and can be integrated into commercial agricultural machinery.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their early H2020 period (2016–2017), CEMA engaged with foundational agricultural challenges — waste management, biorefinery, IoT pilots, and general smart farming knowledge systems (AgroCycle, Smart-AKIS, IoF2020). From 2018 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward digital infrastructure: Digital Innovation Hubs, competence centers, open calls for innovation experiments, precision agriculture tools, and agricultural robotics (SmartAgriHubs, agROBOfood, FAIRshare). The trajectory shows a clear move from broad agricultural sustainability topics to becoming a key connector in the EU's digital transformation of farming.

CEMA is positioning itself as the industry gateway for agricultural robotics and digital farming infrastructure — expect their future projects to focus on autonomous machinery, data interoperability standards, and scaling digital innovation hubs.

How they like to work

CEMA operates exclusively as a participant — they have never coordinated an H2020 project, which is typical for a sector association whose value lies in representing industry rather than leading research. With 310 unique consortium partners across 29 countries, they function as a network hub, joining large-scale coordination and innovation actions (average consortium implied by partner count). Working with CEMA means gaining access to the European agricultural machinery industry's collective voice and their extensive manufacturer network.

Exceptionally broad network of 310 unique partners across 29 countries, reflecting their role as a pan-European industry body. Their Brussels base and sector-wide mandate give them connections spanning research institutions, farming organizations, technology SMEs, and large equipment manufacturers across virtually all EU member states.

What sets them apart

CEMA is not a research lab or a technology company — they are the official European voice of agricultural machinery manufacturers, representing national associations from across the EU. This makes them uniquely valuable in any consortium that needs to ensure research outputs align with real equipment manufacturing constraints and market adoption pathways. If your project develops a digital farming tool, sensor system, or robotic solution that will eventually run on agricultural machinery, CEMA provides the direct channel to the companies that will build and sell it.

Highlights from their portfolio

• agROBOfood
  Their highest-funded project (EUR 140K) and most recent engagement, focused on agricultural robotics — signals their strategic direction toward automation in farming.
• SmartAgriHubs
  Major EU flagship for digital transformation of agriculture through a network of Digital Innovation Hubs, with CEMA receiving EUR 113K to connect machinery manufacturers with digital innovators.
• IoF2020
  Large-scale IoT pilot for food and farming (Internet of Food and Farm 2020), one of the EU's landmark projects connecting IoT technology with real agricultural operations.