iCOSHELLs

iCOSHELLs – Advancing Soil Health Through Innovation is an EU-funded initiative addressing the urgent need for soil restoration in Europe, where 60-70% of soils are considered unhealthy due to pollution, urbanization, intensive agriculture, and climate change. Recognizing that soil restoration spans centuries, the project emphasizes holistic approaches to prevent economic, societal, and environmental repercussions such as reduced land productivity, migration, land abandonment, and biodiversity loss.

Innovating Soil Restoration for a Sustainable Future

iCOSHELLs supports the European Union’s objectives to restore soil health and ensure long-term environmental sustainability by establishing Soil Health Living Labs (SHELLs) across diverse climatic zones, including Sweden, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria. Through these SHELLs, iCOSHELLs brings together stakeholders to co-create, test, and validate solutions for soil restoration, ensuring the scalability and replicability of best practices.

By fostering collaboration between policymakers, scientists, landowners, and other stakeholders, iCOSHELLs promotes a comprehensive approach to soil health restoration, driving resilience and sustainability across European ecosystems. The initiative aims to redefine the concept of Living Labs, evolving them into standardized, recognized platforms that set benchmarks for future soil restoration efforts.

Results

iCOSHELLs will achieve its objectives by implementing a range of activities focused on innovative soil restoration approaches, including:

Establish six SHELLs to develop and test solutions across different European climatic zones.
Build stakeholder capacities to bridge the gap between science and practice and promote the adoption of effective soil recovery methods.
Redefine Living Labs by creating a standardized model for SHELLs, ensuring wide recognition and scalability.
Create a comprehensive soil data repository to promote collaboration and replication of effective strategies.
Advocate for supportive policies that prioritize soil health restoration.

By implementing these activities, iCOSHELLs aims to restore soil health and strengthen the EU’s ecological and agricultural systems.

ISINNOVA’s Role

ISINNOVA leads the Italian Living Lab and plays a critical role in maximizing the impact of iCOSHELLs. The organization is responsible for:

Engaging Stakeholders: ISINNOVA conducts co-creation workshops, field experiments, and capacity-building events to test soil health solutions under real farming conditions. Activities include site visits, seminars, and knowledge exchange to strengthen stakeholder collaboration.
Producing the Living Labs Experiment Design Report: ISINNOVA will create a detailed report outlining the criteria and processes for site selection, the rationale for chosen locations, and experiment designs tailored to each SHELL. The report will be produced in three iterations, reflecting ongoing evaluations and refinements, and will address variables like microclimates, local flora and fauna, and community practices.
Developing a Soil Solutions Replication Tool: ISINNOVA will deliver a tool designed to support the scaling-up of effective soil health solutions, enabling widespread adoption across Europe.