Transforming Risk Perception and Fostering Cooperatively the Agri- PhotoVoltaics Technology With Farmers in Five Countries

The interaction between agricultural practitioners and innovative technologies has emerged as a critical area of inquiry in contemporary academic discourse. Disruptive advance-ments in agricultural technology—particularly in the domains of drone applications, artificial intelligence (AI), and agrivoltaics—present significant potential to address urgent environmen-tal and energy-related challenges. However, the successful adoption and integration of these technologies are contingent upon robust processes of societal acceptance and comprehen-sion, especially among farmers, who constitute the primary users and key stakeholders. The theory of disruptive innovation, initially conceptualized by Bower and Christensen in 1995, un-derscores the transformative capacity ofnovel technologies across various sectors. Neverthe-less, the efficacy of such innovations is predicated on their seamless integration and ac-ceptance by diverse stakeholder groups, including primary actors such as farmers and indus-try, as well as secondaryentities with ancillary interests. For technological innovations to achieve their intended outcomes, they must be accompanied by authentic participatory pro-cesses that involve end-users from the initial stages. Within this framework, next-generation agriphotovoltaicsgreenhouses—which integrate photovoltaic systems with agricultural prac-tices and enhance soil CO₂enrichment—represent a pivotal solution for reconciling agricultural productivity with renewable energy generation. TheWP6 of Regace Project. Inthis perspec-tive, the WP6 of the REGACE project aimed, through the use of mixed qualitative, quantitative, and participatory methodologies, to investigate farming communities’ perceptions of agriphoto-voltaicsinnovations. These sociological processes are intended to accompany the phases and models of agriphotovoltaics innovation from a perspective of social sustainability, with an active involvement of the community of innovation recipients.