Résumé
The modernization of irrigation in Mediterranean countries has boosted irrigated agriculture. Undoubtedly, this transformation has increased performance levels, but new compelling challenges have arisen: (i) in many situations, the irrigation performance gap remains much greater than expected; (ii) irrigation intensification and expansion are at the root of pollution of valuable ecosystems and overdraft of non-renewable water resources; (iii) water savings are not as foreseen due to unexpected rebound effects of irrigation efficiency improvements; (iv) modern energy-eager pressurized systems are costly and environmentally questionable. Furthermore, it is now clear that climate change and its foreseen variability will accentuate the vulnerability of agriculture and ecosystems. The main objective of the innovation hub presented here is to favour the emergence, evaluate and boost innovations aiming at reducing the performance gap and thus improve the sustainability of irrigation systems in the Mediterranean region. These innovations comprise new tools and services for farmers and water users associations, designed to increase water, nutrient and energy use efficiency. Innovation development leading to adoption of new standards will rely on bottom-up processes, understanding of governance settings and implementation of sharing procedures, through innovation hubs developed by the project.