European Digital Innovation Hubs and the Agri-Food Sector: A Scoping Review of Current Knowledge and Sectoral Gaps

The European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH) network represents the EU’s first program for accelerating digital technology adoption by SMEs and public organizations. However, academic literature on EDIHs remains fragmented with notable sectoral imbalances—particularly underrepresentation of the agri-food sector. This scoping review systematically examines existing EDIH publications to identify knowledge gaps and propose a research agenda. Searches were conducted in Web of Science, Google Scholar, and MDPI databases (Jan–May 2025), complemented by snowballing techniques, identifying 84 publications categorized by methodology, interaction levels, and sectoral relevance. Results reveal uneven distribution across four EDIH interaction levels, with ecosystem-level research dominating while internal dynamics and European network-level coordination remain understudied. Only 1.7% of EDIH beneficiaries receiving services by September 2024 originate from agriculture, confirming the sector’s marginal participation. Most contributions lack empirical validation, relying on theoretical frameworks or isolated case studies with limited geographic scope. As the first comprehensive review addressing EDIHs in agri-food contexts, this study provides timely insights at the end of the first EDIH implementation cycle and outlines priorities for future research to support equitable and evidence-based digital transformation.