event post
stakeholder event almeria
First Anniversary of IoF2020
From the 28th of February until the 2nd of March the IoF2020 partners celebrated the project’s first anniversary with each other and a large number of stakeholders. Over 240 participants gathered for three days full of workshops, pitch sessions, keynotes, panel discussions and farm visits. The main conclusion? Getting together is the best way to share ideas and solutions. All participants agreed that IoF2020 made a great start this first year. Yet, new technology only has true impact when it is widely adopted. Transforming the technology developed in IoF2020 into market ready services will require a lot of effort the coming years.
Panel discussion
After warm welcoming words of Mr. Ricardo Dominguez Garcia-Baquero, Vice-Minister of Agriculture of the Regional Government of Andalusia, the first panel discussion started. Both participants from the European Commision, Ana Cuadrado Galván of DG Agri and Joël Bacquet of DG Connect agreed that IoF2020 is a major step forward towards a connected agri-food community. ‘To implement these new technologies, good communication between researchers and the farming community is crucial,’ Ana Cuadrado stated.
More photos of the Stakeholder Event can be found here
Common challenges
During the one-on-one trial meetings, use cases of the different trials presented the challenges and issues they are facing to each other. It turned out that many use cases identify the same challenges: Data exchange standardisation or the lack of one widely used standard as one example. One of the solution suggested is to make one standard mandatory for data-exchange within IoF2020. That would create a large enough user base and motivate other parties to adopt a common standard. Another issue that many use cases struggle with "data interoperability framework": data sharing between farmers, machinery and applications. CEMA works on a common code of conduct for data sharing, which is welcomed as a good idea by the other partners.
Stakeholder day
After a first day of exchanging experiences with project partners, the second day was dedicated to welcoming external projects. Each Use Case presented their progress on stage in a short pitch. Even though sometimes unexpected challenges popped up, all use cases presented significant progress since the start of the project. Sensors are installed, data is gathered and valuable insights are generated. The afternoon was dedicated to discussing the question ‘How can the Open Call contribute most to increase the impact of IoF2020?’
Now that the first prototypes are set up in the field, the next step is to convince the market of their value.
The upcoming years
‘Now that the first prototypes are set up in the field, the next step is to convince the market of their value. For IoF2020 to make real impact, we need to connect our research activities to business development. This really requires something else, we should be well aware of that,’ George Beers, IoF2020 project leader, concludes in is closing speech. ‘We have an amazing set of project partners, so I’m sure that we can do this together.’
Are you interested in joining the IoF2020 project? Our Open Call support team is there to help you with any question you may have.