S3P T&BD
Rosa Gallardo
Director of the International Chair of Artificial Intelligence and Agriculture at the University of Cordoba
The University of Córdoba (UCO) has recently received final confirmation of the award of the ENIA International Chair of Artificial Intelligence and Agriculture (CIIAA), an initiative that aims to help the agro-forestry and agrifood sector to take advantage of the potential offered by artificial intelligence. This Chair, the result of a public-private alliance between national and international institutions and bodies, was created with the aim of helping to position Spain as a benchmark in the application of this technology in a key and strategic sector.
It has received more than €2 million in funding from the European Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and leading companies such as Hispatec Agrointeligencia, Fertinagro Biotech, Greenfield Technologies and Deuser a Minsait Business (Indra Group). In addition to the research team from the University of Cordoba (coming from the ETSIAM - Higher Technical School of Agricultural and Forestry Engineering, and the EPSC - Higher Polytechnic School), the Chair has the participation of researchers from the University of Melbourne (Australia) and the Institute of Sustainable Agriculture IAS-CSIC, who are working together in the search for innovative solutions that artificial intelligence can offer to the agroforestry and agrifood sector. Furthermore, this Chair also has the adhesion and support of other international organisations, institutions and universities, such as Trinity College Dublin, ARS-USDA, UK LEUVEN, UNCUYO and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), as well as EDIH Andalucía Agrotech and the Thematic Partnership S3P on Traceability & Big Data in the Agrifood Value Chain.
This Chair was created with the aim of promoting and transferring scientific and technical knowledge and innovative solutions in the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in a sector that is highly strategic for Spain, and Europe, impregnating each of the elements that make up the agrifood and forestry chain with AI. To this end, four key technical areas have been identified: Data Spaces, Digital Twins, Predictive Systems and Virtual Assistants. These are technologies applied to different types of crops and ecosystems, extensive, woody, horticultural, greenhouse, agri-food or Mediterranean forests.
In order to achieve the objectives of this International Chair, an action plan has been developed, consisting of 13 work packages and 40 activities, including actions in research, innovation, training and transfer. To promote and evaluate the impact of the Chair's results, various dissemination and communication activities are proposed, supported by the professional agricultural organisations (ASAJA, COAG, UPA) and the Federation of Agro-Food Cooperatives of Spain, as well as the ecosystem of agro-tech companies that support this initiative. To ensure the success of these actions, a team of 11 professionals specialised in agroforestry engineering and IT has been incorporated.
Although the Chair's term of office runs until 2027, its mission is permanent, in order to accompany and be useful to a sector that is undergoing a profound process of change, not only technological. Thus, at a crucial moment, the Chair offers a model of innovation, supported by public-private alliances, to achieve what would not be possible on an isolated and individual basis.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/catedra-internacional-enia-inteligencia-artificial-agricultura/
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