Data Driven Precision Agriculture Services and Skill Acquisition

Project Information

DRAGON

Grant agreement ID: 810775

DOI

10.3030/810775

Project closed

EC signature date 6 July 2018

Start date 1 October 2018

End date 31 January 2022

Funded under

• Twinning of research institutions

Total cost

€ 962 750,00

EU contribution

€ 962 750,00

Coordinated by

BIOSENSE INSTITUTE - RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN BIOSYSTEMS
Serbia

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - DRAGON (Data Driven Precision Agriculture Services and Skill Acquisition)

Reporting period: 2020-01-01 to 2022-01-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Estimates say that by the year 2050 planet Earth will be home to 10 billion people and we will have to increase agricultural production for as much as 70 % to feed all. We are already cultivating almost every piece of land we can and are using ever larger quantities of synthetic fertilisers. We are jeopardising our eco-system, already fragile due to climate change and pollution. There is a solution and it lies at a place we would hardly expect to find it – in artificial intelligence (AI).
Sensors, robots, satellites, GPS and drones serve as invaluable sources of data about crop growth, soil type and weather conditions. Each of them is very interesting on its own, but datasets are reaching their full potential only after we aggregate them and apply advanced AI algorithms. Today, in the 21st century, information technologies (IT) allow us to comprehend large amounts of data and extract hidden knowledge about agricultural production and processes happening inside the plants.

BioSense (BIOS), Novi Sad, Serbia is a research and development center with focus on the application of IT in bio-systems executed by its Center for Information Technologies (CIT), newly formed within duration of DRAGON. DRAGON's aim is to train ambitious early career researchers within the CIT, to increase their scientific and innovation capacity, thus evolving the KDG into the Knowledge and Innovation Group through the project.

The key partners in DRAGON are two institutions renowned for their excellence in IT/AgriTech/Precision Agriculture (PA) sectors: Wageningen University (WU) from the Netherlands and Agri-EPI centre from Scotland. They participate in knowledge transfer from Western Europe to Serbia within DRAGON.

Specific objectives:
a) To enhance the scientific and technological (S&T) capacity of BIOS researchers to perform analyses of multiscale multisource data: 1) Satellite and Mobile phone-generated data; 2) Internet-of-Things (IoT)-generated data; 3) Phenomics; 4) Genomics; 5) Meta-genomics;
b) To enhance BIOS researchers' capability to communicate knowledge and related legislative matters in PA to various stakeholders and local communities in order to achieve effective dissemination and lower the barriers to subsequent adoption of innovative PA data-driven solutions
c) To train and nurture young researchers to develop their careers in data-driven PA and facilitation of opportunities for enhanced career development within BIOS and partner institutions, WU and Agri-EPI Centre
d) To develop data-driven PA eco-system by providing access to practical agricultural know-how and emerging information systems

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The work performed in the second reporting period (RP2) followed the initial plan and executed the corresponding activities of five work packages. Overall, DRAGON implementation in RP2 achieved expected goals and KPIs, even with changes due to COVID-19 pandemic. DRAGON activities in RP2 significantly contributed to the raising of BIOS research, innovation and communications capacity via participation of young BIOS researchers in the international research through DRAGON short term visits and at the conferences. DRAGON ML HACKATHON: Plant Your Code with Microsoft Development Center Serbia and DRAGON workshops further impacted larger community of students coming from Serbian universities and raised awareness on the challenges in agriculture and food sector and the need for data driven solutions. Info-days and B2B meetings were also very important tools in achieving near- and long-term impact of the DRAGON project, particularly when reaching different stakeholder groups. Developed DRAGON Online Course is a major tool for long-term impact. Importantly, Centre for Information Technologies (CIT) was formed in Biosense Institute within DRAGON project duration.

WP2 has focused on enhancing the S&T expertise of BIOS researchers. Intensive mobility (in modified, online format to adapt to COVID-19-related circumstances) was performed a) 3 virtual expert visits of the senior researchers to BIOS (1 from WU, 2 from Agri-EPI) and b) 10 short-term visits (3 physical STVs and 7 virtual STVs) of the young BIOS researchers to the partners’ institutions (5 to Agri-EPI, 5 to WU). 3 dedicated workshops were held in RP2, while BIOS researchers had 18 participations at conferences during RP2.

WP3 concerns COMMunication skill transfer, adopting the 2-step model co-creation (CoC) events, providing opportunities for close interactions with the end-users to capture their needs in turn enhancing the trainings in COMM skills of the BIOS-researchers. The 1st step comprises preparatory lectures by the experts from Agri-EPI, WU and invited speakers on to the most effective methods to present data/information/knowledge while the 2nd step involves CoC events with various stakeholders. In RP2, COMM-related expert visits from Agri-EPI (3) and from WU (3) occurred and further 3 info-days, 1 hackathon and 4 types of B2B meetings – at conferences, on-demand, at Info-days and at Expo 2020 Dubai event were organized. The first successful exploitation took place in RP2 within WP3, when a commercial contract was signed with Frikom - the largest producer of frozen fruit in Serbia, as a direct consequence of the DRAGON B2B on-demand meetings.

WP4: Dissemination and Outreach focused on promoting project results and raising awareness of PA technologies in Serbia and the region. Careful planning and coordination according to previously developed PEDR enabled efficient interlinking of the WP3 and WP4 activities, with WP3 CoC events presenting excellent opportunities for engaging the relevant stakeholders and networking. WP4 yielded a wide range of dissemination tools and materials, both in the digital and printed form, all prepared under the same DRAGON visual identity. Very important WP4 exploitable result is the DRAGONx online course on WageningenX (EdX) platform.

WP5 was dedicated to fulfilling the Protection of Personal Data. Open Science aspect was fully achieved with 29 published results (13 journal papers, 4 full conference papers and 12 abstracts), all with gold or green open access, as well as 2 publicly shared datasets.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

WU is renowned for bio-informatics and high-throughput phenotyping, while Agri-EPI has state-of-the-art expertise in satellite data, as well as for the IoT- generated data and their analyses (WP2). Collaboration with these European leaders ensures that the BIOS data scientists work on development of PA solutions beyond the state-of-the-art.

Equally important, DRAGON implements activities well beyond the current state-of-the-art in respect of engagement of the key stakeholders throughout the co-creation process (WP3).

Several changes in the BIOS organizational structure occurred beginning of 2020. Instead of only research groups that previously existed, a new structure was introduced, based on: 3 Research centres (Centre for Information Technologies – CIT; Centre for sensing technologies – CST; Centre for biosystems – CBS) and 2 Development centres (Centre for Innovation and Business Development – CIBD; Center for Product Development – CPD). Keeping in line with these changes, one of the aims of DRAGON – formation of the BIOS Knowledge and Innovation Group had to be adapted and transformed into formation of the Centre for Information Technologies (CIT), which was effectively achieved.