European agritech companies harness the power of artificial farming for business - EU funds a new cutting-edge project

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18 September 2024

1st PR

For some time now, European agritech companies and communities have had access to support from the European Commission for their AI, robotics and other technological services. Companies have been able to test these new technologies across Europe, and there are test centres in 9 different countries. The project goes under a name agrifoodTEF.


The main goal of agrifoodTEF is to help agritech companies to access the full benefit of AI and AI-powered robotics technologies. This leads to more efficient and sustainable food production within the EU. More broadly, it is a multi-sector, €60 million project funded by the European Commission and the Member States of the European Union. This project will allow companies and communities to test new technologies in the European AI and robotics Testing and Experimental Facilities, more commonly known as TEFs.


According to Raffaelle Giaffreda, Chief IoT Scientist at Fondazione Bruno Kessler and the agrifoodTEF project coordinator, these services will be consolidated once the project is completed. According to him, there’s also an aim to close the gap between research and products for an efficient and sustainable agriculture.

These services will have a strong impact that will help bridge the gap between research that happens in the research centers of the partners, who are involved in the consortium, and the market, Giaffreda says. 

The services of TEF’s can be customised for each individual agritech company. The main goal is to attract small and medium size companies (SMEs) that can access available solutions in the Catalogue of Services,  a large database containing more than 200 AI services, for the companies to choose from.  

agrifoodTEF is a good example of the direction in which Mario Draghi, former Italian ex-minister and former president of the European Central Bank, wants the Union to develop. In a report published in September 2024, Draghi calls for better cooperation in the agricultural sector between government, industry and academia, and for barriers to commercialisation to be removed.

 

Read about the project in a nutshell: 

  • The European AI and robotics Testing and Experimental Facilities, TEF’s, help companies to test new technologies.
  • The agritech centers TEF’s, exist in 9 European countries: Italy, France, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Poland, Sweden, The Netherlands, Spain.
  • For agritech companies there is a catalogue containing more than 200 AI services. Already 50 have been delivered by its partners to small and medium sized companies, SMEs.
  • The 5 year long project was launched in 2023.
  • The total funding for the project is €60 million. The EU Commission is providing €30 million, with the remaining €30 million coming from the participating EU countries.


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