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EIT Digital's next generation IoT platform set to help farmers weed out pesticides

EIT Digital has launched work to develop a new Smart IOT Application Development (SIOTAD) framework primarily aimed at the agricultural industry. Pilot studies are about to get under way for the framework, which is designed to reduce the use of phytosanitary products through IoT, Big Data and 5G innovations. The concept is expected to be transferred eventually to other industries that also require efficient IoT and management platforms.

The SIOTAD project is an Innovation Activity* within EIT Digital's Digital Industry Action Line and has been created to develop a framework to support sustainable and efficient agriculture.

The project partners include Nokia (in collaboration with Bilberry and CETA), Institut Mines-Télécom (Telecom École de Management) and Tampere University of Technology (in collaboration with Intopalo)**. The work will initially focus on the development of the IoT platform and conducting pilots in the agriculture industry with a view to launching the product commercially by the end of the year.

Guillaume Jourdain, CEO of Bilberry, explains:

"There is no weed detection solution available today on the market for monitoring big fields. Our solution, incorporating cameras on sprayers that will scan the area, and in real time, determine where to spray or not, is new for farmers, and will help them substantially decrease the amount of herbicides they spray on their crops. The impact for sustainable society could be huge as, depending on the amount of weed in the field, we think a target of reducing the use of phytosanitary products by up to 80% could be achieved."

In addition, by delivering software development tools and components that have been tested in real pilot studies, the output will be of great value to wider digital industries in general as the applications could also be used in other markets and could in turn speed up development of new services.

Nicolas Rebierre, Nokia Innovation Platform Manager at Nokia Innovation Steering, says:

"We are very happy to bring to the EIT digital ecosystem our Nokia Innovation Platform, which will leverage and integrate the expertise of all the partners in the SIOTAD project. Integration and specification will be done in parallel with live business trials and the feedback will better adapt the platform to business requirements."

"As we test the framework we think there could be significant potential for the agricultural industry and associated economy in particular, but future applications could be far more wide-ranging."

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