The competition aims to select 15 startups to participate in Digital Agriculture Week, to be held in May
San José, 23 February 2022 (IICA) -- The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) launched a competition for startups from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) capable of providing digital solutions to face the challenges of regional agriculture and facilitate the transformation of agrifood systems.
The competition will be used to select companies and prepare their participation at Digital Agriculture Week, which will take place from 16 to 19 May, 2022.
The online competition for these firms will open next February 25 at 9 A.M. Costa Rica time (GMT -6), providing details and steps to follow for those startups interested in applying.
Participating will be two high-level figures who support IICA and its digital agriculture initiative: Laurens Klerkx, head professor of the Knowledge, Technology and Innovation Group of Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands; and Mariana Vasconcelos, CEO and cofounder of Agrosmart. They will be joined by IICA Director General Manuel Otero and other leading figures from the Institute.
Those startups interested in the competition will have from 25 February to 5 April 2022 to register. Fifteen will be chosen to participate in person at the IICA Digital Agriculture Week in Costa Rica, where they will be able to show their technological innovations, access high-level lectures and exchange ideas with key international organizations for digital transformation.
The final selection will be made by a specialist panel, made up of strategic partners of the initiative, leading figures in the subject, and IICA staff members.
Federico Bert, IICA Digital Agriculture specialist, said that “the selection will be based on the potential for digital solutions to improve production, sustainability and inclusion of agrifood systems. Priority will be given to the feasibility of implementing pilots that can use the solution in different countries.”
The chosen companies will also be able to develop pilot projects with the Institute that use their solution in the Member States of this organization that specializes in agriculture and rural life in the Americas.
About Digital Agriculture Week
This is a forum convened by IICA where startups and other actors from the technological and agricultural sector can present, propose and coordinate ideas for the digital transformation of agrifood systems, a space to share technology solutions and promote their use in agriculture.
The event will have a hybrid format: in person at IICA Headquarters in San José, Costa Rica, and online.
Also participating will be representatives from organizations that work directly with this type of company, and public and private organizations interested in the digitalization of agriculture.
Some of the areas to be covered are Digital Transformation—opportunities and challenges in a new era; Digitalization of Agriculture—barriers, impacts and perspectives; Lessons learned from a real experience of agricultural digitalization; and Roles and synergies of public and private stakeholders in the digital era.
Presentations from startups will feature on digital solutions to increase production and efficiency, minimize the environmental footprint and tackle climate change, boost trade, value chains and the cooperation of stakeholders; and supporting farmers’ decisions and management at productive, economic and financial level.
This event is part of the hemispheric initiative launched by IICA entitled Mission Digital Agriculture in Action (ADA), which aims to promote the dynamic and inclusive digital transformation of agriculture in the Americas.
Bert went on to say that “IICA has a strong focus on Digital Agriculture as one of the elements that will permit the transformation of agrifood systems; it understands that Agtechs are central players in the digitalization process and that is why it is reaching out to them.”
In terms of digital agriculture the Institute carries out multiple actions in partnership with other organizations such as Microsoft, IDB Lab, Bayer, Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), Precision Development (PxD), Cooperativas de las Américas, the Department for International Trade, the Ministry of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications (MICITT) of Costa Rica, the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) of Argentina, the Regional Fund for Agriculture Technology (FONTAGRO), the University of Córdoba in Spain and Centofec University.
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