South East BIC, based in Waterford, is delighted to be the Irish partner in the SmartAgriFood European Project. The project aims to boost the application and use of future internet technologies in the Agri-Food sector, increase the competiveness of the European Agri-Food domain and to engage a huge number of SMEs in the Agri-Food domain throughout Europe.
On 15th September, the SmartAgriFood accelerator officially launched a €4 million open call for SMEs and web-entrepreneurs to develop a new generation of smart agriculture applications and services building on FIWARE technology. These new ICT products will be designed for use by farmers and food producers to help them increase productivity while minimising their environmental footprint. Intelligent machines, sensor networks, and smart ICT are important ingredients for the future of farming!
The SmartAgriFood accelerator wants to fund web entrepreneurs and SMEs with new or innovative ideas for applications and services to address the lack of smart ICT tools suited for farm and wider agricultural use. New or existing applications should use FIWAREtechnologies (an innovative, open cloud-based infrastructure for cost-effective creation and delivery of future internet applications and services) and ideally be delivered through the FIspace platform (an integrated collaboration system).
How will it work? Grants of up to €100K will be granted by SmartAgriFood to Irish and European SMEs and web developers and will be distributed over 3 phases of development:
- Stage 1 Prototype development
- Stage 2 End user trials
- Stage 3 Business development
The SmartAgriFood accelerator has joined forces with the Europe-wide ICT-AGRI network to provide SMEs and web entrepreneurs with an additional €2M in funding to pay for expert advice and support services for the successful SMEs.
It’s not only about funding though! Through the combined networks of the SmartAgriFood accelerator and ICT- AGRI, SMEs and web entrepreneurs will be provided with unrivalled access to technology, agricultural and innovation experts right across Europe.
This support will help SMEs to grow their business by providing access to useful data for the development of new applications/services; providing hands-on technical support and advice in prototype development; setting up end user trials for testing the new application in different European countries; and supporting the SME in securing access to start-up and growth financing.
We are looking for Irish ICT SMEs & web app developers to apply! The SmartAgriFood call for applications closes on the 15th of November.
For full details on the SmartAgriFood call go to www.smartagrifood.com
For more about ICT – AGRI, go to www.ict-agri.eu
For more about FIWARE, go to www.fi-ware.org
For more about FIspace, go to www.fispace.eu
For further information, contact Carole Thurston on smartagri@southeastbic.ie or telephone 051 356300
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About South East Business & Innovation Centre
South East BIC provides tailored supports to innovative enterprise from concept to commercialisation. Established in 1995, South East BIC is a specialist provider in the Government’s portfolio of supports to indigenous industry, supported under the National Development Plan. They provide support with incubation space, feasibility studies, business planning and sourcing funding & investment, through to expansion of existing businesses into new markets and new product development.
The team at South East BIC have extensive business exposure, technical expertise and the commercial and financial skills needed to help entrepreneurs. They are part of an expert network of similar BICs in Ireland and over 200 Business and Innovation Centres throughout Europe.
For more information, please visit www.southeastbic.ie
South East BIC, Unit 1b, Industrial Park, Cork Road, Waterford, Ireland. Ph. 051 356300
