Ideas and goals

The aim of the cooperation is to use agricultural and silvicultural areas more efficiently and sustainably. In addition to efficient management, aspects such as targeted pest control and controlled plant growth play an important role.

This will require agriculture to be modernized with the use of new types of Information technologies and software. The ability to access data from satellites and drones that pass over cultivation areas will be necessary to achieve this digital transformation. In the future, agricultural vehicles will also have embedded sensors to collect relevant data. This new generation of agricultural machinery will be small, electrically driven swarm vehicles that will be able to manage the fields more or less independently.

It is intended to develop apps for tablets and smartphones for the evaluation and interpretation of the data. With their help, irrigation systems could be optimized, for example, or sustainable circulatory systems for plant feeding could be established. The technology required will need to be as energy-efficient as possible in order to contribute to sustainable agriculture.

Planned field tests

The technologies to be developed will need to prove themselves in field tests – and we use the term quite literally. Tests in vineyards and on vegetable and grain fields in and around Porto are planned. The undertaking will thus also create a lot of jobs.

Fraunhofer Center AICOS in Porto

Since 2008, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has operated the Fraunhofer Center for Assistive Information and Communication Solutions AICOS in Porto, together with the University of Porto. This center plays an important role in creating precision agriculture, particularly due to its know-how of information and communication technologies. The undertaking also promotes further scientific cooperation within the EU.