iFOODis kick-off event in Kiel from 8th to 9th of May 2023
From 8th to 9th of May 2023, around 30 participants from different research institutes, public authorities, companies and universities took part in the kick-off event for the iFOODis project funded by the Helmholtz Institute. This is funded as part of the Helmholtz Sustainability Challenge with a duration of five years.
The project aims to improve sustainable food production by establishing an intelligent robotic monitoring network. This will continuously assess the state of ecosystems on land and in surface waters linked to agricultural activities. The first use case of the iFOODis network is planned for the Schlei region (Baltic Sea, Germany), which is one of the areas most affected by agriculture. Recommendations will include measures to improve the health of ecosystems in both land and water. Another focus is the remotely controlled transport of food and material in flooded regions with difficult access, in which conditions could be harmful for manual drivers.
Five different DLR institutes are involved in this project, as well as the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR), the Constructor University Bremen and the Helmholtz Center München.
The project is divided into three working packages and five technical tasks, with ZKI coordinating the fifth and final technical task "Situational Awareness & Data Management", which focuses on the end users from science, agriculture, environmental authorities and NGOs. Among other things, the collected environmental data as well as existing official data will be merged and visualized on a web platform. In addition, the ZKI is also involved in the exchange with the users to identify their requirements for the project results and the web application.
The kick-off meeting opened with a presentation of the Schlei region, the primary study area of the project, which was also attended by representatives of the Ministry for Energy Transition, Climate Protection, Environment and Nature of the State of Schleswig-Holstein and the Schlei Nature Park, who shared their expertise from the region. The following day, the various project partners introduced themselves and their institutes and outlined their tasks within the project. Companies from the commercial sector also presented their services and their potential contribution to the project.
