Four FI-PPP accelerator projects on agri-food

The FI-PPP  (Future Internet - Public Private Partnership) is a huge EU funded initiative for improving European competitiveness within the rapidly growing market for Internet based applications of all kinds (https://www.fi-ppp.eu/ ). A large number of major European ICT companies and institutions have joined the partnership and contributed to the development of technologies for making it easier for companies, especially SMEs to develop advanced Internet applications. FI-PPP is funding projects in three phases:

1. Laying the technology foundation; defining "use case scenarios" in different industry sectors; making an inventory of available (public) infrastructures via capacity building
2. Developing use case pilots and platforms; setting up infrastructures
3. Expansion of use cases by developing applications and services (accelerator projects); extending the technology foundation.

In phase 1, the SmartAgriFood use case project developed pilots on Greenhouse Management, Smart Spraying, Fresh Fruit and Vegetables, Plants and Flowers, Tailored Information for Customers, Tracking, Tracing and Awareness Meat.

In the second phase, the FISpace project is addressing business collaboration within agri-food and transport based on FI-PPP technologies. This includes development of a platform for "Farming in the sky" and two use case trilas on "Crop Protection Information Sharing" and "Greenhouse Management & Control".

Phase 3 is expected to include four accelerator projects addressing agri-food:

The four projects will together launch open calls for about 16 M€ beginning from September 2014. These open calls will focus on development of agri-food relevant applications and services with a preference for funding web developers and SMEs.