VIRAL - Project meeting, workshop, and EXPO event
The SmAgTech EXPO event took place at the University of Donja Gorica in Podgorica on February 23-24, 2023. The event showcased the results of the VIRAL project, which focuses on the application of information and communication technologies in agriculture. Participants had the opportunity to learn about current trends and technologies in this field.
The event was opened by Prof. Dr. Aleksandra Martinovic, Dean of the Faculty of Food Technology, Food Safety, and Ecology. In her speech, she welcomed the participants, expressed her gratitude to everyone involved, and highlighted the satisfaction with the results achieved so far. Afterwards, the project coordinator, Prof. Dr. Miljan Cvetković, presented the achievements made in the previous period. This was followed by a presentation by colleague Mar Ariza Sentis from WUR on "How drones are changing the way farm work is done."
A workshop led by Prof. Dr. Radovan Stojanović on the topic of "Agribusiness in a competitive environment" was organized after the presentation. Participants were divided into four groups, and each group was tasked with proposing solutions and sharing their views on the topic presented by Prof. Dr. Stojanović.
After lunch, which was organized at UDG, the participants visited the company "13. Jul Plantaže," where they had the opportunity to see the use of ICT in practice – viticulture and winemaking. The visit to the company ended with a wine tasting in the Šipčanik cellar. The first day ended with a dinner for all participants at the Hotel Podgorica.
On the second day, a board meeting was held, focusing on the upcoming visit announced by the European Commission from March 1-31. Each institution was asked to designate a contact person for the European Commission, and the date for the meeting in Belgrade was set for April 3-4. (Steering Committee Meeting minutes are available at the project website).
Na After the administrative part of the meeting, several presentations followed:
"Solutions for transparency and data validation in the agro-food sector"
"HPC and AI/ML for computer vision in smart chicken farming"
"Smart irrigation - good practice examples"
"IoT-based digital farm management for apple farming."
After the presentations, a discussion followed.
The event concluded with the opening of the Expo by Prof. Dr. Aleksandra Martinović, Dean of the Faculty of Food Technology, Food Safety, and Ecology. She expressed her gratitude to all who participated in the preparation and implementation of the project, as well as to all who visited the fair. Many reputable companies and institutions from Montenegro and the region decided to participate in the fair, which was of special satisfaction, stated Prof. Martinović. Finally, she thanked everyone present and officially opened the fair.
As mentioned in the speech by Professor Aleksandra Martinović, numerous companies from the fields of agriculture, food industry, as well as information technology and systems participated in the event, showcasing their products and services at the fair. The following companies took part in the fair:
- Center of Excellence for Digitalization of Risk Assessment in Food Safety and Precise Certification of Authenticity of Food Products;
- Barsko Zlato;
- Tehnopolis;
- Inpek AD;
- Smart Watering;
- Agro Destil;
- Smart Village;
- Optimus Consulting;
- University of Maribor;
- Čelebić Agrar.
The fair was a great success and had numerous visitors - over 300 attendees. It was particularly pleasing that the fair was visited by 130 high school graduates from all parts of Montenegro, who are participants in educational programs complementary to agriculture, information technology, and food technology.
You can see the atmosphere from the fair in the following links:
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