The Fund for Innovation and Technological Development on March 16, 2021, announces the Public Call for: “Digitization of Agriculture“.

Sustainable agriculture is at the heart of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals and the first fundamental step towards securing a zero hunger world. According to the UN Agenda, sustainable food production systems should be provided by 2030 and sustainable agricultural practices that increase productivity and production should be implemented, which help maintain ecosystems, which strengthen the capacity to adapt to climate change. changes, extreme weather conditions, drought, floods and other disasters that gradually improve the quality of the soil and soil.

KOVID-19, as a hitherto unprecedented health, economic and social crisis that endangers lives and livelihoods, made an even greater challenge in achieving these goals. At a time when we are facing the effects of a pandemic on the food and agricultural sectors, timely measures are needed to ensure that food supply chains are kept alive to minimize the risk of major shocks that have a significant impact on everyone, especially the poorest and most vulnerable categories.

The role of digital innovation in agriculture is to harness the power of digital technologies to pilot, accelerate and increase the scope of innovative ideas with high potential for a positive impact on agriculture and food production. In the past period, agriculture, together with hunting, forestry and fisheries has achieved a total increase in gross value added of 4.5%. The sector records a continuous annual increase of the value from 871,400,000 euros in 2014 to 910,900,000 euros in 2019, except in 2017 due to the impact of weather conditions. On the other hand, the relative share of the agricultural sector in the gross value added decreased from 10.2% to 8.1% due to the higher value added realized in the other more propulsive economic activities. Together with the processing industry, the share in GDP reaches 12% in GDP, ie it is in third place after industry and services. However, this industry remains unrecognized and fragmented, and the adoption of digital technologies is very slow.

Digital agriculture ideally leads to economic growth by enabling farmers to extract maximum production from their country. Timely and accurate information contributes to making the right and timely decisions that result in crop success, increased productivity and increased incomes.

With this challenge, we are looking for advanced startups that have already developed a prototype of an innovative product / service, which will contribute to increasing the productivity and income of agricultural holdings, providing sustainable food production systems and accelerating the digital transformation of the agricultural sector.

Let’s use technology to improve all segments of agricultural production!

This challenge of the Fund is realized in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy (MAFWE) and the Program for Increasing Market Employability (IME).

Within the challenge “Digitization of Agriculture” each Contestant has the opportunity to submit a proposal in one of the following categories:

  • Smart farming
  • Precision farming
  • Robotics and automation
  • Biotechnology
  • Databases and artificial intelligence
  • Digitization of post-harvest activities and processing
  • Drones and satellites
  • Internet of Things (internet of things – iot)

The implementation of the project can be up to 12 (twelve) months.

A total budget of 6,000,000 (six million) denars has been provided for financing projects within this call.

For an individual project proposal, the Fund provides financing up to 90% (ninety percent) of the total project budget, in a maximum amount of 1,500,000 (one million and five hundred thousand) denars. A minimum of 10% (ten percent) of the total project budget must be provided by the Competitor.

The Market Employability Enhancement Program (IME), funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, will provide two types of support for applicants and prospective beneficiaries: mentoring and commercialization support for innovation.

The public call is intended for startups that can offer innovative and / or technologically advanced solution on their own, or in cooperation with an institution that performs higher education, ie scientific research activity or another enterprise.

The deadline for applying for the public call is April 16, 2021.

For all additional information visit the website of the Fund for Innovation and Technological Development and for all questions write to the e-mail address: agrodigital@fitr.mk or call the phone number: 02 3145 258

Link to the call https://fitr.mk/agrodigital