Asia Matters

Asia Ireland Food and Agritech Forum　

14 July 2015Cork Institute of Technology, Cork

@asiamatters_biz #AsiaIrlFood @asiabizweek

In Food We Trust

14 July 2015Cork Institute of Technology, Cork

Niall Smith Head of Research, Cork Institute of Technology

Using Multidisciplinary Research to Grow the AgriFood Sector

Using Multidisciplinary Research to Grow the AgriFood Sector

Dr. Niall SmithHead of Research

Asia Matters Workshop CIT 14th July 2015

ICT

Lifesciences and Wellbeing

Photonics

Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation

Maritime, Energy and Sustainable Environment

Exercise and Health

Creative and Performing Arts and Media

The Multidisciplinary Innovation Campus

Annual expenditure €17.7m

Thematic Research Areas

Lifesciences and Agri-Food BioExplore

BIO-ACTIVES

Key areas covered

Medical / BioTech

Veterinary

Agri-Food

Key competencies

Molecular Diagnostics

BIO-actives

BIO-informatics

Examples of IoT for Food & Agritech

Robotic Milking• Maximising both output from the Automated

Milking System (AMS) unit and grass as a proportion of cow diet

Genomic selection in dairy and beef cattle• establish the key parameters and logistics of food

provenance, authenticity and traceability of beef meat and dairy products using state-of-the-art genomic technologies

Baby formula• Protecting the efficacy and prolonging the shelf life

Dairy Policy Analysis and Price Volatility Dairy Analysis Unit

Key areas covered

Dairy Economics

Dairy Policy

Dairy Price and Income Volatility

Dairy Market and Analysis

Dairy Systems Analysis

Reports Produced

“Evaluation of Common Agricultural Policy Measures Applied to the Dairy Sector” – Case Study of Irish Dairy Industry and Price Volatility Analysis (2011)

Irish Dairy Industries Association

European Dairy Association

“Future Expansion Report” for Cork County Council

Local Processors

Big Data

With Sigma Software Group and collaborators on forecasting grass growth using Met Office forecasts

Internet of Things Management and Agri-Food

• IoT Management- Manage the behaviour and resources available to

deliver traceable and secure information across the specific agri-tech or food value chains – farm to fork

Examples of IoT for Food & Agritech

Securely connect devices• Farmers, food companies, equipment manufacturers

Sense and monitor farm processes• Enable decision support to increase yields, monitor animal

health, detect pathogens etc in a safe, secure and environmentally compatible manner

Targeted behaviour• Enable autonomous behaviours that can be applied to multiple

agri -tech and food value-chain sectors (crops, livestock, horticulture)

Key areas covered

Highlighting the Asian Linkages - West Cork Agri-Food

Full V-LINC Agri-Food Report Available @ http://www.corkcoco.ie/co/pdf/307756212.pdf

V-LINC Research shows

International Trade linkages• 50% of (Non-European) trade links reported by Agri-Food

producing firms in West Cork are with Asian Counterparts

Valuable Trade Linkages• China, India, Oman, Thailand and United Arab Emirates

Key Connectors into Chinese market• Bord Bia (Shanghai) and Enterprise Ireland (Beijing)

offices

Key areas covered

Industry Clusters and their effectiveness

Innovation Through Light

• Photonics – the study of the generation & manipulation of light

• Cross-Cutting Key Enabling Technology- Telecomms, Medical Devices, Pharma, Food & Agri, …

• Photonics solutions can be:- Cheap/compact- Non-contact, non-invasive, non-destructive- Small footprint – can be integrated at/in-line

Milk Processing• IR Spectroscopy (Reflectance, NIR, Raman, …) can analyse:

– Fat, Protein, Casein, Melamine, Somatic cell count, …

Food Quality• Sensors (O2 , CO2) for monitoring packaging, beverage head-space

• Counterfeit detection e.g. butter adulteration with margarine, authentication of olive oil

Aquaculture• Water quality monitoring: O2 , CO2 , pH, heavy metals

• UV purification

Examples of Photonics for Food & Agritech

Thankyou