Are you a student or someone involved in research or agriculture? Have you devised ways to control pests on crops or to use digital tools to optimize agricultural processes?
The Seeds Research and Development Station in Cañas, belonging to the Bayer company, launched the first Open Innovation AG Cañas contest to reward an innovative agricultural project that is at any stage of development, from hatching the idea to implementing it.
The contest is looking for innovations in three categories: 1. effective control of pests that simultaneously protect biodiversity, 2. reduction of dependence on chemicals and protection of soil health and 3. using tools that accelerate digital agriculture.
The winning person or group will receive $2,500, advice from Bayer experts and even the possibility of using the station’s facilities to develop their project.
The Bayer station in Cañas has been specializing in cotton experimentation and cultivation since 1997. However, the company is open to contacting experts from different areas to guarantee the best advice to the winning person or group.
“It’s an opportunity to have a piece of land with an irrigation system, with a place of care; situations that aren’t at hand to be able to do an evaluation,” said the station manager in Cañas, Adrian Vargas.
“I’d like to think that the proposals they receive can look at the irrigation sensors that we have, the climate station, the generation of data and, as if they were Lego pieces, put them at the service of a person’s good idea,” he added.
The panel of judges will be made up of two Bayer collaborators and a third person from a chamber of commerce. Together, they will evaluate if a given challenge’s solution is relevant and clear and if it uses technology, its feasibility, the proposition’s value for the sector it would benefit, the impact, the implementation costs and the human team.
“We want to get something going that we believe can contribute to agriculture to meet the country’s needs with the challenges we face,” said Vargas.
The contest began accepting entries on September 1 and will close on September 30. The company will announce the winner on its social media in October.
You can read all of the contest conditions here and download the registration form here. Once completed, you should email it to [email protected]
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