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Study visit and networking at physical event in Uppsala

The Nordic Testbed Network organised a full day event for the network participants November 14th. The hosts at Troëdsson Forestry Teleoperation Lab and Testbed for Digitalized Agriculture presented their work.

 

The members of the Nordic Testbed Network met in Uppsala (Sweden) on November 14th. Members were invited to participate in two study visits hosted by Troëdsson Forestry Teleoperation Lab and Testbed for Digitalized Agriculture. Hosts presented their work with automation, remote-controlled machinery and digitalisation in agriculture and forestry.

A guest presentation was provided by Sean Barrett from ITG studio. Sean presented ITG’s project Kelpwood & Bioplastic from Nordic Ocean Biomass, supported by Nordic Innovation. Parts of the project are focused on exploring and demonstrating how the construction industry and construction material can be more sustainable.

The Nordic Testbed Network members are more numerous every year, the event therefore included members’ presentations. Inspired by the study visits and Sean’s presentation, an open conversation on cross sectorial collaboration took place. Conversation held during the event and members’ feedback fed into NTN’s 2024 activity plan.

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LUKE presents their digital testbeds to Nordic testbed Network

Nordic Testbed Network will arrange an afternoon event for the network participants June 8th. The hosts at LUKE will present their relevant work.

 

The event will take place in LUKE, Helsinki, Finland, where the participants will be presented to work going on with smart farming, digital twins in agriculture, digital monitoring and assessment in animal welfare and more. Presenters will be Matti Pastell, Antti Suokannas, Kim Kaustell, Jere Kaivosoja and other colleagues at Luke.

The Nordic Testbed Network has a broad network, so there will also be presentations of projects like RAS, Digital Forests, Vertical Farming and DIMA. Of course there will be time for informal meetings, conversations and contacts. There will be dinner served for those participating physically, but some will be joining by Zoom.

– We want to provide the best arena for knowledge exchange between Nordic actors in digital innovation, to facilitate development that contributes to a sustainable society, says the organizer Tatiana Proisy, Analysys Mason.

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Physical meeting: “Digitalisation in action”

Digitalisation in action – current challenges and future needs

See PHOTOS from the meeting

WHEN:             Oct 6th, 10.00-17.00 CEST + dinner
WHERE:           Copenhagen University, Taastrup
FOCUS:             Experiencing testbed activities in real life
SIGN UP:          By Sept 8th to Tatiana.Proisy@analysysmason.com
 
We saw a range of digital technologies in action and learn about different use cases. Several of these technologies, the benefits they bring and challenges they cause are relevant for all part of the bioeconomy including agriculture, fishery and forestry.
 
AGENDA
  • Welcome, Nordic Testbed Network & Copenhagen University
  • Precision agriculture as a tool to fulfill environmental obligations, Danish Agriculture & Food Council
  • Remote control of forest machines, Tro뤳son Forestry Teleoperation Lab / Skogforsk
  • Interactive session, share current challenges and future needs with other members
  • Lunch, eat and mingle + get a quick update from the network members
  • Digitalisation in action – visiting various test sites at Copenhagen University (don’t forget to bring a good pair of shoes!):
    1. Digitalisation and precision farming – drone and robot technology
    2. Automatic phenotyping in greenhouses – digital management of irrigation
    3. AnEee EU-initiative – digital technology for measurement of humidity, wind etc
    4. Crop Innovation Denmark – camera technology to investigate root development
    5. Digitalised fruit, berry and nut production – robot technology to monitor plant status
  • Dinner, enjoy a nice meal and continued knowledge sharing in Copenhagen
    We will meet at SCANDIC KØDBYEN (Skelbækgade 3A, Copenhagen V) for dinner. Please take a look at the venue’s webpage and their interactive map.
  • Add on: Visit Agro-tech testbeds in Aarhus Oct 7th (approx. 3 hour by train from Copenhagen), see separate invitation 
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Virtual meeting on Digital Twins: use cases, opportunities, challenges

Virtual meeting June 9 2022 at 10.00-12.00 to learn and share about digital twins.

 

The topic Digital Twins has been highlighted as interesting by several of the  network’s members, spanning areas such as data gathering, data uniformisation, testing, and more. Digital Twins are complex computer models fed with continuous flow of observations from the physical world. They allow a better understanding of past situations, monitor present situations, as well as predict future challenges.

At this virtual meeting you will get the chance to learn from others, as well as sharing your experiences on this topic.

AGENDA
▪ Welcoming our new testbed members, DIGIRAS, SINTEF ACE, AORO, Smart Bioeconomy Testbed

▪ Inspiring examples:
Thomas Geenen, Technology Partnership Lead for Destination Earth
Richard Tiffin, Chief Scientific Officer at Agrimetrics

▪ Panel discussion: Digital Twins, Data, and Modelling, Intelligent organic farming testbed
Liisa Pesonen (Luke)
Maria Nordström (Skogforsk)
Martin Holmberg (RISE)

▪ Workshop: What is needed to support testbed development? Based on the interviews with all existing network members, we will discuss what messages we want to send to policymakers. This will feed into a policy brief being sent to the Nordic Council of Ministers.

More information

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An outreach for co-creation, data sharing and demonstration

Due to minimal traveling caused by Covid-19 in 2020, we invited all testbeds members to provide ideas for relevant activities, which the network could fund. Alovivum was one of the testbeds that was granted funding. Their initiative involved an outreach of the testbed for co-creation, data sharing and demonstration.

 

We got the chance to talk to Henrik Hedlund, contact person for the testbed.

Please tell us more about your testbed – what is the aim of the testbed?

– In focus for the testbed is to further develop and demonstrate intensive horticulture production, using a range of hydroculture platforms for water gardening in farm buildings. In the testbed, we design, install, operate and demonstrate different innovative cultivation platforms for indoor water gardening, using hydroculture, (i e aeroponics, fogponics and hydroponics), efficient LED lighting, optimal climate control, etc.

The testbed is located in a farm building in Gödelöv, Genarp (outside Lund, Sweden) that earlier was used as a cow stable and has a size that is ideal for R&D work and the pilots that are used for testing of indoor, hydroculture cultivation. The testbed is supported with a digital infrastructure (Yggio) that connects different equipment, sensor configurations and cultivation platforms inside the farm building (barn), to assure efficient and flexible data collection and management. This infrastructure is provided by Sensative.

The testbed is setup in a peri-urban context, which means cultivation mainly of fresh, leafy greens in empty farm buildings close to urban areas, with local supply chains, directly linking producers and consumers.

The aim of the testbed is to develop and demonstrate intensive horticulture production, using a range of configurations for water gardening and hydroculture platforms, showing metrics to evaluate and show significant improvements in horticulture, including metrics for efficiency, productivity, sustainability and profitability. In focus has been to establish well-known and standardised measures, derived from different data sources, to be able to consistently provide metrics on the performance of different cultivation methods.

The testbed’s main data structure consists of:

  • monitoring and control of sensors, environment, equipment and plants at the testbed (Gödelöv),
  • collection, surveillance and calculated nodes in the Yggio middleware (provided by Sensative),
  • analysis, metrics and models in data application(s) (greenbeds.com: SDGtoolkit, mutec.cloud, etc),
  • sharing and presentation at web sites (barngreens.com, greenbeds.com, Nordic Testbed Network web site, etc).

The datasets that are generated to address the purpose to evaluate the performance of different cultivation methods, via derived and calculated metrics, can be divided into the following data categories:

  • Environment: outdoor/weather- and indoor conditions, etc,
  • Control: cultivation platforms (water source, root- and shoot systems, climate shell, etc,
  • Plant: fresh- and dry biomass, leaf area, allocation, content, capacity, productivity, efficiency, etc,
  • Resource: electricity, heat, light, water, nutrients, base area; consumption and efficiency, etc.

In a data application (SDGtoolkit, mutec.cloud, CN, Grafana, PowerBI, etc) several operations can be made on the original datasets and time series:

  • detection, classification and checks of errors in data,
  • normalisation of data for more aggregated and generic comparisons,
  • substituting data values and units, given accurate calibrations,
  • baselines for data,
  • statistical analysis on data,
  • mathematical operations on data (e g calculated nodes) to provide derived data and metrics,
  • modelling and simulation of data to evaluate different scenarios, e g upscaling of crop production,
  • modelling to automate collection of equivalent measures, e g leaf area growth as a measure of biomass growth,
  • preparing data to be comparable between different testbeds, scales, measures and units.

 

What benefits does your project offer in the context of digitalisation and bioeconomy?

– The main benefits that we hope to offer as an outcome of the project funded by the Nordic Testbed Network is that this kind of digitalisation and collection of standardised, comparable and sharable data will provide valuable metrics for efficiency, productivity, sustainability and profitability that can be used for baselines and benchmarking of different improvements in cultivation, both for different kind of horticulture production (greenhouse cultivation, indoor, hydroculture cultivation in farm buildings, urban farming, etc) and agriculture applications (outdoor farming of crops in soil)

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SINTEF ACE and DIGIRAS joins Nordic Testbed Network

We are welcoming two new testbeds to the network!

 

Photo: SINTEF ACE (credit: Magnus Oshaug Pedersen, SINTEF Ocean)

The first one is SINTEF ACE that provides an arena where new aquaculture technologies can be designed, developed, and tested in realistic conditions. The other one is DIGIRAS that focuses on developing digital solutions for parameters and processes in digital recirculating aquaculture systems to create a more sustainable fish production.

We got the chance to talk to Deni Ribicic and Finn Olav Bjørnson, contact persons for the two testbeds.

In the context of the digital bioeconomy, what issues do you see as the most important going forward?

– Today, the aquaculture industry has access to massive amounts of data residing in siloed systems that are structured according to their particular application. Moving forward, it is imperative that the industry finds a way to unify, integrate and exchange this data in order to ensure interoperability between systems and increase value creation.

What do you hope to get out of your participation in the Nordic Testbed Network?

– Digitalisation is changing the industry and we hope to learn from the experiences in other domains in order to help and enable the aquaculture industry with their digital transformation.

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Norwegian Catapult develops a national infrastructure for innovation

The Norwegian Catapult programme is a governmental scheme designed to assist the establishment and development of catapult centres, with the purpose of accelerating the process from concept to market launch of the product. We got the chance to talk to Bjørn Arne Skogstad, program manager at Norwegian Catapult.

 

Why are the catapult centres important? What needs do they address?

– The Catapult centres assist companies in developing prototypes, offer expertise and equipment for testing, visualisation and simulation needed in order to turn innovative ideas into new products and services in an effective manner at a lower risk. By providing expertise, contacts and facilities in various technological areas, the catapult centres can assist companies in their strive to access new markets and captivate interest from other potential business partners. In total, companies from all Norway can take advantage of 800 industrial experts and equipment-technology to the value of close to two billion NOK. The Catapult centres have already given Norway a substantial new innovation capability. In the first 3 years more than 1 600 projects has taken advantage of this innovation capability.

In the context of the digital bioeconomy, what issues do you see as the most important going forward?

– Innovation is essential in all business sectors. In today’s competitive market, enterprises in all business sectors need to constantly develop new solutions and designs to be able to provide the most favourable, cutting-edge technologies and products. Standards and manufacturing methods are being increasingly challenged by global competition, rapid technological developments, and the demand for more sustainable solutions. The ability to quickly utilise new technology and methods is for this reason an inevitable measure to ensure the competitiveness of the enterprises.

A strong capability for innovation stimulates competitiveness. Access to facilities and expertise enhances this capability. Small and medium sized enterprises need an infrastructure for innovation. Norway needs a resilient manufacturing industry to safeguard today’s level of prosperity. There is a clear necessity of developing a modern infrastructure for innovation that supports the industry to produce competitive, high-quality products and services for the future. With major technological developments and greater focus on sustainability, the need for such a strategic infrastructure is explicit.

All Catapult centres offer test facilities of high relevance for the transition of industries in various sectors to a more digital and sustainable bioeconomic future. The five Catapult centres established so far are:

Ocean Innovation Norwegian Catapult centre: This catapult centre offers design, prototyping, testing and verification facilities for the maritime industry. The test facilities include i.a. state-of-the art land-based RASLab (Recirculation Aquaculture System), test facilities offering unique opportunities for the study and development of sustainable, land-based fish farming. The centre also includes AquaCloud, a big data platform for the fish farming industry involving data sharing services and a digital standard for the aquaculture industry. The platform addresses standardisation needs related to sensor data, fish health and environmental data.

DigiCat: The centre offers test facilities, expertise and networks for virtual prototyping and development of digital twins for all industries. In DigiCat’s facilities you can test and validate ideas, concepts and products in a digital world, faster, more efficiently and with less risk than in the physical world. Here you will literally have the opportunity to enter into your product. For example, Optimar – a global leader for automated fish processing systems, conducted the design review of a factory using DigiCat’s virtual prototyping facilities.

Manufacturing technology Norwegian catapult centre: The catapult centre offers help to further develop, simulate and test production lines prior to full-scale production in the companies’ own premises. The centre holds the expertise, the equipment and facilities to give companies increased competitiveness by offering facilities that can satisfy the companies demands on innovation, environmental friendliness and advanced production technology. The centre offers a line of minifactories  i.a. an Additive manufacturing minifactory, a digital manufacturing minifactory, an automated injection molding and winding facility, a metal forming and machining facility, a digital design lab and a lean lab 4.0, supporting companies’ demands on innovation, environmental friendliness and advances production technology.

Future Materials Norwegian catapult centre: This catapult centre addresses the increasing global need for advanced materials. Future materials possesses infrastructure, equipment and expertise in materials, powders and additive manufacturing, as well as the combinations of these. The centre offers expertise for the development and testing of both traditional and new, sustainable materials, offering the opportunity to do analysis of materials in a product, run tests, measurements and characterisations in the lab, including both small and large tests in existing equipment and up to full-scale pilot. The solutions cover metallic materials, composite materials and polymers/plastic materials. Separations and recycling is a strategic area.

The Sustainable Energy Catapult centre: This catapult centre helps businesses develop and test sustainable products and systems for the production, storage, distribution and management of energy. The centre have equipment, facilities and expertise in maritime and decentralised energy systems – both suited for testing of small individual components and larger system solutions. Strategic areas are Floating Offshore Wind, Multi Fuel systems for maritime sector including ammonia and hydrogen, Smart Grid solutions and Hydrogen technology.

Photo: Bjørn Arne Skogstad, program manager at Norwegian Catapult

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The Biobord platform connects bioeconomy developers

Biobord is a transnational bioeconomy network that combines different types of bioeconomy actors, to a joint digital platform.

 

Illustration: Biobord platform

These actors includes researchers, academy representers, business actors, local policy makers, and students. We got to chance to meet Riikka Kumpulainen, linked to Biobord, and ask her a few questions about the platform.

How did it all start? Please tell us about the story of the Biobord platform.

– The story of the Biobord platform and network started in 2017 by a project called RDI2CluB, co-financed by the European development funding programme Interreg Baltic Sea Region. The project aimed to solve a need regarding the lack of innovation capacity in the rural Baltic Sea region. A network operating model in the transnational context, combined with digital operating practices were seen as a solution. Twelve partners of the project, formed, tested and launched a digital meeting place for the rural BSR bioeconomy actors – called Biobord.

What results have you accomplished as part of the projects linked to Biobord?

– Perhaps the most important result of the RDI2CluB was the formulated network, based on the consortium of the project. At the end of the project, the consortium wanted to safeguard the operation of the network by creating joint operating practices and a network agreement model. The development work of the platform and network continued in an extension stage project called ConnectedByBiobord, also co-financed by the European development fund programme Interreg Baltic Sea Region. The extension stage project brought new partners to the network and delivered joint agendas for the network. These joint agendas describe the thematic focus areas, and guide the operations of the network. Joint agendas are: sustainable food production, digital forestry and use of new technologies in the monitoring of wild animals.

How is the Biobord platform used today? What benefits does it offer?

– Currently the Biobord network is consisting of 13 members:

  • JAMK University of Applied Sciences, Finland
  • Regional Council of Central Finland
  • Paper Province, Sweden
  • Krinova Incubator and Science Park, Sweden
  • Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences
  • Tretorget, Norway
  • Świętokrzyskie marshal office, Poland
  • PRO Civis, Poland
  • Regional Science and Technology Park, Poland
  • Vidzeme Planning Region, Latvia
  • Institute for Environmental Solutions, Latvia
  • SEI Tallin, Estonia
  • Pärnumaa Development Centre, Estonia

The extension stage of the project ended in summer 2021, and now, Biobord is operating through bi-annual meetings and through the joint agendas. The essence of the platform and the network is to work together and create a more sustainable Baltic Sea region! Essentially, Biobord is a discussion forum for topics related to bioeconomy. Registering is free and anyone can take part of the open discussions.

Want to learn more? Watch the Biobord introduction video, or contact the network secretary: Riikka Kumpulainen +358 505759454 | Riikka.Kumpulainen@jamk.fi

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We are welcoming the Intelligent Organic Farming testbed to the network

Nordic Testbed Network is happy to introduce you to the Intelligent Organic Farming testbed, linked to the Institute for Environmental Solutions (IES) in Latvia, as a new member.

 

Photo: The Institute for Environmental Solutions

The testbed demonstrates a close cooperation between research and the industry for growing medicinal and aromatic plants, and production of high-value added plant-based products demanded in the largest pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and food manufacturers in Europe. We got the chance to talk to Inese Suija-Markova and Guna Dātava, linked to the testbed.

In the context of the digital bioeconomy, what issues do you see as the most important going forward?

– Digital bioeconomy has a big potential for all kinds of agriculture, including organic farming, which is one of the focus areas of our testbed. It involves the development of tools needed to effectively plan, manage, and optimise production and sales. It can also give farmers an in-depth knowledge of the specific conditions of their farms, like the soil, plant development and vitality, yield quality, waste reduction possibilities, etc.  However, the development and implementation of digital solutions requires active learning, co-creation, experimentation, and various support instruments, like funding for developing, upscaling, and promoting digital solutions.

What would you like to contribute to the network?

– The Institute for Environmental Solutions (IES) can share knowledge and expertise on research-industry cooperation in sustainable innovation development. IES’s Intelligent Organic Farming testbed is focused on medicinal and aromatic plants. The equipment, facilities, and accumulated expertise of IES help to research them in various dimensions – from field to lab, from seed preparation till harvesting, from rubber boots to space, from local to global. Thus, creating the products and services demanded in the largest pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and food manufacturers in Europe.

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News from Drone Center Sweden

A lot has happened at Drone Center Sweden in the last year. We got to the chance to talk to Åke Sivertun, project coordinator at the centre.

 

What has been the main events and news at Drone Center Sweden in 2021?

– Let’s see… says Åke Sivertun, project coordinator at Drone Centre Sweden.

  • The Vinnova UAV testbed project in Västervik ended in December 2020 but Drone Center Sweden continued on commercial grounds with test of “the biggest UAV in the world”, the Thunder Wasp that can carry up to 1 500 kg of payload and which is now used by Danish Vestas for building and maintaining wind power mills, for forest fire fighting and heavy lifts.
  • The Swedish Transport Administration provided the testbed with continuous support in the project Positioning – Navigation – Communication for a further Unmanned Traffic Management system – UTM, [PNK4UTM] that will run to 2024 with support from Telia, Ericsson, Lantmäteriet/SWEPOS, Vattenfall, Södra skogsägarna, T2-data, Wabema, Västervik municipality, WASP/Wara PS.
  • The Large Wallenberg Autonomous Software and System Program (WASP) was performing demo weeks at the testbed.
  • Edit 3.0 hold three exercises with simulated train accidents on the railway in Västervik with the police, the rescue organisations, SOS-alarm, the Swedish Transport Administration, and Swedish Railway.
  • We installed the Altitude Angle Guardian UTM system in the testbed for evaluation and managed to do the EDIT 3.0 exercise at the same time as the Swedish Airforce was holding an exercise in the same airspace from the Västervik airfield only 500 meters away.
  • The Swedish Transport Agency announced the testbed as a geographical UAS-zone.
  • The final seminar for the EU project AFarCloud was organised, with drones and autonomous tractors for the agricultural sector.

What is your most pressing issue going forward?

– The most pressing issue is that it is very difficult to get money to develop the real challenges to get safe and secure operations with UAVs in a bigger scale and over larger distances. US, Korea, Japan and many other countries are taking UAVs much more seriously so the Nordic countries must come together to form regulations and support to develop these services.

What are your expectations for 2022?

– The expectations for 2022 is that we together with the Norwegian UAV firm AVIANT can start long-haul flights with medical equipment, tests and vaccine with support of our systems for Cyber secure and safe operations based on Mobile networks and nRTK or other cyber safe positioning. We also want to finalise operations with support from both 4G LTE and 5G and perhaps be able to provide personal transports with UAVs.