TECHNOLOGICAL CAPABILITIES
PLANT PRODUCTION
Horticulture: Technification and improvement in efficiency of horticultural crops
Crop protection:
- Improvement in prediction systems (production control)
- Pest and disease management
- New alternatives to chemical control
New post-harvest treatments: development of protocols that enable a product’s useful life to be extended while maintaining properties and quality
Greenhouses and vertical crops: improvement in the efficiency of production infrastructure based on technification and sustainability.
PRECISION AGRICULTURE (SMART FARMING)
Application of new information and communication technologies (ICT), sensorics, robotics and AI to agricultural tasks, to improve efficiency and reduce inputs:
- Automation of processes and mechanisation of production processes
- Development of measurement systems in agriculture and communication of data with less energy consumption
- Remote sensing for open-air crops using drones and satellites
- Improvement of productivity with mobile robots
- Design of machinery and equipment
DIGITALISATION
Development of data processing systems based on artificial intelligence and deep learning to generate high value-added information for decision making and automation of processes.
- Agriculture 4.0: systems for capturing and processing images and telecommunication systems based on data science
VALUATION
- Design of circular sustainable production processes
- Development of biomaterials based on renewable sources or the transformation of by-products into raw materials
- Reduction of losses in the field
- Development of technology to use plant fibres (hemp, maize, etc.) for textile production, construction and other industries
SUSTAINABILITY
Design of sustainable production processes under the paradigm of circularity within farming and throughout the food chain.
- Management of wastewater to reduce contamination and be able to reuse it
- Design of processes without CO2 emissions to contribute to decarbonisation
- Sources of renewable energy to generate bioenergy
- Preservation of biodiversity of cultivated plants
APPLICATION SECTORS
FOOD
AGRICULTURE AND MARINE ENVIRONMENT
DISTRIBUTION AND MASS CONSUMPTION
HEALTH
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
ENERGY
RELATED PROJECTS
- A multidisciplinary research team led by the Intelligent Data sciEnce and Artificial Intelligence Research Group (IDEAI-UPC) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) is participating in the Agrixels project, which aims to create an agricultural information standard—essentially, a data ecosystem—designed for AI-based services in the agri-food sector.
- The Resource Recovery and Environmental Management (R2EM) of the Center for Research in Multiscale Science and Engineering (CCEM) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) is leading the HARMONIZE project, which focuses on the recovery and valorisation of ammonia from urban and industrial waste streams. The project is part of a larger initiative, MemTecWare, coordinated by the UCM.
- The Tecnologia Orientada a la Comunitat (TOC) research group at UPC, in collaboration with the Centre d'Estudis Porcins de Catalunya, leads the AEROFER project, which aims to demonstrate the viability of liquid fertilisers derived from pig manure in aeroponic cultivation, with the intention of later extrapolating it to conventional crops, thereby closing the loop from waste to resource, with a positive environmental impact on the region.
- The Agricultural Mechanization Unit (UMA) coordinates RENOVATE, a European project aimed at fostering the exchange of practical knowledge among farmers to optimize sustainable crop management through innovation.
