During the International Agricultural Show, Philippe Mauguin, President and CEO of INRAE, and Jérôme Le Roy, President of La Ferme Digitale, officially launched a four-year partnership aimed at enhancing collaboration between research and innovation in agriculture and agri-food.
This agreement marks a significant milestone in fostering cooperation between scientists and start-ups to tackle industry challenges, according to a press release. One key aspect of this partnership is the integration of INRAE data sets into the GAIA (Generative Artificial Intelligence for Agriculture) project, an ambitious initiative led by La Ferme Digitale that was showcased at the International AI Summit in Paris on Feb. 10 and 11.
Amid significant transformations in the agricultural sector, innovation is crucial for developing sustainable and efficient solutions that meet the needs of farmers, consumers, and society. With this shared goal, INRAE, the leading global research institute in agriculture, food, and the environment, has partnered with La Ferme Digitale, Europe’s foremost AgriTech network with nearly 200 partners and start-ups focused on agricultural innovation. Together, they have signed an agreement to expedite the creation of innovative solutions.
Through this partnership, INRAE and La Ferme Digitale aim to foster innovations that address critical agricultural challenges, including climate change adaptation, agroecological transition, food sovereignty, and evolving societal expectations.
This collaboration will combine INRAE’s scientific expertise with the entrepreneurial spirit of start-ups, facilitating the development and commercialization of new technologies. By encouraging exchanges between researchers and entrepreneurs, the partnership will streamline the identification of scientific barriers, promote joint projects, and accelerate the transfer of knowledge into practical applications.
The convention is structured around several priorities:
- Better connect research and start-ups: organization of joint reflections and events dedicated to innovation.
- Support the creation of scientific companies: support for scientists wishing to enhance their work through entrepreneurship.
- Evaluate and exploit INRAE and start-up data from La Ferme digitale: enrich the GAIA project to promote the sharing and use of data useful for innovation in agriculture in AI models.
- Stimulate research partnerships: development of collaborations between INRAE and start-ups, facilitation of access to scientific skills and resources and strengthen links between start-ups and pre-industrial demonstrators or Major Challenges supported by France 2030.
- Facilitate access to research infrastructures: opening of INRAE platforms and equipment to start-ups to test and co-develop innovations.
- Hearnd success stories: enhancement of solutions resulting from this cooperation to illustrate the impact of research on agricultural and agri-food innovation.
“This agreement marks an important step for INRAE in its desire to intensify partnerships with agricultural and agri-food start-ups, to co-build solutions that meet the field needs of farmers,” said Philippe Mauguin, President and CEO of INRAE. “By facilitating the circulation of knowledge and expertise, exploiting the contributions of AI and facilitating start-up access to our experimental resources, we accelerate innovation in the service of agricultural and food transitions.”
GAIA: An Open AI Platform for Agriculture
At the center of this initiative is the GAIA project, led by La Ferme Digitale in partnership with OSFARM, INRAE, ACTA, and various public and private stakeholders. The project aims to democratize the use of artificial intelligence in agriculture.
GAIA’s objective is to develop a collaborative tool for creating AI agents tailored for the agricultural sector, built on an open-source foundation. This toolkit will combine software and data to enable the development of new AI agents, akin to intelligent virtual assistants for farmers, promoting greater interoperability and accessibility of agricultural data.
A dual approach for maximum impact includes:
- GAIA Kit: An open-source digital platform that integrates models tailored to agricultural and agri-food challenges, facilitating data exchange among industry stakeholders.
- AI Acculturation Program: Support for identifying and structuring use cases, encouraging the integration of new data into the GAIA reference database. This initiative aims to enhance the sharing of public and private data for optimized use.
