MobileTECH Ag 2020 is now only weeks away. Hundreds of primary sector leaders, developers and early adopters will be travelling to Rotorua for NZ’s leading agritech event on the 7-8 April 2020.
“We are pleased to announce the addition of a new post-conference workshop at MobileTECH Ag 2020,” said Ken Wilson, the Event Manager at Innovatek.
“Jim Wilson, one of our international keynotes and a leading expert in agritech data standards, will be supplementing his conference presentation with a one-day workshop at MobileTECH Ag 2020. Jim is based in the US and is the President & CEO of OAGi and CTO of the AgGateway Global Network,” said Mr Wilson.
The workshop is run on Thursday 9 April by PAANZ (Precision Agriculture Association of New Zealand) and AgritechNZ. It gives delegates a greater insight into the role global data standards play within the ag sector – and how this relates to practical implementation by New Zealand companies, in context with the NZ Government’s Industry Transformation Plan and other sector initiatives.
Data has always been at the heart of business decision-making and has become an essential tool for our farmers, agricultural companies and agritech businesses. In an increasingly connected and global world, our data must be more complete, timely, accurate and comprehensible. International data standards help make this possible.
PAANZ has been working with the AgGateway Global Network over the last couple of years and there is an interest in creating a New Zealand and Australian regional grouping within this global network.
Kenneth Irons, who is on the PAANZ Committee and is the CEO of Precision Farming, is helping to bring Jim Wilson down to New Zealand. He has been a key supporter of MobileTECH Ag over the last several years and understands the importance of this year’s theme, ‘thriving on smart data’.
“This year, data is especially relevant. Government agencies have woken up to the importance, not only of interoperability standards for New Zealand, but also that it is counter productive for NZ to have a set of standards that are different from what the rest of the world,” said Mr Irons.
“Hundreds of global agritech corporations have already signed up to use the standards AgGateway have developed and understand the benefits of solving digital challenges together.”
As part of the MobileTECH Ag 2020 conference programme, another mini-workshop is being run by Rezare Systems. This short workshop is aimed at agritech companies and focuses on how to develop new agritech ideas through ‘designing together’ and understanding your customer.
New Zealand has a growing agritech sector that accounts for up to 1.2 billion dollars in export value. With over 950 agritech companies in New Zealand, it can be hard to stand out and bring new ideas to the market.
“The key to growing an idea within the agritech sector is to innovate with their customers and take time to really understand their needs and also position themselves to discover the next opportunity,” said Andrew Cooke, Managing Director of Rezare Systems.
“Applying technology and smart science in a simple, accessible way is critical to connecting with farmers, improving their businesses and taking account of environmental impacts,” said Mr Cooke.
In an age where AI, machine learning and big data are making the news headlines, it is refreshing to see innovations that are designed to empower the worker, not replace them. The idea here is to increase productivity through connecting both technology and people.
MobileTECH Ag 2020 runs in Rotorua, New Zealand, on 7-8 April 2020. Details on the programme are available on the event website, www.mobiletech.events.
