Edmonton, Alberta, Canada – The Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) has unveiled the projects to be funded through its second Open Competition.
“CAAIN is pleased to be adding these leading-edge projects to our funding roster,” said Interim CEO, Dr. Cornelia Kreplin. “We received 38 diverse proposals from across Canada in response to an October 1, 2021, nationwide call for submissions. The five recipients are further evidence that the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship remains the backbone of our country’s agri-food sector. These are high-quality initiatives that made it through a rigorous three-step evaluation process. They cover a broad swath of technological advancements, including autonomous farm vehicles, greenhouse automation, artificial intelligence, blockchain traceability, spectrometry, and predictive modelling.”
CAAIN drives advancement in Canada’s agri-food sector by funding promising projects that apply technological solutions to address identified needs, with particular focus on automation & robotics, data-driven decision-making, and the validation & demonstration of emerging AgTech. The initiatives announced today will support the achievement of those goals.
“Canada’s agri-food technology sector is a hive of activity and CAAIN has a significant role to play in supporting the rapidly expanding culture of research & innovation,” said Dr. Kreplin. “It is worth noting that while our support goes to teams that find themselves at the early-to-middle stages of development, we target concepts that demonstrate potential commercial value. Accordingly, we require project teams to include the financial commitment and active participation of at least two small or medium-sized enterprises. Our role is to help grow nascent Canadian businesses whose successes will contribute to the long-term viability of an agri-food value chain facing significant challenges.”
When added to the total of approximately $17M CAAIN expects to provide to the 16 winners of its two previous funding calls, the $3M shared by the five 2021-2022 Open Competition recipients pushes CAAIN’s funding commitments to roughly $20.4M. And CAAIN is just getting started, so stay tuned for more announcements.
Details regarding all our announced projects are available online at https://caain.ca/our-projects/.
“Our government understands just how important it is to support our agricultural sector. That’s why we’re prioritizing investments in agricultural technologies and we are committed to working with CAAIN who is leading in this sector. This competition will produce fantastic and innovative results that will benefit the economy, create new jobs and help support the industry’s growth. ”
The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
“The CAAIN open competitions are empowering a new generation of entrepreneurs to tackle some of the most pressing issues in agriculture and to imagine new opportunities. From robotics to artificial intelligence, these projects will help Canada’s agricultural sector continue to be a leader in sustainability.”
The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
“ CAAIN is thrilled by the response to this latest competition and congratulates those who were successful. These five projects will generate new ideas and will spur innovation for farmers, producers, and industry. The investments we make today are critically important for Canada’s agriculture sector. We can’t wait to see the results of these projects and their impact. ”
Laura Kilcrease, Chair, CAAIN Board of Directors
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The Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network is a not-for-profit company launched in July 2019 with funding of $49.5‑million from the Government of Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund and assistance from Alberta Innovates in the form of significant in-kind contributions. CAAIN drives collaborative AgTech research and innovation from coast to coast.
| Project Funding Inquiries Dr. Cornelia Kreplin Interim CEO Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network cornelia.kreplin@caain.ca |
Media Inquiries Eric Morin, CMP Manager, Communications and Marketing Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network 780.405.3742 | eric.morin@caain.ca |
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