At the conference organized on Thursday, November 21 on “Artificial Intelligence and Start-ups in the Agri-Food sector”, Evangelia Fostiropoulou, Technical Project Manager of NEUROPUBLIC, participated in a panel on Artificial Intelligence and the Agri-food sector. The event took place at Atraktos (Athens) and was broadcast via Live Streaming. Its purpose is to open a dialogue on the new data that artificial intelligence has created in the agri-food sector and to highlight the motivations and challenges faced by start-ups, especially those developed by women.

The coordination of this panel was undertaken by Ms. Victoria Apostolopoulou, Editor-in-Chief, Newspaper Ypaithros Chora, while Mr. Dionysis Stamenitis, Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food, Ms. Evangelia Fostiropoulou, Technical Project Manager, NEUROPUBLIC, Ms. Despina Varouta, Vice President of the Agricultural Cooperative of Zagora Pelion and Mr. Christos Raftogiannis, Founder and CEO of CityCrop.

The representative of NEUROPUBLIC spoke about the role of the company in the wider agri-food sector, with services through the gaiasense platform, for the management of the agricultural holding it has developed, which can be adapted to the needs of a farmer, a collective scheme or a consulting company. Then, Ms. Fostiropoulou explained that “the dynamics of this platform lies in the fact that it has the ability to combine three different data sources, while at the same time operating from a digital booklet“.

She gave details about the gaiasense smart farming system that the company has installed in the Greek countryside as well as the gaisense app, and the data that producers easily receive for their benefit, which ensures the reduction of watering, energy, carbon footprint, spraying, fertilization, etc. and therefore saving money.

She also spoke about the contribution of artificial intelligence to the development and development of the wider agri-food sector, stressing that “the automated solutions it provides facilitate processes and productivity, especially in times when we observe that fewer and fewer people are engaged in production, while at the same time, resources are decreasing, and needs are constantly increasing“. In addition, she added that “artificial intelligence has the potential to provide low-cost services, with high quality and in the coming years it will grow even faster, as one of the greatest strengths it possesses is its own data: the more we use it, the more we feed the models, make them better and we also gain knowledge of how it can evolve“.

Finally, referring to the stereotypes of the male-dominated branches of science and industry, she said that “in recent years we have seen more and more women in science and in leadership roles” while stressing the need “to encourage girls of younger ages to engage in STEM disciplines, which are considered male-dominated. They should not enter them with fear.”

The event was organized by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT Food), in collaboration with AWomanCanBe.org, under the auspices of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food.

NEUROPUBLIC actively supports the empowerment of women’s entrepreneurship in the field of Agri-food and utilizes its experience and know-how in application development and artificial intelligence, at every opportunity, both within the company and at targeted events.