Categories
Blog

#EvokeAg – Making the agritech ecosystem visible and discoverable

We recently attended and exhibited at EvokeAg, the new agrifood international technology event specifically for the food and farming community hosted by AgriFutures Australia.

EvokeAg brought together more than 1100 attendees from across the Australian and wider agriculture and agritech industries, including 100+ attendees from New Zealand and a substantial contingent from Israel. The event featured over 100 speakers from 20 countries, but importantly there was opportunity for all participants to share and be involved.

What was big?

Presenters, panels, exhibitors, and discussions covered a wide variety of topics. A few themes emerged:

  • The start-up and investment ecosystem – more about this below;
  • Irrigation and monitoring systems such as Lindsay FieldNet and Wildeye irrigation monitoring;
  • Automation and robotics (Robotics Plus, Yamaha, Bosch, and more);
  • Data collection, analysis, and the application of artificial intelligence. Comments like “Data is the new gold” abounded.

I’m not personally sure that data is the new gold. I think data is more like an ore that needs to be mined, processed, and refined to extract the real gold. Or maybe data is more like electricity – its intrinsic value is established from use, rather than collection.

Its all about the Ecosystem

We think that the biggest impact of EvokeAg is its impact on the agricultural innovation ecosystem. The event brought together a diverse, fragmented, and sometimes vaporous ecosystem of people and organisations and made it concrete and discoverable in the moment. Examples of groups brought together included:

  • Start-ups and new agritechnology players;
  • Investors, incubators and accelerators, and trade partners; and
  • Research and development organisations and funders.

Making connections

A particular genius of this event was the way that conversations and interactions were facilitated.

  • Braindates, facilitated by an app for discovery and bookings, brought together participants with shared interests, making it easy for those who did not know each other to connect.
  • Careful layout of the food stations, with plenty of tables, seats and leaners for eating encouraged fortuitous conversations, as did the set of food trucks outside providing lunch and evening food around a grassy courtyard.
  • A good blend of exhibitors, lounges, and a “start-up alley” encouraged attendees to look around and interact. Brad and I nearly lost count of the number of people who stopped by the Rezare Systems stand, took a seat and had a relaxed discussion.

The challenge for AgriFutures (the organisers of EvokeAg) and the wider industry is how to capitalise on the positive ecosystem effects to drive growth and innovation. The #growAg initiative announced at the conference, along with AusTrade’s Agriculture 4.0 focus should make a big difference. We’ll play our own part as well – continuing the conversations with those who met with us, and offering an Ag Innovations Bootcamp in early June, an in-depth workshop on design and customer engagement in agriculture, suitable for both start-ups and established Australian agribusinesses looking to innovate.