Tel Aviv University and Tata Trusts Join Hands to Bring Israeli Tech to Indian Farmers

Tel Aviv University and Tata Trusts are launching the Indian Centre for Agri & Allied Tech (I-CAT) that will bring Israeli know-how and innovation to the farmers of the state of Andhra Pradesh in southern India.

The initiative, supported by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, will include an advanced R&D center, as well as activities of agricultural experts in villages and farms – aiming to overcome various technological, agronomic and economic barriers, and promote sustainable agriculture and food security. In the future, the program will be extended to all parts of India.

Assisted by TAU's Boris Mints Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions to Global Challenges, the program will operate a joint TAU-Tata Trusts steering committee, collaborating with experts from both Israel and India, in order to identify problems in rural India and find potential solutions in Israel.

The program consists of five main components: experts, corporations and research institutes in Israel will adapt existing technologies and develop new solutions to meet the needs of Indian agriculture;

• the central R&D hub to be established in Andhra Pradesh will test the various solutions under local conditions, while training local workers to operate the new technologies;




• a network of satellite farms will conduct additional experiments, and supply farmers with guidance and various services;




• farmers in each of the hundreds of villages throughout Andhra Pradesh will implement and test the new technologies in their own fields;




• business models will be developed to support wide diffusion of the innovative solutions among the broader farming population.

Israel's Tel Aviv University is known for its advance research in 'arid-zone agriculture', an agricultural techniques for non-irrigated cultivation of crops, and 'Dryland farming', which is associated with drylands - dry areas characterized by a cool wet season followed by a warm dry season.


Notably, of late, a lot is being done in the field of agri-tech in India, as last week government of India's policy think-tank NITI Aayog has partnered IBM to develop a crop yield prediction model using artificial intelligence (AI) to provide real time advisory to farmers in backward states of India.

NITI Aayog has also tied up with Google to foster AI and Machine Learning ecosystem in India.

[Top Image - TheTimesofIsrael.com]

Tel Aviv University and Tata Trusts Join Hands to Bring Israeli Tech to Indian Farmers

Tel Aviv University and Tata Trusts are launching the Indian Centre for Agri & Allied Tech (I-CAT) that will bring Israeli know-how and innovation to the farmers of the state of Andhra Pradesh in southern India.

The initiative, supported by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, will include an advanced R&D center, as well as activities of agricultural experts in villages and farms – aiming to overcome various technological, agronomic and economic barriers, and promote sustainable agriculture and food security. In the future, the program will be extended to all parts of India.

Assisted by TAU's Boris Mints Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions to Global Challenges, the program will operate a joint TAU-Tata Trusts steering committee, collaborating with experts from both Israel and India, in order to identify problems in rural India and find potential solutions in Israel.

The program consists of five main components: experts, corporations and research institutes in Israel will adapt existing technologies and develop new solutions to meet the needs of Indian agriculture;

• the central R&D hub to be established in Andhra Pradesh will test the various solutions under local conditions, while training local workers to operate the new technologies;




• a network of satellite farms will conduct additional experiments, and supply farmers with guidance and various services;




• farmers in each of the hundreds of villages throughout Andhra Pradesh will implement and test the new technologies in their own fields;




• business models will be developed to support wide diffusion of the innovative solutions among the broader farming population.

Israel's Tel Aviv University is known for its advance research in 'arid-zone agriculture', an agricultural techniques for non-irrigated cultivation of crops, and 'Dryland farming', which is associated with drylands - dry areas characterized by a cool wet season followed by a warm dry season.


Notably, of late, a lot is being done in the field of agri-tech in India, as last week government of India's policy think-tank NITI Aayog has partnered IBM to develop a crop yield prediction model using artificial intelligence (AI) to provide real time advisory to farmers in backward states of India.

NITI Aayog has also tied up with Google to foster AI and Machine Learning ecosystem in India.

[Top Image - TheTimesofIsrael.com]

Israel's Startup Capital To Help India Develop 'Smart Cities'

In order to up its game in the startup arena and extend a helping hand to India on doing the same, Israel's start-up city Tel Aviv has recently sealed a partnership with a Mumbai-based NGO called Delivering Change Foundation.

In December 2012, the city was ranked second on a list of top places to found a high tech startup company, just behind Silicon Valley. In 2013, Tel Aviv had more than 700 startup companies and research and development centers, and was ranked the second-most innovative city in the world, behind Medellín and ahead of New York City.

According to the partnership's agreement, Tel Aviv has agreed to assist in creating “smart cities” in India. This mean, all the wondrous innovative digital technologies implemented by the high-tech capital will now traverse the city to go international. Israeli representatives from the tech city are all slated to train, mentor, assist, escort Indian city officials on how to pull off technological urban transformations in the country.

According to an article published in The Jerusalem Post, the municipality has partnered with the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Jaffa in order to relay the information on the smart systems being utilised in Israel's start up city. The initiative is all set to incorporate Pune, Nagpur and Nashik in the northwestern state of Maharashtra.

In its drive to become a sustainable smart city which enhances the lives of its residents at the same time, Tel Aviv has incorporated various digital resources into its urban ecosystem. This includes the city’s interest and location-based DigiTel pass, digital city services, GPS-based mobile applications and city-wide WiFi.

"We are committed to working closely with the top executives as well as entrepreneurs in fostering innovation and distributing the knowledge generated in Tel Aviv – the 'start-up city' world wide," said Prof. Israel (Izzy) Borovich, the college's dean of the School of Economics and Management in a statement.

The recent years have seen Tel Aviv becoming one of the world’s leading smart cities. All this is a result of its constant innovation, resident engagement and out of the box thinking.

All thanks to Tel Aviv’s constant technological and civic initiatives, Israel’s second-largest city had recently added the World Smart Cities Award at the 2014 Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona to its kitty.

"As a city maker, I am delighted that we are now opening our smart city to the world – assisting other cities and mentoring them in the field of smart cities initiative," said Hila Oren, CEO and founder of Tel Aviv Global.

We hope that this partnership turns out to be successful for both India and Israel.