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KIST Gangneung Holds Smart Farm Technology Exhibition (2018.06.04)
- Date : 2018-07-20
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KIST Gangneung Holds Smart Farm Technology Exhibition
On June 4, the KIST Gangneung Institute of Natural Products held an exhibition of core smart farm technologies developed by its Convergence Research Center for Smart Farm Solution.
The exhibition was accompanied by a technology demonstration, and attendees included Dr. Lee Jin-gyu, 1st vice minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT; Dr. Won Kwang-yeon, chairman of the National Research Council of Science and Technology; Dr. Lee Byung Gwon, president of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST); Dr. Yi Sung-il, president of the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH); Dr. Kwak Byung-Sung, president of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER); and Dr. Park Dong June, president of the Korea Food Research Institute (KFRI).
The Convergence Research Center for Smart Farm Solution, which is headquartered at KIST, was launched in October 2015 with funding from the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Council of Science and Technology. The center exists thanks to the contributions of five government-funded research institutes; namely, KIST, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), KITECH, KIER, and KFRI.
In addition, nine companies―including CultiLabs, a company based around KIST technology―participated in the event, adding to its impact.
The eight core technologies (which resulted in 18 more specified technologies) exhibited were: 1) new crop development measurement/analysis techniques, 2) smart irrigation based on complex physiological/environmental measurements, 3) circular sterilization/treatment of a nutrient solution for improved water conservation, 4) smart complex environmental controls, 5) smart greenhouse work controls, 6) optimal energy control, 7) smart farm information utilization, 8) and improved cultivation of functional crops used as food and drug-sources. These technologies are predicted to substantially enhance Korean agriculture and industry.
The Convergence Research Center for Smart Farm Solution transferred technologies worth a total of 1.2 billion KRW to six different companies, and it is establishing a hectare (ha; 10,000㎡)-sized smart farm in Dangjin to utilize waste heat from a nearby power station. Also, the center established and is currently operating smart farm testbeds in the cities of Pohang and Sejong, in an attempt to develop technologies that are immediately applicable to agricultural sites.
KIST President Lee Byung Gwon stated, “The technologies developed by the Convergence Research Center for Smart Farm Solution will be applied to domestic and foreign agricultural sites via Korean smart farm-related companies, resulting in the upgrading of Korea’s smart farm industry.”
Dr. Nho Chu Won, head of the center, assured people that the center would “continue working to develop and disseminate new technologies to farms via collaboration with the Ministry of Science and ICT; the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; the Rural Development Administration; and others.”