It is commonly known that Östergötland is the home to highly competitive software, telecom and electronics companies. Östergötland is also, however, a strong agricultural region and technology is becoming increasingly important in all steps of the agricultural and food value chain. A better pairing and matching of tech companies and needs within the agricultural sector can both open new markets for innovative tech companies and help agricultural companies to produce more and healthier food – with a smaller environmental foot print. To make this happen Linköping university, Region Östergötland and a number of actors within tech and agriculture are now joining forces to launch a regional initiative – Agtech 2030, that will foster Agtech innovations, promote internationalisation and knowledge transfer and underpin physical assets that link different knowledge fields into new fruitful collaborations. Fundraising for Agtech 2030 will be on-going during 2018.
We welcome companies and research institutions to engage in the initiative. A potentially interesting possibility is leveraging development budgets by participating in collaborative innovation projects. A significant part of Agtech 2030’s budget will be reserved for co-financing of market-oriented, innovation projects where companies collaborate with other companies and / or research actors to develop new products, services and solutions.
