A new building at the BioSense Institute in Novi Sad for scientists and start-ups boosts research on digital innovations for agriculture
Food scarcity is a global crisis and every contribution to counter it is priceless. Thanks to the digital innovations of scientists at the BioSense Institute in Novi Sad, Serbia’s farmers are able to solve problems in their fields, increase their yields and grow more crops. These achievements have led to the recognition of the Institute as a global leader in the digitalisation of agriculture.
But the Institute wants to raise its outreach and aspirations even further. That’s evident in its new building, officially opened at the end of April. Now, with almost 7 000 square metres of state-of-the-art facilities, it is ready to launch Serbia into a new era of cyber-farming.
"We are opening a new chapter thanks to laboratories for cutting-edge research in the field of nano and microtechnologies,” says Vladimir Crnojević, the Institute’s director. “We have a large data centre that will support artificial intelligence, satellite imagery, bioinformatics and other future needs."
Attracting top-notch talents from across the world
As part of the University of Novi Sad, the new building will welcome some 250 scientists and start-ups to develop innovative solutions in agriculture and biotech. BioSense provides competitive services and introduces digital innovations, while connecting research, entrepreneurship, science and market-ready solutions.
“Today, Serbia is recognized as a scientific destination,” says Vesna Bengin, co-founder of the Institute. “Top researchers across the world apply for the job posts we announce. Students in Serbia are choosing majors based on the possibility of getting a job at the BioSense Institute and they build their scientific careers in their own country. These are incredible results.”
Though it already employs scientists from every continent, with its new, highly sophisticated equipment, the Institute will be able to reinforce its scientific potential.
“The institute will be in a position to attract more top-notch talents, not only from Serbia, but worldwide,” says Felicitas Riedl, director for Innovation and Competitiveness at the European Investment Bank. “It will have a unique opportunity to design sustainable and digitalised solutions for agriculture, which are essential for addressing the climate, resource and food scarcity challenges.”
Ready-made digital solutions for farmers
This is the first building of its kind ever to be built in Serbia and the Balkans, because its design prevents vibrations and, thus, allows highly sensitive equipment to be used for the development of sensors, and for micro- and nanotechnologies.
“The BioSense Centre of Excellence will provide tangible digital solutions to the agri-sector,” says Mariya Gabriel, the EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. “It is a lighthouse of excellence in research and innovation in Serbia and the entire Western Balkan region.”
Innovations that contribute to sustainable agriculture
Funds for the construction of the building came from €14 million of EU grants to the Institute’s ANTARES project, which aims to make BioSense a “European Centre of Excellence.” That is complemented by €20 million financing from the European Investment Bank, as part of a loan signed in 2010 for research development in Serbia, and the Serbian government. In the Western Balkans, the European Investment Bank has provided €415 million in financing for this sector since 2005, helping to build, renovate and digitalise facilities for education and science.
With a budget of almost €30 million, ANTARES is the largest research project ever funded by the European Union in Serbia. It has enabled the BioSense Institute to grow from only 50 employees at the beginning in 2017 to over 140 employees, with over 50 holding a doctorate.
Small things that make a big difference
The Institute’s innovations have already become a reliable tool for farmers in Serbia. Over 20 000 of them are using a digital platform called Agrosense that provides access to data such as weather forecasts and satellite imagery of crops. It delivers information about plant growth, the intensity of photosynthesis and the availability of water and nutrients, which enables farmers to optimize every step of their production.
The institute has also developed a method for the early prediction of wheat yields, based on artificial intelligence algorithms. The device, Plant-O-Meter, emits light from selected parts of the spectrum that is reflected by the plant and provides a precise assessment of its condition in just a few seconds. The data is sent via a Bluetooth connection to the farmer’s smartphone, together with the GPS location of the sample.
“Digital agriculture is a synergy between technology and agriculture that is necessary in the time of climate challenges to ensure that agriculture is sustainable, that it provides better results and that our country can provide adequate support to our farmers and ensure their competitiveness in the future,,” says Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić.
Perhaps the most well-known of BioSense’s inventions is a robot called Lala that moves along a predefined path within a plot of land, samples the soil and immediately analyses it. This helps farmers make decisions regarding sowing, watering, and the application of fertilisers, pesticides, and herbicides. Lala received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
