Niall Smith of Cork Institute of Technology gave the speech at the Asia Ireland Food and Agritech Forum in Cork, 14 July as part of Asia Business Week Ireland 2015

1. Asia Matters
Asia Ireland Food and Agritech Forum
14 July 2015
Cork Institute of Technology, Cork
@asiamatters_biz #AsiaIrlFood @asiabizweek
In Food We Trust

2. 14 July 2015
Cork Institute of Technology, Cork
Niall Smith
Head of Research, Cork Institute of Technology
Using Multidisciplinary Research
to Grow the AgriFood Sector

3. Using Multidisciplinary Research to Grow the
AgriFood Sector
Dr. Niall Smith
Head of Research
Asia Matters Workshop CIT 14th July 2015

4. ICT
Lifesciences and Wellbeing
Photonics
Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation
Maritime, Energy and Sustainable Environment
Exercise and Health
Creative and Performing Arts and Media
The Multidisciplinary Innovation Campus
Annual expenditure €17.7m
Thematic Research Areas

5. Lifesciences and Agri-Food
BIO-
ACTIVES
Key areas covered
Medical / BioTech
Veterinary
Agri-Food
Key competencies
Molecular Diagnostics
BIO-actives
BIO-informatics
Examples of IoT for Food & Agritech
Robotic Milking
• Maximising both output from the Automated
Milking System (AMS) unit and grass as a proportion
of cow diet
Genomic selection in dairy and beef cattle
• establish the key parameters and logistics of food
provenance, authenticity and traceability of beef
meat and dairy products using state-of-the-art
genomic technologies
Baby formula
• Protecting the efficacy and prolonging the shelf life

6. Dairy Policy Analysis and Price Volatility
Key areas covered
Dairy Economics
Dairy Policy
Dairy Price and Income Volatility
Dairy Market and Analysis
Dairy Systems Analysis
Reports Produced
“Evaluation of Common Agricultural Policy
Measures Applied to the Dairy Sector” – Case
Study of Irish Dairy Industry and Price
Volatility Analysis (2011)
Irish Dairy Industries Association
European Dairy Association
“Future Expansion Report” for Cork County
Council
Local Processors
Big Data
With Sigma Software Group and
collaborators on forecasting grass growth
using Met Office forecasts

7. Internet of Things Management and Agri-Food
• IoT Management
- Manage the behaviour and resources available to
deliver traceable and secure information across the
specific agri-tech or food value chains – farm to fork
Examples of IoT for Food & Agritech
Securely connect devices
• Farmers, food companies, equipment manufacturers
Sense and monitor farm processes
• Enable decision support to increase yields, monitor animal
health, detect pathogens etc in a safe, secure and
environmentally compatible manner
Targeted behaviour
• Enable autonomous behaviours that can be applied to multiple
agri -tech and food value-chain sectors (crops, livestock,
horticulture)
Key areas covered

8. Highlighting the Asian Linkages - West Cork Agri-Food
Full V-LINC Agri-Food Report Available @ http://www.corkcoco.ie/co/pdf/307756212.pdf
V-LINC Research shows
International Trade linkages
• 50% of (Non-European) trade links reported by Agri-Food
producing firms in West Cork are with Asian Counterparts
Valuable Trade Linkages
• China, India, Oman, Thailand and United Arab Emirates
Key Connectors into Chinese market
• Bord Bia (Shanghai) and Enterprise Ireland (Beijing)
offices
Key areas covered
Industry Clusters and their effectiveness

9. Innovation Through Light
• Photonics – the study of the generation & manipulation of light
• Cross-Cutting Key Enabling Technology
- Telecomms, Medical Devices, Pharma, Food & Agri, …
• Photonics solutions can be:
- Cheap/compact
- Non-contact, non-invasive, non-destructive
- Small footprint – can be integrated at/in-line
Milk Processing
• IR Spectroscopy (Reflectance, NIR, Raman, …) can analyse:
– Fat, Protein, Casein, Melamine, Somatic cell count, …
Food Quality
• Sensors (O2 , CO2) for monitoring packaging, beverage head-space
• Counterfeit detection e.g. butter adulteration with margarine,
authentication of olive oil
Aquaculture
• Water quality monitoring: O2 , CO2 , pH, heavy metals
• UV purification
Examples of Photonics for Food & Agritech

10. Thankyou