Manolis Tsantakis, ATLAS Communication and Dissemination Coordinator
Can you explain to us about the ATLAS project and its objectives?
Modern farming is switching to a data-driven approach. Connectivity and interoperability of systems and equipment used in agriculture are crucial factors in the digital transformation of the sector. The ATLAS Interoperability Network will provide the means to interconnect different farming systems and agricultural equipment, tractors, sensor systems and data analysis tools etc, and to establish the flow of data between them. This is indeed an innovative step since it overcomes the current constraints, as well as paves the way for modern data-driven agriculture. Making available tools and solutions interoperable is preferable over replacing them and this is the approach that the ATLAS project follows. Making well established and specialized tools interoperable and leaving the decision about which tool to use to the end-user. The development of the ATLAS Interoperability Network is a bottom-up initiative involving stakeholders from all important agricultural domains, focusing on a technical interoperability which enables the exchange of information between different existing systems. As each of these participating systems is independent and built upon its own technical infrastructure, this leads to a distributed, non-centralized network of systems. In a nutshell, the ATLAS Interoperability Network will provide the means to interconnect different agricultural software systems and equipment and to establish the flow of data between them.
Figure 1: ATLAS interoperability network
How does ATLAS address farmers’ needs?
Modern agriculture is becoming more and more data driven. Although lots of technical solutions already exist, the lack of interoperability demands a careful choice of machines, sensors and data processing platforms. Farmers need credible solutions. The technology developed in ATLAS will be tested and evaluated across Europe in several test sites and agricultural operations and this is a guarantee for farmers.
ATLAS and DEMETER share many of the same objectives – do you see ways in which we can create more synergies?
Instead of a “vague” cooperation, we need a framework of operations and indicators of success. There are a lot of possibilities indeed. For example, possibilities for joint activities or technical groups’ meetings. Joint activities like webinars or policy sessions, online editions, publications and press releases. We can even formalise the provision of advice to each other, but most of all we need a two-ways communication. In July, we are running a series of workshops to share relevant information across both projects.
How can people find out more information about ATLAS?
It is very easy through our webpage https://www.atlas-h2020.eu/ However, if somebody needs further information or want to contact the team of our experts, the project’s email account is info@atlas-h2020.eu At this period, we very much encourage all interested start-ups and SMEs not to miss the second ATLAS Open Call https://www.atlas-h2020.eu/open-call/
