Kochi Prefecture Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Builds IoP Cloud Computing for New Agriculture
On January 20, Kochi Prefecture established an agricultural platform utilizing digital technology through industry-academia-government collaboration involving JA Kochi Prefecture, Kochi University, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi Prefectural University, the IoP Promotion Organization, the Kochi Prefecture Industrial Association, and the Kochi Prefecture IoT Promotion Laboratory Research Group.
On January 20, Kochi Prefecture established an agricultural platform utilizing digital technology through industry-academia-government collaboration involving JA Kochi Prefecture, Kochi University, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi Prefectural University, the IoP Promotion Organization, the Kochi Prefecture Industrial Association, and the Kochi Prefecture IoT Promotion Laboratory Research Group. Now, the core data collaboration foundation of this platform, the “IoP (Internet of Plants) Cloud,” has been launched.
The IoP Cloud is a cloud-based database system that consolidates in real time device data from IoT-connected agricultural greenhouses and various shipment-related data for agricultural products across Kochi Prefecture. It is said to employ cutting-edge systems and security technologies such as AWS3.
For example, in addition to data such as temperature, humidity, CO2 concentration, camera imagery, and machine operating status inside agricultural greenhouses at production sites, data on agricultural product shipment volumes from JA Kochi Prefecture is also uploaded in real time, interlinked and concentrated in the database. Regarding the aggregation of shipment-related data, the project has targeted data from 3000 farming households from the outset, with a goal of 6000 households, nearly all farming households in the prefecture, by 2023.
By making maximum use of this data, producers can analyze root causes, improve environmental control technology, share information within groups, perform remote monitoring, control, automatic control, and more, enabling strategic increases in production.
Furthermore, based on data analysis by Kochi Prefecture and JA Kochi Prefecture, detailed and highly immediate cultivation guidance can be provided, as well as verification and demonstration of research such as growth prediction based on the physiological conditions of plants by universities and other research institutions.
In addition, universities and research institutions such as the Koshizuka Laboratory at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, Kyushu University, Digital Hollywood University, and the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, as well as companies such as NTT DoCoMo, Fujitsu, and Shikoku Electric Power, have participated in various forms.
Regarding strategic planning, it is supervised by Takashi Koshizuka, Director of the Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies at the University of Tokyo, the super supplier of the Kochi Prefecture IoP Project, and Tomonori Yako of INDUTRIAL-X.
The prefecture will continue to expand its collaboration network going forward, with the IoP Cloud at its core, aiming to establish and disseminate data-driven new agriculture for the Society 5.0 era, with the goals of achieving the development of facility horticulture agriculture in Kochi Prefecture, the integration and development of related industry clusters, and enhancing the appeal of universities within the prefecture.
Additionally, in order to promote the development of machines and software capable of collaboration, an API will be made public. By making the API public, while seeking to expand the market for advanced agricultural machines and software, through that advancement, further work efficiency at production sites will be pursued.