Neovia announced the launch of a new project, called the "Farm of the Future", in July 2016.

This project, which will be implemented before 2020, is both an innovative and social project. The objective is to meet the challenge of feeding the world and innovate with stakeholders to develop a new sustainable way of livestock farming for the future together. This project is also intended to be collaborative and aims to involve innovators, livestock farmers, and consumers in developing a world network of Farms of the Future. To accelerate its implementation, Neovia is launching today a call for solutions to identify technological, academic, and strategic partners.

Open and collaborative innovation at the core of Neovia's strategy

Neovia is currently one of the most innovative companies in its field and has placed innovation at the core of its strategy for a number of years: a state-of-the-art analysis laboratory opened in 2013, We'nov, its World Innovation Centre, opened in 2016, and investment in data analysis and connected objects. This constant investment in innovation must now be coupled with more technological experimentation based on new tools and approaches. It must also be fully connected to new societal challenges to place livestock farmers and consumers at the heart of our approach.

The "Farm of the Future": a social project before a business project

The Farm of the Future project aims to meet the challenge of feeding the world and to innovate with stakeholders to develop a new sustainable way of livestock farming for the future together: livestock farming that gives pride of place to farmers and capitalises on their expertise, that combines performance and responsibility, that relies on modelling and data use, and that is truly modern and connected. Livestock farming that knows how to interact with society!

The Farm of the Future project will initially be based around a connected experimental farm that will be built near Vannes (France) on the site of Neovia's world head office in two or three years’ time. This farm, which will use the most advanced technologies in a redesigned working environment, will initially work on three major species: swine, poultry, and ruminants.

The Farm of the Future will be the hub of a national and international (Brazil and Asia) network. It will work closely with Neovia's world network, ecosystem of partner private and public farms, and all stakeholders involved in the project.

The "Farm of the Future" project is a genuinely open and collaborative project!

The "Farm of the Future" project is an open and collaborative project that is based on an "open innovation" approach and it aims to manage projects in partnership with all the global stakeholders in the ecosystem. These partnerships can take several forms: technological (companies, start-ups, etc.), academic (experts, research institutes, colleges & universities, etc.), or strategic (customers, cooperative partners, etc.).

These partnerships will provide real answers to the economic and social challenges of the food processing industry. How can farmer work-life balance and consumer expectations be combined? How can we use data processing and analysis tools for more precise and efficient management of livestock? How can we better integrate sustainable growth and optimising resources? How can R&D evolve and propose differentiating business models? 

How can we make the "Farm of the Future" a "technology showcase" and a space for dialogue?

Our call for solutions is a unique opportunity to be part of this adventure!

Neovia is launching a call for solutions today! It is aimed at companies, start-ups, research groups, and individuals interested in participating in the project and proposing solutions corresponding to one of the three themes1 selected by the "Farm of the Future": Precision Farming, Easy Farming, and Sustainable Farming and/or relating to one of the three target species (swine, poultry, and ruminants).

People interested in contributing to the following related cross-cutting theme may also apply to a transversal theme: think about the Farm of the Future at "showroom" dimension and ask yourself how best to organise the Farm of the Future to encourage interactions with the public and consumers (tours, scenography, architectural ideas, home automation, activities).

Shortlisted candidates will be able to present their project to a panel of Neovia experts, renowned scientists, and qualified personalities (sociologists ...). Winners of the call for solutions will have high visibility and will have the opportunity to develop, test, and present their solutions to Neovia's customers and even equip the Farm of the Future with them.

For more information and to enter and participate in the "Farm of the Future" adventure go to www.neovia-group.com/en/innovation/fof