Agritech Grand Prix 2023 From the Greetings from the President of the Jury
Shuichiro Takahashi, President and COO, Liverness, Inc.
Agri-Tech's Infinite Possibilities
The earth is like a Lego block. That is how I see it. We have created various things using the limited parts of the earth, but when we think about the future of the world and human food, I believe that the possibilities of agri-tech are endless. Agri-tech is a technology that is directly related to the existence of mankind, and it is a field closely linked to the act of eating, which will never cease for mankind. Then, how can we create agri-tech that supports our food? That is what I would like to talk about today.
While there are endless possibilities for agri-tech, there are also many challenges facing our planet. We are now faced with the question of how to respond to the ever-increasing population and environmental problems. What kind of world and what kind of planet will we leave behind for the next generation is what we must do now.
Two years from now, in the year 2025. In this year, 75% of the world's working population will be millennials. Even in Japan, which is said to have a super low birthrate and aging population, half of the working population will be millennials. They have been familiar with environmental issues from the time they were born and feel that they must somehow solve them. They are the generation that has always been thinking about how to create a sustainable society and a sustainable planet.
As they become the mainstream of the times, production and consumption will be based on the idea of how to create an ecosystem, rather than mass production and mass consumption based on GDP growth. In fact, in recent years, many keywords such as "symbiotic society" and "decentralized society" have emerged. In the field of agri-tech, for example, let's build a plant factory that can be done inside a container, create aquaculture technology, generate energy, and recycle waste. Such unitary and decentralized technologies are spreading rapidly.
And even beyond that, 50 or 100 years from now. Our grandchildren's generation, the generation beyond the decentralized society, will have left the earth and will be living in space. It is the decentralized technology that is being created now that will create that future.
Solving problems with a collection of technologies
I mentioned earlier that there are many challenges on the planet, and those challenges are indeed complex. Therefore, it is unlikely that just one technology will save humanity. We need to create an aggregate of technologies to meet the challenges. Tech-Plantar is a place to create such an aggregate of technologies.
Since its inception in 2014, more than 2,000 domestic and 1,300 international colleagues have gathered here with their passion and expertise. The Agri-Tech Grand Prix is formally a business plan competition. Although the format is that finalists make their presentations here and are evaluated by a panel of judges, we do not want to rank them. Everyone here is united to solve the Earth's problems and create the future in preparation for the coming "Space Century. I believe that you are all here today as part of that team.
Liberace is not simply an organization that operates, either. We are a group of researchers who originally came together from universities to start this organization. We intend to exercise leadership more than anyone else and move as players to create the future.
Here are two real-life examples of a movement to create the future: The first is the "Liberace Forest Project," which began this year. At the center of this project is GALANSIYANG Inc., a venture company that participated in the Tech Planter competition in the Philippines. Because the Philippines is a gold, copper, and nickel-producing country, various foreign companies have come into the country and dug up Philippine mountains, destroying nature. Galancian is working on a project to somehow restore the forests by using drones to spread "seed balls," which are plant seeds covered with soil and other materials in a spherical shape.
Dr. Keiko Yamaji of Tsukuba University, who won the top prize at last year's Agri-Tech Grand Prix, had a technology called "functional microbial capsules" that was truly an improvement on seed balls. After hearing Galanthian's presentation, many people came up with the idea of "working together," and moreover, many people gathered around the Tech Planter partners. This is how the "Liberace Forest Project" was born, where each company and person brings their technology, knowledge, and assets to reforest the forest. This is exactly the kind of project that Tech Planter is a place to create.
Another example is the "BeAGRI" project. In Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture, there is a school called Koibuchi Gakuen, which trains future producers in agriculture and food. We brought a variety of agritech technologies to a 23-hectare field there for demonstration purposes, and created a pathway to sell the vegetables produced there.
Three companies have already begun demonstration tests, and a team called Anitech has brought its own sensor from the Philippines to collect data in a greenhouse at Koibuchi Gakuen. In this way, RIVANES will lead the way as a player until technologies developed by universities and companies solve social issues.
There are many friends here today who can work together on projects like the case studies you have presented. So, finalists, please think about finding as many friends as possible, including members of RIVANES, and make your presentations.
Tech Planter is a "knowledge manufacturing site."
Liberace has been struggling to create a knowledge platform by getting many national and international teams to join the Tech Planter. In the process, we realized. What is needed to solve the world's problems is to combine knowledge and manufacture new knowledge.
We call it "knowledge manufacturing. Knowledge manufacturing is nothing more than the creation of new knowledge by combining the knowledge possessed by each individual. Knowledge includes not only the existing business of a company, but also the assets and know-how within the company, as well as its culture and thoughts. By combining these things, we are going to take on the world's challenges. TechPlanter is truly a knowledge manufacturing site.
Today, 12 ideas backed by a sense of challenge (Question) and passion (Passion) will be presented here. What kind of knowledge manufacturing can we do? As the head of the jury, I am going to sweat my brain the hardest and talk with you all about how we can do this.
A new era of knowledge manufacturing is upon us. Let us all combine our knowledge together, believing that this place today will be the most advanced advanced point of knowledge manufacturing in AgriTech.
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