III Agrarian Startups and Innovation Forum held

The “III agrarian innovation and startups” Forum was organized by the agrarian Innovation Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and in partnership with Azerbaijan State Agrarian University and Azerbaijan University of Technology. The Forum consisted of an exhibition section and an official part, which demonstrated innovative solutions and technologies of Agrarian startups.

The National Anthem was played at the event, and then the memory of national leader Heydar Aliyev and the martyrs who gave their lives for the territorial integrity of our country was commemorated with a minute of silence.

Opening the event, Minister of Agriculture Majnun Mammadov said that the declaration of the development of agriculture by the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev as a priority, the establishment of a diversified state support system and its consistent expansion ensure the long-term dynamic development of the agrarian sector. The minister noted that in agriculture, as in other sectors of the economy, necessary measures are being taken to ensure the application of innovations, the wider use of progressive solutions and technologies. The introduction of innovations in agriculture creates a favorable opportunity to protect and effectively use land and water resources in the agrarian sector, increases productivity, and makes a significant contribution to environmental protection.

As a continuation of the consistent and systematic reforms carried out in connection with the development of the agrarian sector in the country, on the initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture and organized by the agrarian Innovation Center, various projects are being implemented to facilitate the access of startups to foreign markets, conditions are being created for the demonstration of soil and Competitions, contests and hackathons are organized to promote and promote agrarian innovations among young people.

Chairman of the Board of the small and Medium Business Development Agency (SMBDA) Orkhan Mammadov stressed that agrarian startups have great potential to increase competitiveness in agriculture. According to him, startups contribute to the development of the agricultural sector with their technologies and creative solutions. Orkhan Mammadov brought to the attention that SME focuses on agribusiness as a priority area, trainings are organized for representatives of this area in accordance with modern challenges, consulting services are provided, “startup” certificate is issued to them by the agency and grant support is provided.

Rector of Azerbaijan Technical University Vilayat Valiyev, rector of Azerbaijan State Agrarian University Zafar Gurbanov, director of Agrarian Innovation Center Anar Jafarov shared their views on the development of Agrarian startup ecosystem in our country. The speakers emphasized that today's forum plays a coordinating role between agrarian startups and incubation and acceleration centers, and will have a direct impact on increasing the scope of startups and their access to foreign markets. After the speeches, videos about agrarian startups were demonstrated. The Forum continued with panel discussions in the second half of the day. Discussions were held on the topics “development of the ecosystem of Agrarian startups”, “advanced technologies applied in the agrarian sector”, “Smart Agriculture and accurate Agriculture of the future successful startups”.

In the exhibition part of the forum, paving stones made from plastic waste recycling by the winners of various competitions and competitions, biogas from alternative energy sources, hydrogen gas, control system for smart greenhouses, agrorobot cleaning fields from weeds by laser system, climate stations, irrigation control sensors with artificial intelligence applied, smart leash for livestock farms, inter-row agrorobot, pest detection device, devices that Also, representatives of local companies made presentations on innovative activities of companies on agricultural unmanned aerial vehicles, climate stations that determine the population of pests.