The Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) has launched its fourth open competition, a $6M initiative designed to foster advances in a sector of critical importance to our socio-economic wellbeing and environmental sustainability. 

“Our team is pleased to unveil this opportunity to further support the country’s _agricultural industries, especially with respect to activating private investment in Canadian innovation and emphasizing artificial intelligence,” said CAAIN CEO, Darrell Petras, P.Ag. “In almost four years of formal operation, we have approved 35 projects whose combined total value exceeds $100 million. Even more exciting than the investment implications are the new technologies and knowledge that are emerging, the partnerships we're facilitating, and the multisector bridges we’re building. These have long-term implications with respect to the productivity, profitability, sustainability, and global competitiveness of our country’s agri-food industry.”

CAAIN’s mandate from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada is to fund technological responses to the most significant opportunities and challenges facing the nation’s agri-food producers and primary processors. That means supporting promising efforts with the potential to provide economic or environmental value. 

“We hope to attract proposals from agri-food and technology entrepreneurs and researchers looking to solve complex problems,” explained Petras. “While we are casting a wide net in terms of the type of advances we will support, or particular focus is on data-driven solutions. We live in a time of rapid change, and now, more than ever, it is incumbent on us as a society to encourage our risk-takers and out-of-the-box thinkers.”

Details of this program are available online at https://caain.ca/funding-calls/2024-open-competition. Descriptions of the projects we have funded are available online at https://caain.ca/our-projects/. To join CAAIN’s free online agtech community, go to https://network.ca. 

Source:  CAAIN July 30, 2024 news release