VITO and ILVO have formalised their collaboration with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This commitment aims to enhance their partnership and strengthen their research efforts to create a greater impact on agro-food and environmental issues.
ILVO and VITO have identified common research interests that this MoU aims to enhance. Together with VIB, they plan to explore creating an 'agtech flywheel' to focus on adapting agriculture to climate change, developing new plant varieties and crop protection, speeding up product development, and improving ecosystems by linking relevant phenotyping platforms. The goal is to offer a unique resource to the agro-food research community and industry, boosting both R&D and its socio-economic impact.
The MoU also includes a commitment to examining the dynamics of open spaces in Flanders, with an emphasis on balancing nature and agriculture. They will look into developing or optimising technologies to turn agricultural and food by-products and waste into chemicals and materials for the bio-economy.
Water management will also be a key area of focus. By sharing research on water management, quality, and sustainability, both VITO and ILVO aim to strengthen their efforts.
Finally, the MoU highlights their combined expertise in data, robotics, and AI technologies for digital agri-food applications. Bringing together their knowledge, models, and tools is a high priority.
The MoU, signed by Joris Relaes, General Administrator of ILVO, and Inge Neven, CEO of VITO, will be in effect until September 2026.
