The Cocriagro Hub, focused on open innovation in agribusiness, celebrates two years of its foundation, consolidating itself as an important hub for startups, cooperatives, universities, the productive sector and research institutes. In that period, Cocriago has already connected 55 agtechs, 38 of them from outside Londrina (PR), where the hub is based.
Furthermore, Cocriagro's partners number more than 13,000 producers and its startups and researchers can connect with cooperatives, agro-industries, other innovation ecosystems and major agribusiness players through their activities.
"We have partnerships with eight research institutes in various parts of the country, we are part of Agro Valley in Londrina and we also work with other innovation environments. Our latest partnership was with PIT - São José dos Campos Technology Innovation Park (SP) with the aim of expanding the exchange of technologies," explains Cocriagro's head of innovation, Tatiana Fiuza.
Cocriagro also promotes events and farm days with the aim of uniting technology producers with their potential clients. In early 2023, the results of the first Smart Farm soybean crop, cultivated in partnership by Cocriagro and IDR-Paraná (Paraná Rural Development Institute - IAPAR-EMATER), were presented at a Field Day for 400 people. It was the first field experiment in Brazil to bring together technologies from startups, companies, cooperatives and research institutes, says George Hiraiwa, head of institutional relations at Cocriagro.
Another action was developed with 300 young cooperative leaders, mixing activities in the physical world and in the metaverse. The innovation journey adapted the "zero to hero" methodology, where a theme was selected, a problem linked to cooperativism was defined and a solution was developed. According to Tatiana, it was an unprecedented initiative, in which the young people had an integration experience in the metaverse, in line with training done by large corporations and bigtechs.
Over the last 12 months, representatives of the hub have taken part in events all over Brazil, as well as being featured in the national and international press.
Among the highlights of this past year are: the Belagrícola Innovation System Program, for which the company was recognized as an Innovative Company in the retail category by Viasoft, based on the program set up by Cocriagro; the Integrated Connect Innovation Day, with 100 young producers and three startups experiencing open innovation in practice and in the field; and the creation of the project office in the Inquima group, with guidance from Cocriagro to train the group's team to identify innovation projects and seek resources to develop them.
The next challenges are to expand the network of partner producers, so that startups can better access this market, as well as to increasingly position Cocriagro as an environment that promotes innovation in agribusiness throughout the country.
"In this way, we understand that we are contributing to the development of innovation in Paraná, placing our state as a forerunner of innovation in Brazilian agribusiness. This sector is extremely important for our economy," says Tatiana.
