What others share may be relevant to your own challenge

Sometimes an insight from another partner helps you look at your own challenge more clearly. At the Handsfree Agrifood ecosystem event at VDL, participants shared knowledge and questions that may also be relevant beyond their own project context. The sessions added extra direction. They showed how knowledge sharing within Handsfree Agrifood extends beyond one use case and helps others recognise more quickly where projects connect.

When parties have known each other for longer, direct contact between engineers from different organisations becomes easier. As a result, information is shared more readily and collaboration becomes more concrete. Trust takes time, but gains value when partners know how to find each other beyond scheduled meetings.

In practice, technology adoption often takes 3 to 4 years. Customers need to understand what a solution does, how it fits into their work process and why they can trust it. That is exactly why sharing matters. It helps partners recognise adoption questions and preconditions earlier, without suggesting that application will automatically move faster as a result.

The sessions showed how broad a shared question can become when partners look beyond their own use case.

Digital Product Passport (DPP)

In the session on the Digital Product Passport, Jeroen Kerssies from TNO and NXTGEN Smart Industry discussed upcoming European legislation around the DPP and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. This made regulation a practical preparation question for companies, touching on data, agreements and collaboration.

Technology Adoption and AI Deployment (Market Study)

In two subprojects on technology adoption and AI, the focus was on how insights can become more useful for companies in the Agrifood sector. Bart van de Beek from Groenpact and Josephine van Eggelen from FME presented the progress made. The research questions in these subprojects were also reviewed critically, because they need to be more precise to make outcomes easier to compare and translate into a practical guide for other NXTGEN companies.

Ecosystem Objectives

The breakout on ecosystem objectives focused on the long-term vision towards 2030. The discussion centred on the value of built-up collaboration, trust and unexpected connections, alongside the question of how success within Use Case 19 is assessed. Maikel van Essen from Koppert gave the connection with TU Delft as an example that would not have come into view as naturally without NXTGEN.

Sensor technology (Machine Vision & Communities)

The session on machine vision and camera technology, led by Bert Rijk from Aurea, made the value of pre-competitive collaboration concrete. Agtech developers partly use similar hardware and software stacks, including Stereolabs ZED cameras, Nvidia Jetsons and YOLO models. At the same time, they face similar technical challenges, such as unstable third-party drivers, temperature changes and outdoor conditions with mud, vibration and dynamic lighting.

Because the applications differ, from orchard measurements on a tractor to harvesting robots in the greenhouse, companies do not directly compete with each other at this level. By bringing knowledge and questions together, partners may be able to put shared technical questions on the agenda more effectively with major camera manufacturers.

AI is developing quickly and raises questions that do not stay within one use case. Which data can be used, which decisions can be supported and where does using AI in practice require joint agreements? During the event, this brought forward the question of what role AI could have within the consortium and on which themes parties can work together.

VDL Groep hosted the event and is also involved in projects within NXTGEN. In the VDL Experience Center, participants saw how technology, manufacturability and automation come together in different environments. As part of the programme, the tour also contributed to conversations about cross-overs and questions that may arise beyond participants’ own use cases.