Industry, government, and academia collaborate to build an “Agricultural Data Collaboration Infrastructure (Data Platform)”

SoftBank Technology Corp. (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Shinichi Ata, hereinafter referred to as SBT) is the Cabinet Office, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cabinet Secretariat, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and agricultural data collaboration platform (data platform) participating organizations. Participating in a project to be the first in the world to realize data-based agriculture through a data collaboration platform that collaborates between industry, government, and academia, making use of the characteristics of domestic agriculture that has achieved high-value-added agriculture based on experience and intuition. We will inform you that we will do so.

1. Background

With the advancement of IoT and AI in society, evidence-based initiatives that utilize data are attracting attention. Until now, Japanese agriculture has produced a variety of delicious agricultural products based on farmers' years of experience and intuition, but as the population ages, it is difficult to learn these experiences and intuition, and it is difficult to collect data. Since the accumulation of agricultural land has not progressed, there was a need for evidence-based data-based agriculture and new agricultural ICT initiatives.
By converting crop growth conditions, field environments, and their experience and intuition into data, young farmers will be able to acquire experience and intuition at an early stage, and by comparing and analyzing data, farmers will be able to It is expected to bring about various new insights and enable improved productivity and management. Utilizing data is essential to leveraging the strengths of Japan's agriculture.
To this end, various companies must develop various ICT services, overcome the current situation in which each service is completed individually, and collaborate between different services and systems by transcending the barriers of vendors and manufacturers. A data linkage platform is required to realize this.

2. Construction of agricultural data collaboration infrastructure (data platform)

Based on the above-mentioned situation, we will build an "agricultural data collaboration infrastructure (data platform)" to lead the world in promoting new evidence-based data-based agriculture in the big data era.

• In order to launch an agricultural data collaboration platform (data platform) and develop data-based agriculture, we have collaborated with a variety of people related to the agricultural field, including ICT vendors, agricultural machinery manufacturers, research institutions, farmers, and farmer organizations. We will establish a consortium in which the principals will participate.
• The agricultural data collaboration platform will be built on the public cloud and will enable data collaboration between different systems beyond the boundaries of vendors and manufacturers, as well as various agricultural-related information held by public institutions, public research institutes, etc. We will aggregate data related to the various research results held on the platform and make it available as open data or paid data.
• By the end of 2017, we will begin operating a prototype of the ``Agricultural Data Collaboration Platform,'' primarily targeting agricultural production sites. Utilizing this prototype version, various participating entities such as farmers and farmer organizations will promote system coordination and data utilization as a model, verify the effectiveness of evidence-based data-based agriculture, and We plan to connect this to the provision of new services, etc.
• In the future, in addition to utilization at production sites, we plan to expand collaborative efforts from distribution to consumption, promote the participation of a wide variety of entities, and deepen collaboration with related parties.
• SBT will be in charge of providing municipal codes, latitude and longitude information, and considering cooperation with the farmland information disclosure system (national farmland navigation). We also plan to consider service collaboration with SBT Group's ICT agricultural business (farmland matching, visualization of agricultural management, etc.) centered on REDEN Co., Ltd.

[Basic functions of agricultural data collaboration infrastructure (data platform)]

Based on the above-mentioned situation, we will build an "agricultural data collaboration infrastructure (data platform)" to lead the world in promoting new evidence-based data-based agriculture in the big data era.

1. Data linkage function
   It enables data linkage between various agricultural ICT, agricultural machinery, sensors, etc., transcending the barriers of agricultural ICT vendors and agricultural machinery manufacturers.
2. Data sharing function
   This makes it possible to share data under certain rules, making it possible to compare data and provide services that improve productivity.
3. Data provision function
   We aim to accumulate open data such as various public data such as soil, weather, and market conditions, as well as paid data from private companies, and make it possible to provide useful information to farmers for free or for a fee.
4. Service linkage function
   By collaborating with already provided private paid services such as 1km mesh weather forecasts and maps, individual farmers can realize evidence-based agriculture by utilizing these services according to their purpose and timing through the platform. I will try.

[Agricultural data collaboration infrastructure (data platform) participating institutions] (*In no particular order, as of April 1, 2017)
Iseki Agricultural Machinery Co., Ltd., NEC (NEC Corporation), NEC Solution Innovator Co., Ltd., Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, NTT Spatial Information Co., Ltd., NTT DoCoMo, Inc., Keio University SFC Research Institute, ( Kubota Co., Ltd., National Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives, SoftBank Technology Corp., Japan Research Institute, Ltd., NEC Corporation, Microsoft Japan, Ltd., Nextscape Co., Ltd., Agricultural Research Institute (National Research Institute) Organization, Nosho Navi Co., Ltd., Panasonic Co., Ltd., Harex Co., Ltd., Hitachi Solutions Co., Ltd., Visiontec Co., Ltd., Fujitsu Co., Ltd., Yanmar Co., Ltd., Life Business Weather Co., Ltd.

[Related ministries and agencies]
Cabinet Office, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cabinet Secretariat, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

[[Budget, etc.]
This research will be carried out by the Cabinet Office's Strategic Innovation Creation Program (SIP) "Next Generation Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Creation Technology" (management corporation: Iiken Support Center).

• *Company names, product names, and service names mentioned in this release are trademarks or registered trademarks of our company or each company or organization.