Calgary, AB - October 12, 2017 – Zedi welcomes the announcement yesterday that a Smart Agri-Food SuperCluster is one of nine supercluster proposals from across Canada that has been short-listed to receive a share of a federal investment of $950 million over 5 years into the innovation ecosystem. The announcement was made in Calgary this morning by the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development for the Government of Canada.
A Smart AgriFood SuperCluster proposal had been put together in response to an earlier government request for proposals, and a Letter of Intent was submitted by Lead Applicants that included Agrium, Olds College, and Telus. Zedi was one of a consortium of over 50 companies supporting the proposal. More on the announcement may be viewed at the Olds College web-site by clicking here.
This announcement follows an earlier announcement Zedi made in August about its entry into the AgriFood space through a number of customer projects.
“Zedi’s IIoT platform and capability in sourcing data from rural locations will be important in providing SuperCluster participants with sensor-sourced data that forms the bedrock for innovation”, says James Freeman, CTO & President, New Ventures. “We look forward to lending our expertise to helping create the critical IIoT infrastructure with a distinguished set of partners from the AgriFood Industry.”
Zedi and the rest of the consortium that backed the proposal will now work per government deadlines to more fully develop a proposal by November 24 to win final approval to proceed.
In Canada and the US the primary agriculture, input dealers, and equipment suppliers represent $420 billion in annual GDP (2016 figures). Canada is the world’s 5th largest Agriculture and AgriFood System (AAFS) exporter, while the US is 2nd. In its February 2017 tranche of reports, the Advisory Council on Economic Growth highlighted the AgriFood sector as a high-potential sector for Canada, and challenges facing the AgriFood industry throughout North America – traceability for food quality and nutrition, productivity, GHG reduction, sustainability in the face of climate change – can all benefit from the application of IIoT technology like Zedi’s as part of the “Smart Agriculture” transformation.
About Zedi
Zedi is a leading IIoT company with a background in oil and gas technology and services in the field of production operations. We have 15 years of experience in gathering sensor-sourced asset performance data as well as our ongoing innovation in LPWAN technology. With our unique combination of award-winning automation, data management and field and professional services, we offer complete solutions for the challenges our customers encounter.
