IntSpo shares the stories of Yara, Tine and Kvarøy from IBM's annual Think conference in Oslo. It is exciting when we see how some players are leading the way with concrete use of new technology.

Everyone who are engaged in technology and innovation need good conferences where we can learn from Norwegian experiences with innovation and new technology. I used to attend the annual IBM Think conference which this year took place in Oslo, 14th November.

The conference is also an important meeting place for us innovation companies where we can connect with good potential partners and meet customers, such as Norway Post.

• Have you read this yet? News coverage of IntSpo's collaboration project with Posten (Computerworld)
  
  

Impressive presentations on the use of new technology

The presentations, which IBM plans to publish here, was very relevant. What I noticed at this year's conference was the increased amount of lectures and the interest in conversations around robotics, AI, IoT and Block Chain. But what is perhaps most exciting is when you start to combine these “technology trends” into concrete solutions that really give productivity gains a way forward towards a better adapted business sector.

Here is my summary of the 3 most important lectures:

Yara - modern agriculture with IoT, AI and Big Data

Yara talked about how, with newer grips, they managed to create a good connection between soil IoT sensors, AI and Big Data. Yara has managed to create good prediction patterns for the farmers, so that they can better plan the harvest and achieve improvements in agriculture. Predictions can go far ahead of time, enabling the farmer to plan to a much greater degree than before with great precision. It both reduces food waste, increases the opportunity to create better crops - and thus directly improves earnings. It also creates better products over time, and was a solid piece of work to prove the power of using technology together with human action. In fact, for many of these big farmers, they could invest more money in hiring people because they could increase crops. So this is a good example of technology supporting better employment over time.

• Read more about what Yara envisions for the future of agriculture (Yara's website)
  
  

Kvarøy Fish farming - from production to end user with sensory and Block Chain

Another exciting case was the CEO of Kvarøy Fiskeoppdrett's lecture on how they measured and could guarantee the correct temperature during the entire transport of fish up to the end customer in store. Sensory and use of Block Chains throughout the value chain, from whole fish until it is filleted, packaged and delivered right up to the end user in the US, was important. In addition, this told a lot about how technology in the food industry is so incredibly important for improving the end result - not least with regard to food sustainability from a global perspective.

• Read more om hva Kvarøy ser for seg med fremtidens fiskeoppdrett (Fiskeribladet).
  
  

Tine - improving complex processes and value chains with technology

Tine is a partner for us in IntSpo where we look at IoT solutions for the entire supply chain. There was a lot of expectation around Tine's lectures because they have Norway's most complex value chain. Therefore, it was exciting to get an insight into how they envision embedding technology to support and optimize this.

Tine, like most other major food producers, is characterized by many processes that today require some manual intervention. All manual processes have a certain risk of human error. The truck suddenly has no space in the cargo compartment, you forget to check a tank, you overlook some simple routines, which can cause the process as such to be missing.

Innovative use of new technology is about understanding complex processes and chains.

IntSpo's contribution to IoT innovation

What makes us unique in IntSpo is that we are good at going deep into various value processes and value chains to help large complex organizations. Thinking new with new technology can make a difference where you may not have thought of improvements before. We are only thinking about how we can take steps that improve the processes for customers, and thus increase margins, reduce sources of error, and technology tells us if there are deviations.

Together we make a difference for the future!

Hans Erik

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