During a panel discussion at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit held in Dubai last month, a panel of emphasised the importance of collaboration in the CEA sector.
Fadi Sbaiti, general manager of Khalifa University’s AgX Center for AgriTech and Plant Science noted that early attempts to hoard technology and know-how in order to dominate the market failed.
“The frontrunners drove their own industry over the cliff. They wanted to own everything, and they were running to be the big unicorn that would go into IPO and make billions. The industry right now is more realistic and more disillusioned about this, and the way forward is collaboration,” he said
Tisha Livingstone, president of 80 Acres Farms, echoed his views and said competitive advantage comes from execution and operational excellence, rather than exclusive technology.
“To be able to provide food and food supply, you have to be able to start collaborating. We can’t be afraid to share we have or try to protect it, because everybody needs it. Where you win is executing every single day. You don’t really win on developing some special technology that you’re going to hide from everybody else,” she said.
While technology itself is no longer a barrier, standardisation remains crucial to reduce costs and allow scalability.
Both experts highlighted active collaboration with major industrial and technology firms such as Siemens, Phillips, and Honeywell.
Instead of focusing on developing proprietary technology, Livingstone believed it was more important to develop quality produce.
“You can’t eat technology, but you can taste great products. You need consistent on-shelf delivery and branding that helps consumers find you quickly. They only have three seconds to look around the shelf to be able to find your product. You really have to be able to differentiate, and you have to deliver on quality every time,” said Livingstone.
CEA in the Middle East
The success and sustainability of operations of CEA will also depend on localisation.
Due to the Middle East’s extreme climate, arid conditions, and dust-prone environment, Sbaiti emphasised the need for HVAC and filtration systems built for the Middle East.
“Light is at its peak in terms of development and efficiency there’s still some critical components that require attracting some of those big players – mainly HVAC. We’re not driven by heat. We don’t need to heat our facilities; we need to cool our facilities. Systems imported from the northern part of the world needs to be customised to our requirements. This is an area where we want some standardisation.”
Another challenges that remain is plant science as seeds bred for open-field farming must be conditioned for indoor systems, Sbaiti added.
One of the major issues is that breeding and conditioning seeds for controlled environments is not only capital-intensive, but also time-intensive.
“This is very capital intensive, and they are very lengthy cycles. This is where collaboration between the private sector, academia and government… is really essential to drive this forward.”
