Automation of soil sensors will be the focus of the partnership

A technical cooperation agreement was signed on the 15th by the general head of Embrapa Solos, José Carlos Polidoro, and the director of CBPF, Ronald Cintra Shellard, with the presence of researchers from both institutions. The automation of sensors used to evaluate soil physical-water properties is one of the main focuses of the partnership.

Researchers from both institutions have already been working together to develop equipment that automates the reading and storage of physical-water data from soil and water, called a digital permeameter. Along with the cooperation agreement, a technical note of ownership was also signed, a document necessary to initiate the patenting process for this equipment, developed at the Instrumentation and Measurements Laboratory (LIM) of CBPF, under the coordination of researcher Geraldo Cernicchiaro, with the collaboration of Embrapa Solos researcher Wenceslau Geraldes Teixeira. The instrument allows you to automate the reading and storage of soil and water physical-water data, especially those on the terrain's hydraulic conductivity. Similar devices available on the market are analog, with costly operation and manual reading.

According to the Management of Embrapa Soils, the Unit's partnership with CBPF occurs at an opportune moment, due to the Company's research and development priorities involving the generation of information and communication technologies, computational biology, statistics and bioinformatics applied to analysis of large amounts of data (Big Data) and the development and improvement of databases and tools for simulating and analyzing climate risks for the main crops in different Brazilian regions.

For Polidoro, although the partnership already has practical results, the perspective is that this collaboration will be the gateway to other innovations. “Two institutions, in principle distinct in their missions, together can produce wonderful things. It is necessary to objectively seek solutions to problems that limit farmer productivity”, said the head of Embrapa Solos.

“CBPF is a basic science institution, but it has always sought mechanisms to develop useful applications for society, especially in the development of instruments and tools that promote the advancement of knowledge. I hope that this partnership also represents an opening for a more comprehensive relationship between CBPF, other Embrapa units and other institutes linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications (MCTIC)”, revealed Shellard.

For the supervisor of Contracts and Technological Business at Embrapa Solos, Melissa Dalarme, the cooperation agreement with CBPF also marks the strengthening of the partnership between the areas of technology transfer, intellectual property and technological business of the Embrapa unit with the Technological Innovation Center - Rio (NIT-Rio), which encompasses all MCTIC Research Units in Rio de Janeiro, including CBPF.

According to the head of Technology Transfer at Embrapa Solos, Petula Nascimento, the partnership with NIT-Rio will continue in the form of technological prospecting for the digital permeameter, aiming to search for a market for this technology.