EVAREST

Smart services for generating and utilizing data products in the food industry

Application industry: Food
Technology area: Blockchain/distributed ledger technology; machine learning; data and service management; semantic technologies

The EVAREST research project is developing an open technological platform that allows data from the entire food production chain to be aggregated, refined into higher-quality data products with the help of artificial intelligence (AI), and marketed globally.

The baseline
The food industry is the fourth largest industry in Germany. Especially in industrial food production, masses of data are generated - starting with the cultivation of raw materials and the control of supply chains right through the processing stage, including quality control. Combining and analysing this raw data on a global scale would make it possible to predict, for example, commodity prices or market developments. To date, however, the data has usually only been processed locally, such as at a single location to optimize production there. There is hardly any site-spanning or multi-manufacturer utilization, so a large part of the data value remains unused.

The project goal
The goal of EVAREST is to develop and exploit data products as economic goods in the context of food production. Data products differ from data in that interested parties are willing to pay a price for the data, thus making it economically valuable. Smart, AI-based services (smart services) enable the generation of certain information or forecasts from raw data of different origins. Such data products are especially valuable for producers: If, for instance, a food producer knows that the quality of raw materials in a certain region will decline, he can adjust his production at an early stage. Together with data-based information from other sectors, such as the fertilizer industry, the financial industry, or weather services, even more complex and hence higher-value data products can be created, which are also of interest to other stakeholders. As an example, they help a farmer to optimally plan the coming season.
Within the framework of EVAREST, an overarching technical data platform is being developed on which data products are to be generated and shared. The platform is also the basis for a decentralized global data market under European law. On this platform data-based assets can also be offered to interested parties outside the industry, such as retailers as well as information or financial service providers. A prototype of the platform will be implemented and tested using scenarios from the chocolate production.

Application and practical benefit
Through AI-based analysis of large amounts of raw data, EVAREST opens up new potentials for optimizing food production, allowing to waste less raw materials, produce more sustainably, and save costs. At the same time, the platform opens up opportunities for providers and buyers of data products to develop new business models and applications.

Term: 1 January 2019 to 30 April 2022

Consortium: DFKI GmbH (lead member), Forschungsinstitut für Rationalisierung (FIR), Software AG, Lindt & Sprüngli GmbH, Saarland University, Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft mbH

Contact:
Dr.-Ing. Sabine Janzen
DFKI GmbH

E-Mail: Sabine.Janzen@dfki.de

Website: www.evarest.de