Cajamar Innova Agrotech opens a new call for Technological Challenges to accelerate innovative solutions in agri-food
Description
Cajamar Innova Agrotech has launched a new edition of its Technological Challenges , a call aimed at startups, technology companies, research groups and innovative teams that wish to develop tools and applications aimed at solving real needs of the agri-food sector .
The initiative is part of the Andalucía Agrotech European Digital Innovation Hub (Agrotech EDIH) project and seeks to connect technological talent and challenges in the field , promoting the design, development and validation of solutions in collaboration with technicians and entities in the ecosystem.
Technical support and validation in a real environment
The selected projects will be incorporated into a structured analysis and development program, with specialized technical support from the Cajamar Experimental Station in Las Palmerillas (El Ejido, Almería). This process will provide access to sector-specific knowledge and progress towards proven results , with the aim of facilitating potential future market implementation .
Open innovation challenges for viable and scalable solutions
The Cajamar Innova Agrotech Challenges are conceived as an open innovation mechanism that identifies specific technological demands and establishes a framework for collaboration so that participants can contribute viable, scalable and impactful proposals.
In addition to technical support, the call for proposals offers the opportunity to validate results useful for subsequent commercialization and to integrate into Cajamar's agri-food innovation network. This year, the initiative also has the backing of strategic partners in the sector such as Anecoop, Coexphal, Unica Group, Trops, and Vicasol .
Three technological challenges in this edition
The call for proposals sets out three priority development lines:
- Virtual assistant for pest and disease control
A solution based on artificial intelligence and computer vision is requested that can identify pests and diseases from real field images and offer automated control recommendations tailored to each case. - Digital crop prediction/estimation tool
The second challenge seeks a tool that, through artificial vision, AI and data analysis , allows for the early and accurate estimation of crop yields through the automated analysis of photographs and videos obtained in the field. - Instruments for calculating the water footprint
The third challenge focuses on developing a simple and standardized solution to calculate the water footprint (blue, green and grey) of agri-food products, using basic data on water production and consumption.
The deadline for submitting applications is February 27, 2026. The evaluation and selection process will take place on March 9 of this year, and the deadline for developing the solutions is May 5, 2026 .