UCAM joins forces with the world's largest drone manufacturer to promote its use in agriculture
The president of the University signed an agreement with DJI Agriculture Spain, the official distributor of the Chinese company DJI Global in Spain, which is the largest manufacturer of unmanned vehicles in the world. DJI Spain has later given a demonstration of the possibilities of this technology for the agricultural sector at IMIDA. These features include real-time data collection and the possibility of acting quickly and accurately against any pest outbreak
The Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia and DJI Agriculture Spain signed a cooperation agreement to develop training and innovation projects related to the application of drone technology in the field of agriculture. The agreement was signed at the Los Jerónimos Campus by María Dolores García, UCAM president, and Joaquín M. Polo, general director of DJI Agriculture Spain.
With this alliance, both parties commit to join forces to design and deliver a comprehensive programme covering key aspects such as drone hardware, artificial intelligence software and piloting techniques specific to agricultural applications. It also aims to promote the provision of services between the different actors in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of UCAM, especially within its 'HUB' of innovation and business acceleration.
Carlos Vicente Caballero, UCAM HiTech director, highlighted the great value of signing this agreement, since ‘DJI has a benchmark technology and a great innovative capacity, while at the same time the agricultural sector is undergoing a major transformation. UCAM has to participate and promote initiatives so that the Region of Murcia keeps being an international benchmark in the world of agriculture.’ Joaquín M. Polo commented on the real possibilities this technology offers farmers today: ‘It is an essential step in digitising agriculture, as it allows for instant analysis. We fly the drone and, after three minutes, we have data on water stress, plant health, the perimeter of the field, etcetera on the screen. In addition, if the plantation has a disease, instead of doing a global treatment of the field, we can quickly apply it in specific areas, reducing the use of chemicals, without using heavy machinery on the field.’
This university-industry cooperation will allow students, researchers and start-ups to explore new possibilities in precision agriculture and drone technology. Both institutions hope this agreement will be a benchmark in training and research in this field. In this sense, Rafael Melendreras, Vice-Dean of the Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering in Telecommunication Technologies emphasised that ‘we are going to work to develop applications in agriculture 4.0 and we are going to set up seminars within the Higher Polytechnic School. We will offer UCAM-specific degrees to train professionals and, together with DJI and IMIDA, we are preparing a master's degree focused on meeting the needs of agricultural companies to make them more productive and sustainable.’
The signing of the agreement was followed by a conference entitled ‘Drones and Agrotech: the new horizon of intelligent agriculture’ at the facilities of the Murcian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research and Development (IMIDA), where a demonstration of drones was carried out. The agricultural application was presented in the technical interventions to lots of representatives from related companies and researchers from the Region of Murcia. The event was co-financed by ERDF funds.
About DJI Agriculture Spain
DJI Agriculture Spain is a company owned by DJI ARS Madrid, the official distributor for Spain of DJI, the world's largest manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles, which is based in China. DJI Agriculture Spain, thanks to an agricultural vertical platform for our country, aims to integrate drones in precision agriculture to promote the digital transformation of the countryside, the improvement of agricultural production, environmental quality and cost reduction, for which it develops projects in which the Chinese company's equipment is integrated.
About the Universidad Católica de Murcia (UCAM):
The Universidad Católica de Murcia is an internationally renowned educational institution offering a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes a wide variety of academic fields. UCAM is committed to training highly qualified professionals and promoting entrepreneurship and research.