The joint work of European researchers, artists, and farmers is coming to an end. Accept our invitation to a festive meeting on the Hungry EcoCities project

The four-year European project Hungry EcoCities, coordinated (among others) by a team from FIT VUT led by doc. Pavel Smrž, is coming to an end. As part of the project, members of the main project team, selected participating artists, partners, and contributors will meet at Koppert Cress in Westland, the Netherlands, a center for innovative food production. The event will take place on February 24 and offers pre-registered participants the opportunity to attend online. The guest of the evening will be the well-known writer Carolyn Steel, who in her books (namely, for example, in the title Sitopia: How to Save the World with Food) presented a vision of future food production and inspired the European project itself.

The purpose of the upcoming Grand Gathering is to summarize the course of the project, share the most interesting results and findings that can help innovate ways of securing food in the future, primarily in urban environments and in a sustainable manner. Yes, in the context of information technology, we are indeed talking about the food and, more broadly, the agricultural sector. Food and the ways in which we obtain it may seem like an everyday matter. However, behind every bite we eat is a long chain that starts with the farmer and continues through storage and logistics to distribution. And these chains are now strongly influenced by changes: migration (not only) to cities, climate change, and the uncertainty of securing food sources, especially for the urban environment of the future. The Hungry EcoCities project has set itself the goal of providing creative and unusual ideas on how to face these changes. It is unique in that it connects areas we would not expect: artificial intelligence, agriculture, and art.

Searching for optimal sound sequences to support plant growth. Capturing the traditional practices of a southern Italian producer of Parma ham in a technologically unique way. Monitoring the interaction between soil and biowaste produced by a compostable sculpture created using 3D printing. These are just a few of the many original ideas supported by the project's second call for proposals. What immediately catches the eye of even a layman about Hungry EcoCities is the connection between three worlds. Each sub-project involved collaboration between small and medium-sized farmers, around twenty artists led by three major design studios (the Turin-based architectural studio Carlo Ratti Associati, the Berlin-based Studio Other Spaces, and some of the world's leading architects associated with Rem Koolhaas), as well as scientists from the fields of IT and agronomy. The common goal of their efforts can be summarized as follows: Introducing digital technologies into the agricultural sector through artistically motivated experiments. The results of the collaboration over the past three years will surprise you with their unorthodox and highly practical nature. Take a look, for example, at the series of videos about the project. Or visit the HEClab platform, where individual prototypes are presented.

Pavel Smrž himself points out that FIT contributes to Hungry EcoCities not only through its coordinating role (organizing calls for proposals, open competitions, and ensuring activity reporting), but also through expert support in the implementation of AI and IoT sensors. In connection with the project, several student theses were also written at the faculty, e.g., related to monitoring the life cycle of the mealworm beetle. "The challenge was the practical application of IoT technologies, especially when deployed in agriculture and often in remote locations, on pastures or in the mountains," says Smrž, referring to the problem of battery replacement and practical operation of the equipment.

Hungry EcoCities is not a standard European project. By connecting information technology with such a traditional sphere as small-scale agriculture and farming, it breaks down the established stereotypes of artists and "IT guys." See for yourself. Register for the online ceremony here.