10035623NOVEL DIGITAL HEALTH PLATFORM FOR PRECISION FARMINGClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKFood security is one of the global challenges facing humanity. By 2050, 50% more food must be produced globally to feed 10B people (WRI, 2018). Meanwhile, climate change is aggravating the stresses on fields, lowering agricultural productivity and pushing the world closer to a food security crisis. In the UK 62,000 tonnes of potatoes are lost annually in the field due to both biotic and abiotic stresses (EIT Food, 2011). Annual potato losses in the UK are estimated at over £100M. The application of pesticides does not offer full protection to crops, incurs high costs and is unsustainable, whilst the increasing unpredictability of abiotic stresses don't allow farmers time to react. Thus, there is a need for rapid disease and abiotic stress identification for a more efficient crop management and crop loss reduction, through a more targeted use of agricultural inputs. FITOvol Ltd was established to address this challenge. FITOvol seeks to reduce crop losses by developing rapid non-invasive diagnostic tools for crop stress detection that can be used by farmers in the field using its proprietary technology platform. It is supported by Durham University (DU), Durham City Incubator (DCI) and Northern Accelerator and has access to DU's state of the art facilities. Its team combines the world leading experts and inspiring young leaders and embodies a cross-generation partnership. The project will develop an image-based recognition diagnostic platform that will consist of a simple camera (e.g. smartphone) and an app powered by our deep learning model. This innovative solution will offer a complementary approach to the current crop stress diagnostic methods and empower farmers to assess crop health without requiring additional expertise. It will enable real-time decision-making for crop management and become a valuable resource for precision farming (estimated £9.5B for 2025). Success will result in the generation of cumulative revenues of ca. £1M over the first 3 years of sales, 2 jobs created, generation of new know-how and introducing a novel plant health diagnostic with potentially very significant economic and social impact to the UK agriculture industry.