On the 16th of February, the Japan Plant Factory Association (JPFA) and the GreenTech Amsterdam exhibition signed a Memorandum of Understanding to intensify their collaboration. Together with co-host the Netherlands Embassy in Tokyo, a webinar was organized to start the pragmatic collaboration between JPFA and GreenTech on the 23th of March. The partnership, as captured in the MoU between GreenTech and JPFA, is based on the strong relation between Japan and the Netherlands in many areas of trade, but in particular in agriculture. If you registered for the webinar, you can view the recorded video held on March 23, 2022 via this link.
The central point of the collaboration, as expressed with the MoU, is to strengthen the visibility and impact of both organizations in the Global market of tech-driven horticulture. Where the JPFA covers research, training and consulting in the field of horticulture, GreenTech is a premier trade event organizer and global meeting place for all professionals involved in horticulture technology.
The collaboration will stimulate a more active participation of Japanese companies and organizations in the domain covered by GreenTech. This year’s new Robotics & AI pavilion is one of these opportunities. At the same time, JPFA is assisting companies to go abroad but is also keen to introduce new innovations and organizations to its more than 200 members. The Japanese association with a track record in international industry-academia collaboration sees the strong ties with GreenTech as an opportunity to extend its gateway function to Japan.
This while, GreenTech responds to a lot of interest in new technologies that arise from the electronics, digital and automotive industries, which are Japan’s key industrial sectors. Many in the horticulture industry eagerly follow innovation related to robotics, autonomic systems, AI and hydrogen technology. In collaboration with JPFA, GreenTech would like to showcase more of these innovation and commercialized technologies at its fairs in Amsterdam and Mexico City and online platform. It is not only this cross-over technology that the collaboration of JPFA and GreenTech will focus on, as it will also look at core issues like sustainability of the industry, new crops, innovation in plant breeding and many other topics.
Mariska Dreschler, Director Horticulture – GreenTech Global Events: “Japan’s very strong position in automation and robotics makes it an important player in the horticulture sector, as so many countries face labor shortages. Together with JPFA, we stimulate new business opportunities and commercial partnerships involving Japanese companies and innovators in the industry of food & flower production.”
JPFA Vice President Eri Hayashi: “We are grateful for this collaboration with GreenTech. Pursuing this partnership, we believe this is a great opportunity for JPFA members and this exciting horticulture sector as well to stimulate knowledge sharing and global collaboration in business and research.”
As a first joint activity, a webinar was organized. Did you register, but were you not able to attend? Registered users received a password via email to watch the recording. View the recorded video of the webinar here to learn more about agricultural-related trade between the Netherlands and Japan, and the opportunities for Japanese companies on the global market for horticultural technology.
