Brazilian researchers are going to develop methods based on Internet of Things for intelligent water management in precision irrigation. The creation of a Smart Water Management Platform (SWAMP) is the goal of the project approved by the 4th Brazil-European Union Joint Call for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The proposal, which was granted 1.5 million euros in funds, competed against over 50 submissions from over 300 institutions to the Horizon 2020 Program (H 2020). The project's targets include the implementation of an IoT-based sensing and control system to manage the use of the water in two pilot projects in Brazil's Southeast and Northeast, and two others in Europe. Its broad scope consists in the development and assessment of a smart variable rate irrigation (VRI) platform, initially for central pivots and localized irrigation, in soybean production and viniculture, respectively. The platform will be integrated with management tools and apps aimed at the rational use of water. The proposal is to provide farmers with a daily dynamic map of recommendations, according to real-time information obtained by the platform about the weather, soil, cultivation conditions, and about the levels and quality of the water supply and distribution systems in the field. SWAMP is led by professor Carlos Alberto Kamienski, of the Federal University of ABC (UFABC), with the participation of 11 institutions. These include the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), the Ignatian Educational Foundation "Padre Sabóia de Medeiros" University Center (FEI), Embrapa, the University of Bologna in Italy, Intercrop in Spain, and the VTT Technical Research Centre from Finland. The researchers Marcos Cezar Visoli, da Embrapa Agricultural Informatics (Campinas, SP), André Torre Neto, Ednaldo José Ferreira and Luis Henrique Bassoi, from Embrapa Instrumentation (São Carlos, SP), integrate the team. “It will be an excellent opportunity to advance in the development and use of cloud-based platforms for storage and services”, states Visoli. Torre Neto underscores the importance of the work for the visibility and participation of national research in the world scene. “Participating in the H 2020 has made it possible to expand Brazilian science's insertion in the international context and simultaneously contribute to the country's development by bringing cutting-edge technology to benefit agriculture”, Torre Neto says. For the general head of Embrapa Instrumentation, João de Mendonça Naime, the approval of the project in partnership with the EU confirms the importance of the subject and the excellency of Brazilian researchers. “Embrapa's scientists will contribute with their skills in plant physiology, irrigation technologies, and treatment of large volumes of data (big data). It is a highly strategical investment for Brazil, as solving the complex equation of high demand for food production in light of increasing water scarcity is urgent ”, he evaluates. The joint call of the National Education and Research Network (RNP) with the European Union, supervised by the Secretariat of Computing Policy of the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications (MCTI), selected six projects in the ICT area for funding. The European Union is responsible for financing half of the funds, while the other half comes from the Brazilian Law on Informatics. The RNP's Research and Development coordinator, Wanderson Paim, observes that the 4th call required a lot from participants due to the multidisciplinary nature of submitting institutions, which raised the level of the projects. “Embrapa's participation, with all its expertise, is extremely important to obtain the expected project results”, he punctuates. “It is excellent news, especially in times of contingency”, says Silvia Massruhá, general head of Embrapa Agricultural Informatics. Of the 51 proposals submitted, three approved ones are in the Internet of Things category, two in Cloud Computing, and one in 5G networks. Each project was reviewed by four evaluators, two Brazilians and two Europeans. After their individual evaluation, they all met in Brasília, DF, under the supervision of the European Commission and of representatives from RNP and MCTI, to reach a consensus regarding the approved projects, informed the coordination. The category Internet of Things alone received 34 proposals. Approved projects involve 68 institutions, 39 Brazilian and 29 European ones, comprising 38 universities, 18 companies and 12 research centers. Among the institutions in Brazil there are 24 universities, eight research centers, five large private companies and two medium to small businesses. In the area of Cloud Computing, there were 84 proponents, while 24 institutions applied to 5G networks, and 202 to the Internet of Things, totalling 310 proposals and 968 researcher applicants. Smart platform The Smart Water Management Platform (SWAMP) is due to be implemented within three years, beginning in December 2017, and entails 1.5 million euros in funds or around 5.5 million reais for Brazilian institutions. Approximately 1.2 million reais, 24% of the total, will be allocated to Embrapa. Besides that sum, the corporation is going to receive the input of another million reais due to the equipment and services that will be shared. Embrapa will be responsible for leading the implementation and the evaluation of two pilot units stipulated by the project. In addition, it is going to collaborate with research, jointly with Brazilian and European researchers, to overcome the challenges of the instrumentation and construction of the computational platform for the collection, integration, storage, processing and visualization of data derived from the experiments. A pilot unit on smart irrigation will be set up in the Matopiba region, considered the next major national agricultural frontier, which encompasses the Cerrado biome of the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí, and Bahia, and accounts for a large portion of the Brazilian production of grains and staple fibers. The other experiment will comprise vinicultural research and is programmed to be installed in the Guaspari Vineyard, in Espírito Santo do Pinhal, in the countryside of São Paulo state. The European program H 2020 is the largest research and innovation program created by the European Union (EU), with about 80 billion euros in funds to be allocated in the period from 2014 to 2020. The aim of the call is to strengthen sinergy among competences existing in research and development (R&D) communities in Brazil and the EU, especially for institutions with strong involvement with industries. Translation: Mariana Medeiros