Ericsson and AgriBusiness Connect have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore potential 5G enterprise applications across the Australian agriculture value chain.
Under the MOU, the parties aim to develop new industry value by leveraging Ericsson’s 5G solutions for high-speed, low-latency, and large real-time data handling in public and private networks.
The partners want to accelerate the adoption of new productivity and efficiency solutions for agribusiness and associated sectors to keep Australia at the forefront of Industry 4.0 adoption.
AgriBusiness Connect, established in 2021, is an incubator supporting Australian agribusinesses and the industry to tackle digitalisation, Net Zero, and renewable energy adoption challenges.
Moreover, the Ericsson 5G partnership will extend to agribusiness organisations providing processing, packaging, warehousing, and transport services, in addition to direct players.
Both parties will target education and training for agribusiness workers and raise policymakers’ awareness of the benefits of 5G in digitalising agriculture value chains.
“Our partnership with Ericsson is another important step in our journey to drive innovation across the agribusiness-related ecosystem and ensure that science and technology translate to the real needs of industry. With our market standing, knowledge of the sector, and ecosystem of relationships, we are uniquely positioned to orchestrate end-to-end across the agribusiness value chain. This opens the food for Ericsson and Agribusiness Connect to create tangible pathways to prove the difference 5G can make to business, decarbonization, safety and creating new high-value skills within the agribusiness sector,” Agribusiness Connect Chief Executive Officer Grant Statton said.
Ericsson Australia and New Zealand Head Emilio Romeo commented, “Australia can rightly be proud of its international reputation as a frontrunner in technology change adoption. In the case of 5G rollout, Australia is among the global leaders. The outcome of this partnership between Ericsson and AgriBusiness Connect could see pioneering Enterprise 5G use case ideas with the potential to transform the agribusiness value around the world. Partnerships like this one, working alongside the Government’s digitalization plans, are key to ensuring enterprise, industry, society and citizens benefit from 5G as soon possible.”
Ericsson collaborates with AgriBusiness Connect and AgTech & Logistics Hub in Toowoomba, Queensland, and deployed an Ericsson Private 5G system in 2022 in partnership with Telstra.
