Funding to turn data into knowledge

The focus of the AquaSmart project is to enhance the innovation capacity within the aquaculture sector by helping companies to transform captured data into knowledge, and by sharing this knowledge to improve efficiency, increase profitability and carry out business in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way.

AquaSmart’s objective is to strengthen the competitiveness and growth potential of European aquaculture production companies by providing the necessary tools to turn the large volumes of heterogeneous aquaculture data into knowledge, by enabling companies to access and analyse global open data, and by extracting the knowledge from current data and experiences of the sector.

Q-Validus, which is headquartered at NexusUCD, the Industry Partnership Centre, at University College Dublin, will deliver the quality assurance aspects of the AquaSmart project. This includes data dissemination and engagement of participants across the sector as well as the establishment of a ‘Big Data’ fish farm analytics standard in line with the CEN (European Committee for Standardization) Workshop Agreement protocols.

Garry Cleere, managing director, Q-Validus said, “The development of a fish farm analytics standard led by Q-Validus will help companies to better estimate daily biomass, optimise feeding rates and management practices. This will improve the FCR (Feed Conversion Rate), which means less feed will be provided to the fish and therefore, less organic material and energy are consumed for the production of the feed, which will also have a further positive impact on the environment.”