June 13 (SeeNews) - The Croatian unit of German engineering giant Siemens said on Wednesday it will launch with the University of Zagreb a project worth at least one million kuna ($181,000/136,000 euro) to apply Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to improve the quality of olives.
The aim of the project is to develop a concept for a wireless network of sensors to monitor, collect and process data about microclimate conditions and the arrival of olive fruit flies that spoil the quality of the fruit. At present similar monitoring is carried out only manually.
"I believe we will industrialise the project in three-years time," the CEO of Siemens Zagreb, Uwe Gregorius told SeeNews after signing a letter of intent to launch the project with the Dean of the Faculity of Electrical Engineering and Computing of Zagreb University, Vedran Mornara.
The project, named MasliNET (OliveNet), is expected to start at the end of September.
Olive breeding is considered a strategic sector in the Mediterranean part of Croatia. Olive threes in Croatia are estimated at 4.5 million.
Later on, this project could be adapted to other fruits.
(1 euro=7.3396 Croatian kuna)