Fields of Co-operation Were Explored Regarding the Establishment of a Smart Greenhouse for the University Putra Malaysia (UPM)

This preliminary meeting aimed to discuss the feasibility of creating a smart greenhouse based on the Internet of Things for UPM with the presence of Dr. Mohammad Jafar Sadigh Damghanizadeh, the Advisor to the Minister and the President of ICT Park; Dr. Abbas Ghanbari Baghestan, the Consulter for ICT Park Communication and International Affairs; Prof. Heng Toh Bahruddin, Vice-Psresident of Industry at UPM; Dr. Nizam Osman, Head of UPM's Industry Liaison Center; and Prof. Loo, Dean of UPM's Faculty of Agriculture in Malaysia.

At the start of this meeting, Dr. Mohammad Jafar Sadigh Damghanizadeh, the Advisor to the Minister and the President of ICT Park, welcomed the guests and expressed his sincerity in holding this meeting in order to establish joint cooperation between Iran's ICT Park and UPM: "ICT Park operates in the field of Information and Communication Technology. We believe that we can revolutionize Iran's different industries by employing the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. It should be mentioned that the shape of industries will change in the coming decades. For example, in future decades, we will experience the creation of self-driving cars. Such developments can also be seen in such industries like agriculture, and this is the reason why ICT Park has progressed towards establishing a smart greenhouse based on the Internet of Things," he said.

"In ICT Park, we tend to employ the concept of the Internet to economize small-scale greenhouses. This is a very crucial task for our nation because our younger generations are not wealthy enough to establish large-scale greenhouses. Of course, in general, this is a suitable undertaking for different communities because it will increase the quality and volume of products and will lead to the reduction of unnecessary costs through the network," noted the Advisor to the Minister and the President of ICT Park.

Dr. Sadigh Damghanizadeh also invited the Malaysians to visit ICT Park and learn more about this complex: "For more than two years, ICT Park has been conducting serious studies for this smart greenhouse project and has created a network in this regard to established communication between different departments. In other words, through this network, we bring together active individuals in businesses, universities, and knowledge-based companies to create a strong network and thereby reduce expenses," he said.

"ICT Park has spent a significant amount of time conducting research on "the economic scale of a greenhouse", and has come to a conclusion that a five hundred square meter greenhouse is economical," he indicated. 

"This year, ICT Park will have a network of smart greenhouses that will be managed using the Internet of Things and only through a control center; hence, there will be no need to waste much manpower in these greenhouses. Therefore, in case there is a common project between ICT Park and the UPM in Malaysia, we can transfer our knowledge regarding the establishment of this network and other relevant information and experiences to UPM," Dr. Mohammad Jafar Sadigh Damghanizadeh clarified.

The Vice-President of Industry at the University Putra Malaysia thanked Dr. Sadigh Damghanizadeh for his explanations and introduced the members present in the meeting: "In the preliminary talks I had with Dr. Ghanbari, your Consulter for International Affairs, I was surprised to see how technology is integrated with agriculture in ICT Park. We were especially amazed to find out that this smart greenhouse based on the Internet of Things in ICT Park, although small-scaled, yet has high yields and products," he said.

"So far, the UPM's Faculty of Agriculture has been carrying on research for development on disease control, fertilizer development, agricultural microbiology and similar concepts, and has proved its strength in these areas; however, when we move towards IoT in agriculture, we need to take assistance from engineering. Unfortunately, our progress in this area is not fast enough and we need to expand modern agriculture based on the Internet of Things in the UPM University," he noted.

"We are well aware that different control factors, including temperature, humidity, light, and other factors are influential in establishing a smart greenhouse but unfortunately we do not have access to the required knowledge. In his opening speech, Dr. Ghanbari mentioned that ICT Park has proper solutions for reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and similar issues. In our country, we have limited access to land. Additionally, we do not have access to technology. Therefore, we aim to create a model similar to the ICT Park's smart greenhouse in our Faculty of Agriculture. In case we proceed with this project in the Faculty of Agriculture, it will be an example that will encourage individuals to invest in this field.

It is worth mentioning that at the end of this meeting, a video clip was presented about ICT Park's smart greenhouse, and the required expenses for establishing this system were discussed. It was also decided that for pursuing further negotiations, an expert team from UPM travel to Iran to evaluate the feasibility of transferring this technology to Malaysia.