NARO agreed to establish the International Associated Laboratory (IAL) to promote international collaborative research with National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE), France. The IAL's main goal is to build robust and efficient agricultural systems based on robotics. On October 7, 2024, the signing ceremony was held in Tokyo and the agreement was signed by NARO President, Dr. KYUMA Kazuo and INRAE President and CEO, Dr. Philippe Mauguin, in the presence of INRAE Vice President, Dr. Jean-François Soussana.
In 2019, NARO and INRAE launched an exchange program for early career researchers (Joint Linkage Call) to foster the research partnerships. The IAL is based on the research topics implemented in 2023. The establishment of IAL makes it possible to combine NARO's operational technologies for farming robots with INRAE's advanced environmental simulation and control techniques. We expect this collaboration to realize innovation through agricultural robotics.
In the future, we plan to exchange information and hold seminars directly related to research and development.
