
Creating Sustainable Agriculture through Digitalization Pavel Hilman, CEO, Sensilize

Creating Sustainable Agriculture through Digitalization
A passionate entrepreneur with 10 years of hands-on experience in supplies of sustainable plant nutrition and health solutions to farms in Eastern Europe, Pavel Hilman is a well-known name in the industry today. He is the CEO of Sensilize, a precision agriculture company involved in development of software and hardware solutions for crop field monitoring and data analytics, based on remote sensing and Artificial Intelligence. He speaks on an array of topics in an interview. Excerpts:
Conception of Sensilize
Sensilize is an international scientific precision agriculture IT company manufacturing and supplying farmers with integrated remote sensing hardware and software solutions for crop health analysis and management. As an easy-to-use, easily integrated device, the platform provides ultimate user experience through a simple interface. System provides options to import data from third device and platforms and export ready maps and recommendations which gives synergies with other farming equipment while selective till age helps reduce costs on fuel. “It helps in reducing environmental effects of mineral fertilizers, phosphates and crop protection chemicals use too” explains Pavel.
AI- Empowered Solutioning
SENSILIZE Decision Support System with spectral recognition algorithms of automatic crop stresses detection and identification that provides field monitoring and analysis services with actionable recommendations for harvest loss prevention. This makes transformation to sustainable and organic production financially feasible. Says Pavel that the system contains phenotyping AI algorithms for plant diagnostics, predictive analytics, and online scientific support by human crop experts. “The solution helps to optimize farming practice and resources with targeted nutrition and protection of crops based on a reflectance signature pattern recognition. With help of our algorithms we enable farmers to choose the most optimal crops to sow, considering soil parameters and crop rotation. This also helps in precise calculation of seeding density, plan nutrition and protection programs in simple and easy to use online system.”
The disruptive approach allows farmers to collect and analyze more, integrating existing hardware and software solutions and obtain case-specific advice from remote expert consultants. The novel approach of plant physiology allows customization of surrounding environment parameters precisely to each farm and receive actionable insights after considering micronutrient content at each field location. Touted as the first project to adopt a plant physiology approach with application of AI-powered with phenotyping, the platform aims to consolidate data collection from all commonly used third party IoT devices and Big Data sources. “Mapping all data types over several layers brings synergies in the holistic approach of plant health. On-demand professional recommendations and reports can be obtained online by farmers allowing them to apply most relevant crop expert knowledge from plant pathologists, physiologists and agronomists in case-specific crop problems.”
Pandemic Effect on Agriculture Industry
Pavel laments that farmers loose over half of crops before harvesting and then almost half after in logistics and storage. And those are statistics before pandemic while things are getting worse as more diverse restrictions are taking place as well as climate change, making it harder to produce with the old farming practices they used through generations. “As the world is facing a severe food crisis, organic food grown in natural condition will soon turn into absolute luxury,” he observes.
He notes that agriculture is the most saturated sector with useful collectable data among all other industries, and the second least digitalized one. “AI provides a great opportunity to process large volumes of diverse data, evaluate and predict physiological crop response based on biophysical parameters we manage to extract from spectral data, IoT, app and field labs.” Predictive analytics of historical and real time data helps to foresee and mitigate crop stress with application of location-specific biological crop nutrition and protection products. This facilitates better yield, while reducing the use of pesticides and mineral fertilizers commonly used in conventional farming, as well as improve general soil fertility contributing to sustainable long-term farming approach. “Never before farmers were able to detect and apply nutrients and protection for each field segment individually with targeted nutrition dosage application. Thus we are to see a great surge of digital solutions that help the process data in many ways and give useful insights as well as those that create a new industry infrastructure giving ability to double food production volumes on smaller.”
Leadership Traits
“I believe it is crucial to create productive environment and achieve Integrity in the team. I believe my ability to unite people and develop relationship of trust is probably the most important one.”
A Word of Advice for Start Ups
“Never give up” suggests Pavel. Being pragmatic and sometimes skeptical is important for planning, however in the innovative tech sector you must able to find and adopt efficient solutions fast.
“Internet allows us to find all the startup needs: outsource Human Resources, server infrastructure, funding opportunities and ways to find clients. Many services of those we need are available online and we get many ads in social networks offering consulting and advisory for startups.”
Success Mantra
“Know your industry, improve by learning with competition, search solutions to problems in other industries and avoid extra hardware where possible, integrate rather then add more” he signs off.


AI
MemryX: a new Edge AI startup that has developed a highly efficient and scalable AI accelerator. Keith Kressin, President & CEO, MemryX

MemryX: a new Edge AI startup that has developed a highly efficient and scalable AI accelerator.
As the CEO of MemryX, Inc., an innovative Edge AI startup founded by professors at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Keith Kressin has been a passionate entrepreneur. Prior to joining MemryX, Keith was a SVP at Qualcomm, leading a spate of activities including the Snapdragon roadmap, technologies for application processing, company strategy, competitive analysis, and more. In an interview, he speaks on an array of topics. Excerpts:
Conception of MemryX
“Our team wanted to develop an AI accelerator that was customer friendly in terms of ease-of-use and scalability, while providing excellent technical metrics.” Adds Keith that the team wanted to develop a hardware accelerator that could be adapted to any trained AI software model, rather than needing to train and then modify the model to run well on target hardware. “So our focus from the start was on developing technology to meet a key customer need and hence MemryX was born.”
Challenges galore – AI technology
AI continues to grow in a variety of different applications and industries as it is used to make cities, companies, and hospitals smarter, help increasing manufacturing efficiencies, better support education inside and outside the classroom, and more. “AI can add a layer of intelligence into any device that computes. Of course, every new technology is just a tool and those tools need to be used to increase to increase productivity and quality of life, rather than the limit freedoms or increase natural biases.” MemryX envisions accelerating Edge AI by providing a highly efficient and scalable solution that is simple to deploy and support.”
The key is the company’s innovative MemryX architecture. “Our architecture was designed to natively support pre-trained AI models with high efficiency and utilization. If one doesn’t consider model structures and framework, and only focuses on HW efficiency the result is theoretically strong, but practically weak. MemryX architecture was designed not for white papers or theoretical achievements, but for broad customer scale and deployment.” The combination of at-memory computing, pure dataflow, and our unique memory-based fabric interconnect all support our ability to scale verified models into high volume with a very simple to use software SDK.
One trap for AI is focusing on the core technology itself, rather than the practical application of that technology throughout the entire value chain. As in most industries, solving customer needs be in the forefront. AI is extremely complex with many facets. It is also very exciting and dynamic field that attracts individuals with a wide variety of background and skills. The key is to stay focused on the larger picture while being extremely adaptable to market and technology changes.
Leadership traits
“It all starts with clear and transparent organization & communications. People need to understand objectives, timelines, and be given the tools/resources to achieve well defined goals. Teams need to be encouraged to be open and honest.” Realistic, approachable, in-tune with all functions of the entire organization, humble, goal-centric, empowering, and one who honestly cares about the company, the team, and the individual. Keith’s leadership style is approachable with realistic expectations and stays in-tune with all functions of the entire organization. He honestly cares about the company, the team, and the individual.
“Fear in failing is usually rooted in the reaction to the failure in terms of embarrassment or punishment. However, if leaders encourage an intelligent risk-taking culture where we learn from our failures, then we grow to become a stronger organization. Further, failures from risk-taking can be minimized through proper hiring, organization, funding, and goal setting.”
AI
RAIN Defense + AI: Creating synergies between AI and defense sectors Norine MacDonald KC, President & Founder, RAIN DEFENSE + AI

RAIN Defense + AI: Creating synergies between AI and defense sectors
Norine MacDonald is the President and Founder of RAIN Defense + AI, an exciting new global platform on AI and Defense. She was formerly President and Founder of The International Council on Security and Development (ICOS), an international security and development think tank founded in 2002. Ms MacDonald is a former Distinguished Research Fellow for National Defense University in Washington and a graduate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management program in Artificial Intelligence (AI). In an interview, she speaks on an array of topics. Excerpts:
Conception of RAIN Defense + AI
For Ms Norine MacDonald it is clear that the business of war is being overtaken by the advent of AI, and a competitive and fast-moving global environment. Western governments need to be competitive with other countries, primarily China, that have been investing heavily in the sector.
The AI + Defense sector offers significant investment opportunities, particularly for non-traditional business players. The global AI + Defense market is projected to grow to $61 billion by 2027.
“There is no specialized single company or platform for the AI + Defense sector to source comprehensive, intelligible and relevant knowledge/data and connect to all the players globally” said Ms Norine MacDonald.
RAIN Defense + AI is an exciting new venture working at the critical intersection of AI and Defense:
- RAIN INDUSTRY provides access to expert knowledge and data analytics on current and emerging AI technologies on defense platforms for all market participants across sectors and geographies.
- RAINCLOUD creates a global community content platform with a validated network of multidisciplinary professionals, with curated data and news and product info in AI and defense.
RAIN, the AI and defense solution: the RAINCLOUD global platform
To understand and unpack the complex world of AI and defense, RAIN produces commercial INDUSTRY Reports which provide:
- benchmarking various defense sector platforms and AI, along with trends and forecasting.
- complete information “Who’s Who” data on individuals working in the field of AI and defence.
- a data and directory on Venture Capital players active in AI and defense. Norine says: “We have mapped the 500 most influential individuals in the US in our RAIN 500 and we have done an extensive report on the 40 main venture capital firms in the US and the 150 defense and dual-use startups they invest in.”
As a gateway to RAIN Research data and content platform RAINCLOUD will be launched in 2023.
“For RAIN, our access to government clients has been made much easier through our business connection as a data provider with Grist Mill Exchange, which functions as a data marketplace for government and national security enterprises. Through Grist Mill Exchange we will be able to provide our INDUSTRY reports to government stakeholders and to onboard them to the RAINCLOUD global platform where they can connect with AI startups, venture capitalists, defense companies and scientists working in the broad field of AI and defense.”
AI and Defence: a new Ethical Challenge
“AI solutions in defense are now more than ever driven by the commercial sector and dual-use technology. While onboarding such technology in the military world is revolutionary in terms of competitiveness, we cannot ignore the important ethical questions inherent in their adoption.”
AI enables unprecedented opportunities for more autonomy, and this changes the human-machine interaction. Therefore, we decided from the beginning that RAIN would also have an Ethics Division, which helps unpack the ethical and legal arguments involved and supports discussion and debate on these issues, she observed.
Leadership Traits
“The RAIN team has been working together for more than 20 years on international security and policy issues in Afghanistan, Latin America and the Middle East. To launch a new company requires both creativity and stamina. We are lucky to have a close-knit team that works well both independently and together.” Norine believes in having a hands-on approach to the work in the sense that she involves herself in the conception, research and implementation of projects, from field work in conflict zones contexts to testifying at the highest levels of government. “If you have a good business idea stick to it – but at the same time be flexible and adapt as you go along. Hard work, high standards and discipline will never fail.”
AI, the Defense sector and start-ups
In the AI and defense sector, there are exciting new companies developing defense and dual-use technology. These start-ups benefit from new ways to work directly with the government to develop and test their prototypes. At the same time, there are new venture capital firms that focus especially on defense and national security-oriented startups.
“We want to bring all these actors together on our RAINCLOUD platform for mutual benefit. Companies will be able to showcase their latest products and services in our virtual trade show”, MacDonald said.
AI
PSI FLS Fuzzy Logik & Neuro Systeme GmbH: Optimizing Industrial Business Processes with AI Rudolf Felix, CEO, PSI FLS Fuzzy Logik & Neuro Systeme GmbH


PSI FLS Fuzzy Logik & Neuro Systeme GmbH: Optimizing Industrial Business Processes with AI
Rudolf Felix is the CEO of PSI FLS Fuzzy Logik & Neuro Systeme GmbH, a German company that specializes in developing and providing software solutions for complex technical systems. Rudolf Felix has been with FLS in the PSI Group since 2008 and has been the CEO since already 1992. Under his leadership, the company has grown to become a leading provider of software solutions for technical systems, particularly in the fields of energy, industry, and transportation. Rudolf Felix has also been involved in various research and development projects related to fuzzy logic and artificial intelligence and has published numerous papers in these fields. In an interview, he speaks on an array of subjects. Excerpts:
Conception of PSI FLS Fuzzy Logik & Neuro Systeme
Says Rudolf that making decisions is crucial for successful and efficient operation in every industrial business process. Decision-making processes that are based on business goals must reflect both long-term strategies and the current operational situation. If the decisions are based on data and the pros and cons between the business process goals are machine evaluated, machine learned and optimized, business process owners and operators get the best possible benefit. “An optimized and explainable decision support is particularly helpful here. And this is exactly what PSI FLS and the specially developed Qualicision AI technology is all about. It combines both technical and economical business goals. An efficient, easy-to-use, and explainable software that is used for business process optimization is what we deliver. It is data-based, and balances out conflicting business process goals ahead of classic algorithms and provides for the performance that our customers across many industrial sectors appreciate.”
AI- Challenges galore
According to Rudolf, many of the industry’s industrial AI use cases have long been developed and in use. Perhaps in the pandemic time, the constant work with computers at home is an additional momentum. “But in my view, business processes in industry have evolved in their objectives rather because of the growing importance of topics such as digitalization, exploitation of data, sustainability and green energy or new possibilities to integrate automatized decision-making in context with many new important aspects in business processes. Therefore, the complexity of the processes has rather increased.”
PSI FLS Fuzzy Logik & Neuro Systeme AI solution
Qualicision AI stands for qualified support with decision-making when optimizing business processes. Qualicision technology was originally based on fuzzy logic which has been extended by a full stack of AI methods that combines the advantages of all of them. In this combination Qualicision AI helps to integrate decision-making expertise of people with business process know-how and connects it with data-driven AI. In addition, the Qualicision AI software has been extended by highly automated deployment. Machine-learned explainability mechanisms are part of it, too. In business processes there are a lot of pros and cons when decisions must be made. Therefore, uncertainty is intrinsic even if all data is clearly measured and in good shape. Automated recognition of these kinds of uncertainty, in particular stemming from the variety of the data and interaction between decision options, is extremely important. “Our Qualicision AI based tools help to identify and to exploit tolerances in the business processes and to optimize out uncertainty. Many use cases show that once Qualicision AI is introduced the business process efficiency increases by 10 to even 25 percent compared to the previous unoptimized status quo.”
Leadership traits
Trying to get inspired from people for whom and with whom you work and trying to inspire them, too. Everything else is the right technology you must have and the passion to work with it. “When you work on something with passion, the thought of possible difficulties is more of a drive. This is especially true when you are working on the implementation of something you have been involved in from the beginning on.”