PROCEEDINGS. Local Organizers. Edited by. Reviewers

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2 PROCEEDINGS SU2007 Conference Summer University on Information Technology in Agriculture and Rural Development Local Organizers University of Debrecen Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment Hungarian Association of Agricultural Informatics (National Member of EFITA) Regional Committee of Hungarian Academy of Sciences Debrecen, Committee of Agricultural Economics Edited by HERDON, Miklós SZILÁGYI, Róbert Reviewers ERDÉLYI, Éva GACEU, Liviu HERDON, Miklós HAVLÍČEK, Zdeněk NAGYNÉ, Polyák Ilona SZILÁGYI, Róbert TZORTZIOS, Stergios VÁRALLYAI, László WIWCZAROSKI, Troy B. Debrecen, Hungary, August 2007 I

3 A konferenciát és a kiadvány elkészítését a Nemzeti Kutatási és Technológiai Hivatal (NKTH) támogatta. The conference and proceedings were supported by the National Office for Research and Technology (NKTH) ISBN First printing, March 2008 Publisher: Hungarian Association of Agricultural Informatics Hungarian Association of Agricultural Informatics, H-4032 Debrecen, Böszörményi út 132., Hungary All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the copyright holders. These proceedings were reproduced using the manuscripts supplied by the authors of the different papers. The manuscripts have been typed according to the Editorial Instructions for Papers to be Presented at the SU2007 Conference. Papers were submitted to a reviewing process. The editors. II

4 Summer University on Information Technology in Agriculture and Rural Development August, 2007 University of Debrecen Centre of Agricultural Sciences Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development Organizers UD - University of Debrecen, Centre for Agricultural Science, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development EFITA - European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment HAAI - Hungarian Association of Agricultural Informatics DAB - Regional Committee of Hungarian Academy of Sciences Debrecen, Committee of Agricultural Economics Partners CUB Corvinus University of Budapest, Faculty of Horticultural Science, Hungary CZU Czech University of Agriculture in Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, Czech Republic EWIV/EEIG Regionet Europe EWIV/EEIG HUNAGI Hungarian Assiciation for Geo-information KFRTKF Kölcsey Ferenc Teacher Training College, Debrecen, Hungary KRC Károly Róbert College NJSZT John von Neumann Computer Society, Hungary PU Pannon University, Hungary SZIU Szent István University, Faculty of Economics and Social Science, Hungary UT University of Thessaly TUB TRANSILVANIA University Brasov Program and Organizing Committee Chair Harnos, Zsolt (CUB) Members Alföldi, István (NJSZT) Berke, József (PU) Gaceu Liviu (TUB) Havlíček, Zdeněk (PEF CZU) III

5 Herdon, Miklós (HAAI, UD) Houseman, Ian (EFITA) Ladányi, Márta (CUB) Lengyel, Péter (UD) Nábrádi, András (UD) Papp, Gyula (KFRTKF) Pitlik, László (SZIU, EWIV/EEIG) Remetey-Fülöpp, Gábor (HUNAGI) Rózsa, Tünde (HAAI) Szilágyi, Róbert (UD) Tzortzios, Stergios (UT) Vajsz, Tivadar (KRC) IV

6 Preface This Summer University provided a forum for agriculture related professionals, professors, lecturers and PhD students to exchange information on education, research, applications and developments in Information Technologies in Agriculture and Rural Development and publish the most recent results. This forum covered a wide array of topics, including new applications of well established and understood technologies to innovative and entrepreneurial applications of emerging technologies, in addition to issues related to policy and knowledge dissemination. We hope that this proceedings will contribute to both the exchange of knowledge and to increase the quality of research and applications in the field of Information Technology in Agriculture and Rural Development. We would like to thank our partners, the members of committees and the reviewers. We are thankful for the financial support provided by the National Office for Research and Technology (NKTH). Zsolt Harnos Chair of Program and Organizing Committee András Nábrádi Dean, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development University of Debrecen, Miklós Herdon President of HAAI V

7 Table of contents Innovation Commercialization in a Rural Region: The Case of Rural Living Lab, Hungary - Tünde Kállai, Vilmos Bilicki... 1 Information integration in multi-dimensional agri-food supply chain networks: a serviceoriented approach in the KodA program - Sjaak Wolfert, Cor Verdouw Adrie Beulens Video in E-learning Systems - Róbert Szilágyi György Kovács Miklós Herdon Az e-learning alapú környezetmérnök oktatás informatikai háttere - Domokos Endre, Rédey Ákos The Application of Apple e-learning Systems in Education - István Gulyás - Veronika Kozma-Bognár E-learning: Eszköz!, nem cél avagy e-learning tapasztalatok a gazdasági informatika oktatásban, (wiki, moodle, SAP_LS, online mókuskerek és my-x) - Pitlik László Forrás katalógus fejlesztése a NODES projektben - Herdon Miklós, Várallyai László, Szilágyi Róbert, Lengyel Péter Pulsed Electric Field Processing of Liquid Foods. Simulation of the electric field distribution between electrodes - Andreea-Manuela Constantin, Carol Csatlós, Cristina-Maria Bica A Mathematical Model for the Cavitation Phenomenon Produced by Ultrasonic Waves in Liquid Food - Mihaela Danciu Study concerning the evaluation of transitory regime vibrations of portable mowing machines, using the finite elements method - Liviu Gaceu, Romulus Gruia, Daniel Danila Aspects Regarding the Implementation of the HACCP system in the Bakery Industry - Cristina-Maria Bica, Andreea-Manuela Constantin Research Concerning Temperature Variation in Dough During Bread Baking - Cristina-Maria Bica, Gheorghe Bratucu The effects of climate change on the phenological phases of corn - Daniella Boksai, Éva Erdélyi WMN for Rural Communities: a Case Study - Miklós Kasza, Vilmos Bilicki Informational Agriculture and Sustainable Food Security - Romulus Gruia, Liviu Gaceu Connecting sensor equipped RFID identification systems with global EPC information services to achieve full scale traceability in the cold supply chain - David Kétszeri Technical-Economic Aspects of Wheat Conditioning Before Milling - Gheorghe Brătucu, Ionuţ Căpăţînă The Utilization of Heat Changers with Thermal Tubes in Milk Processing - Gheorghe Brătucu EDI - XML Standards and Technologies in the Agri-Food Industry - István Füzesi, Miklós Herdon VI

8 Mobile Internet in agriculture application perspectives - Róbert Szilágyi, Miklós Herdon What are the main difficulties in traceability - Péter Salga, István Füzesi The Climatic Tourism Potential of Stana de Vale Spa during the Summer Season - Ovidiu Gaceu Research Regarding the Advance Resistance of Subsoiler Working Parts - Ionuţ Căpăţînă Aspects regarding the control of the impact process between potatoes and hard surfaces utilizing a computer controlled pendulum and a Labview application - Daniel Mihai Dănilă, Liviu Gaceu Payment methods in e-commerce - Ádám Péntek Broadband usage and development in rural Hungary - positive and negative trends - Mihály Csótó Testing the accessibility of web pages - Petr Benda, Václav Lohr Web applications development with examples - Václav Lohr,- Petr Benda, Žaneta Jedličková Difference between classical and virtual types of education - Petr Benda, Václav Lohr, Jan David Moodle and LAMS integration - Péter Lengyel, Róbert Szilágyi, Miklós Herdon On the role of animation in teaching mathematics - Imre Kocsis Mezőgazdasági Támogatások WEB Alapú Információs rendszerei - Szénás Szilárd Hatékonyságnövelés a szaktanácsadási tevékenység felhasználásával a növénytermesztésben Sulyok Dénes, Megyes Attila, Rátonyi Tamás ERP beruházások gazdasági értékelése - Rózsa Tünde Információs rendszerek a termelő és értékesítő szervezetek üzleti tevékenységének támogatására - Berecz Patrícia Elektronikus Táblatörzskönyv Program fejlesztése Gazdálkodási Napló Modullal - Cseh András FedEx IPD szolgáltatásának bemutatása és alkalmazása a National Instrumentsnél - Budai Enikő Az RFID technológia alkalmazása a nyomonkövetésben - Bencsik Anikó, Füzesi István VII

9 Innovation Commercialization in a Rural Region: The Case of Rural Living Lab, Hungary Tunde Kallai 1, Vilmos Bilicki X10D International IT Services Hungary Ltd. (Director)10d@gmx.net 2 - University of Szeged (Assistant lecturer) bilickiv@inf.u-szeged.hu Abstract. This study describes a process in which a Rural Living Lab relies on an open user community for innovation. While it has been recognized that rural micro and SMEs may innovate, little is known about how and what can do to motivate and capture such innovations and their related benefits. We contribute to the open innovation strategy by suggesting that learning and innovation efforts from which a rural firms may benefit need not necessarily be located within the organization, but may well reside in the consumer/user environment. We also contribute to the existing theory on user-driven innovation by showing what firms purposively can do to generate consumer innovation and commercialization efforts. An explorative Hungarian case study shows that rural innovation can be structured, motivated, and partly organized by the local agro-food producer organization and research team that lays out the WMN infrastructure for interactive and co-creative business process by consumers in a public. The authors are most interested in the third generation of Living Labs that cover an entire rural areas which operates as a full-scale rural living laboratory and proving ground for prototyping and testing new technology application and new methods of generating and fostering innovation processes and new business models in real time. Keywords. open innovation, new business models, WMN, user driven innovation, Living Labs, sustainable economic development, innovation commercialization Introduction to the Open Innovation through rural communities Innovation is the process through which new economic and social benefits are extracted from knowledge. The term innovation refers both to the creative process of applying knowledge and the outcome of that process. The term innovation play basic role in the Rural Living Lab s definition. In Hungary, the Living Lab concept, representing the open innovation, it will be a part of a regional innovation strategy in 2007, for enhancing productivity, growth and standard of living across the country. Open Innovation in Hungary Fostering excellence within rural communities is not really new. The know-how of rural Hungarians has been a fact of life for a long time. The importance of a job well done and the constant concern for quality are well-known values in rural communities. What was once seen as a successful small agricultural farming could definitely become one of the best-kept secrets of tomorrow's success in the rural economy. Rural people (farmers) with the skills and the opportunities they need to fulfill their individual potential. The farmers who live in a local society that is strong enough to help the weak and smart enough to invest in the young. People who are ready to see their villages, farms and small regions take its place among the leading of the region (their living area) -- and to do so on its own terms. Achieving excellence is about people living fulfilling lives, using their energies and talents to their fullest. Throughout Hungary, rural communities are striving to succeed in a changing economic, social and political environment. Leadership, the establishment of relations, networking and learning are key factors for rural communities in transition, enabling them to pool their resources, personnel and specialized knowledge, solve problems, access a wide range of learning sources, engage in cooperative development and disseminate information people to people. This is the main challenge of the Hungarian Rural Living 1

10 Laboratory for us. The Hungary case: The Producer Organisation s User Community The municipality Morahalom, where Mórakert Producer Organisation was set-up, is one of the most important actors of the local economic development in the South-Great Plan region, in Hungary. The Homokhátság Small Region was established under the leading of Mórahalom, its main coordinating operalisation is the Small Area Proving Association of Homokhátság Authorities. The association is made up by 15 authorities of settlements (Ásotthalom, Balotaszállás, Bordány, Domaszék, Forráskút, Kelebia, Mórahalom, Öttömös, Pusztamérges, Röszke, Ruzsa, Szatymaz, Üllés, Zákányszék, Zsombó). The 15 settlements have population of and their territory is ha. In the region the main source of people s living is agriculture. Due to the local conditions you can grow differents kinds of vegetable and fruit of excellent. Out of these the local Hungaricums worth a special interest ( e.g. peaches and paprika). Figure 1.The Hungarian Living Lab location: Homokhát small region/ City of Morahalom Mórakert Cooperative was established in Mórahalom, which became the biggest farmer basis of the country. The mayor, who was re-elected for the third time with 80% support of the voters, is one of the most important initiators in the city. Since most employees of Mórahalom work in municipally run institutions, and also the municipality employs most people with university level diplomas in the field of economics, the human capital of the local government is the best in town. Further, the municipality has the greatest stock among other economic actors of Mórahalom. RLL application scenario (use case) and user requirements Within the Hungarian RLL we should describe three applications via wireless P2P network and a product exchange application and the mobile product exchange application. During the requirement capturing procedure it turned out that our original goals should be modified to solve real problems. Figure 4. Shows the selected areas where we will focus our efforts. We planned a large scale produce exchange application and its mobile extension. On the first meeting with our stakeholders it turned out that there were several big projects addressing the area of produce exchange application. After the requirement collection and filtering the 2

11 requirements we decided to modify our goals. We will implement the produce exchange application but in a different scale and different content. The goal will be a general service and commodity trading application. The service trading will be based on a resource management subsystem. With this approach the trade one can book a service online. As almost every people in the small region have some connection with farming we decided to study the needs in this area. The remaining efforts will be focused to this area. All the above mentioned areas depend strongly on a cheap or free mobile data communication solution, this is our third area. The feasibility of the mobile network access solution is already described. All the stakeholders from government and business side take part in the decision process they fully support the development areas. Figure 2. The three layers of the application areas in the Hungarian Rural Living Lab Wireless Mesh Network for Rural Communities In the Hungarian Living Laboratory there is a need for cheap and mobile data and voice communication infrastructure. To fulfil these requirements a WiFi based wireless mesh network will be deployed in the town of Mórahalom. On the top of this infrastructure a set of sophisticated rural services will be developed. This infrastructure will provide a wide range of services e.g.: QoS, AAA, WISP collaboration framework, localization, etc. Most of these services will be based on the already existing and freely available software packages. The novelty of this solution will lay in the management plane designed and developed by the partners of the Hungarian LL. The 12 end points (100 Euro/end point) were installed in a selected area of the town of Mórahalom. The voluntary citizens providing the place for mounting and power for the equipment will act as the users of the WMN and they will get free Internet access during the testing period. Figure 3. WMN nodes in RLL Figure 4. The RLL applications are running on NOKIA 770/800 3

12 Lessons learned The experiences in the Homokhát small region have yielded lessons regarding the innovation commercialization process particularly the business concept recognition and feasibility testing process and broader insights regarding innovation commercialization in a rural region. Feasibility assessment of potential market opportunities is best done in multiple iterations. Commercializable market opportunities do not emerge fully formed but must be shaped via rounds of feedback before they can be effectively evaluated. It is tremendously helpful to prepare write-ups that review the feasibility of each prospective market opportunity, such as those produced in this case by University of Szeged and X10D Ltd. These make it possible for multiple people to review the same opportunity several times, provide coherent feedback, and understand and comment on the observations of others R&D laboratories tend to think in technological terms in their assessment of market opportunities. This is only half of the equation. The missing perspective is often the commercial one. The researchers of University of Szeged, with the support of experienced SME entrepreneurs and the local team of Small Area Regional Development Association of the Local Governments of Homokhát, can effectively provide this missing business perspective. It is important to engage the PO and several successful local entrepreneurs, experienced business people at various points in the assessment process. Having enough pairs of competent eyes is essential to a review of sufficient depth and breadth, and is a way to permit the full review of a greater number of prospective opportunities. Participating entrepreneurs must have experience in a range of different market opportunity types so that their judgments will be varied. This will insure that opportunities are not judged as being infeasible simply because the entrepreneurs involved do not have the necessary understanding or experience to pursue them, rather than because they are unworkable in general. The researchers from the Faculty of Software Engineering of University of Szeged try to put tech commercialization program in place whole cloth, before the first opportunity has even been identified. In other words, they take a programmatic approach. The team of the Software Engineering from University of Szeged is only now building its innovation commercialization apparatus in response to a process that hopefully will commercialize a real market opportunity. This puts the university in the position to build and refine its formal process and to use the proceeds from the first successful commercialization effort to fund its innovation commercialization office in the near future. Another commonly held misperception in the tech commercialization arena is that the viability of an opportunity is based solely on its patentability, e.g., something that can be managed as intellectual property (IP). However, in the Rural Living Lab case, three viable market opportunities were identified and assessed, none of which was likely to be patentable. Yet it was deemed that all of these opportunities had potential for revenue generation, with possibly a very favourable return on investment rates. This suggests that conventional wisdom may be unnecessarily limiting. We may be missing countless opportunities for local and regional economic development by adhering to a narrow definition of opportunity viability. This last observation has particular relevance for rural areas that are attempting to commercialize innovations. A focus solely on patentable market opportunities may be effective in this region with a strong technological base and educational institutions, i.e. 4

13 University of Szeged, that are actively engaged in research, but this is not the case in most rural areas. Rural areas literally cannot afford to overlook non-patentable business opportunities just because they don t fit the traditional model of innovation commercialization. In Homokhát small region, the intent is to use early successes with non-patentable opportunities to leverage activity in the VoIP arena in the future. The lack of infrastructure for supporting innovation commercialization in rural areas must be acknowledged and addressed. The University of Szeged is fortunate to have assets such as institutions of higher learning, private R&D facilities, and larger companies in industries important to the global economy, and economic development officials who are thinking and acting entrepreneurially. To its credit, the community has worked to identify all of its assets, to link them together and to focus them on supporting regional innovation commercialization efforts. Rural communities that do not possess such assets may be faced with only two choices: to not attempt to undertake an innovation commercialization strategy, or to partner with an urban area in the larger region in a way that would permit the rural community to benefit from the spin-off commercialization activity taking place in the smaller cities, like in the City of Morahalom. Rural Living Lab analysis and assessment Rural Living Laboratories tend to think in technological terms in their assessment of market opportunities. This is only half of the equation. The missing perspective is often the commercial one. The Rural Living Lab with the support of experienced entrepreneurs (SMEs, farmers), can effectively provide this missing business perspective. It is important to engage several successful entrepreneurs and experienced business people at various points in the assessment process. Having enough pairs of competent eyes is essential to a review of sufficient depth and breadth, and is a way to permit the full review of a greater number of prospective opportunities. Participating entrepreneurs must have experience in a range of different market opportunity types so that their judgments will be varied. This will insure that opportunities are not judged as being infeasible simply because the entrepreneurs involved do not have the necessary understanding or experience to pursue them, rather than because they are unworkable in general. Greater involvement of RLLs from participating partners, especially with its entrepreneurs, in the assessment process can be very beneficial. This exposes these RLLs to opportunities that they may want to pursue and complete the task. This can be facilitated by establishing a Market Opportunity Register consisting of feasibility study write-ups of the various opportunities assessed. Some RLLs try to put tech commercialization programs in place whole cloth, before the first opportunity has even been identified. In other words, they take a programmatic approach. Hungarian RLL is only now building its innovation commercialization apparatus in response to a process that hopefully will commercialize a real market opportunity. This puts the localteam in the position to build and refine its formal process and to use the proceeds from the first successful commercialization effort to fund its innovation commercialization unit within the RLL later on. Another commonly held misperception in the tech commercialization arena is that the viability of an opportunity is based solely on its patentability, e.g., something that can be managed as intellectual property (IP). The queation is how many viable market opportunities should be identified and assessed, how many of which should likely to be patentable. Yet it was deemed that all of these opportunities had potential for revenue generation, with possibly a very favorable return on investment rates. This suggests that conventional wisdom 5

14 may be unnecessarily limiting. We may be missing countless opportunities for local and regional economic development by adhering to a narrow definition of opportunity viability. This last observation is particular relevance for RLLs, in the rural areas that are attempting to commercialize innovations. A focus solely on patentable market opportunities may be effective in regions with a strong technological base and educational institutions that are actively engaged in research, but this is not the case in most rural areas. Rural areas literally cannot afford to overlook nonpatentable business opportunities just because they don t fit the traditional model of innovation commercialization. In some of the RLLs, the intent is to use early successes with nonpatentable opportunities to leverage activity in the venture capital-backed IP arena in the future. The lack of infrastructure for supporting innovation commercialization in rural areas must be acknowledged and addressed. The basic requirement of the RLL is to have assets such as institutions of higher learning, private R&D facilities, larger companies in industries important to the global economy, and economic development officials who are thinking and acting entrepreneurially. To its credit, the local community should work to identify all of its assets, to link them together and to focus them on supporting regional innovation commercialization efforts. Rural communities that do not possess such assets may be faced with only two choices: to not attempt to undertake an innovation commercialization strategy, or to partner with an urban area in the larger region in a way that would permit the rural community to benefit from the spin-off commercialization activity taking place in the small town. The plan The Living Labs seeks to develop an entrepreneurial culture in some european regions that was once dominated by an agriculture by targeting several industry sectors that have experienced rapid growth in the regions in recent years. The first phase of this effort should be to pilot the RLL s plan by working with all the RLL partner organisations. The plan is to develop a system to identify opportunities with commercial potential, profile the entrepreneurial skills and experience needed to capture these market opportunities, then recruit entrepreneurs capable of taking the respective opportunities to market. Each RLL s are selected as the test beds for the approach to innovation commercialization because of its local/national/international reputation as a high-quality research labs in its field, the relevance of its work to the region s agro-industry sectors of interest, its sizeable inventory of technology innovations that had not yet been successfully taken to market.. The process The first step is to establish a set of criteria for evaluating commercialization opportunities (e.g., a clear set of customers with the ability to buy the offering, investment required, potential rate of return and immediacy of revenue stream, etc.). Once these were established, a team should review a portfolio of each RLL s innovation activities, from which seven potentially viable market opportunities will identified for further exploration. The RLLs partners then hire to conduct a market feasibility analysis on each opportunity. Each partners will produce a two-page summary of each market opportunity (with additional documentation), which will reviewed by the users. After sufficient research, a meeting can be convened to evaluate and prioritize all seven opportunities and to determine which ones to pursue. Although all seven looked promising under different conditions, all market opportunity should be selected to be the primary focus of the project s commercialization effort. The next step in the process, which can be underway, is to find a local entrepreneur(s) to lead the commercialization of the selected opportunity. Taking each idea to market can 6

15 involve, among other things, arranging a deal to spin out the opportunity while maintaining a relationship with RLLs partners.. Once these arrangements has been made, the entrepreneurs and RLLs should prepare a business plan with assistance from the local RLLs teams. Ongoing support in obtaining contracts, seed money, etc. will be provided by stakeholders in the region. The entrepreneur s skill level will be assessed and initial assistance will be tailored accordingly. Using this test case, the Living Lab community will develop a plan, process and capacity for commercializing other technologies emanating from RLLs. The technological innovation of the hungarian RLL is: Mobile Data Network through Wireless Mesh Network As we have seen the current business model and the technology behind the WISP is not cooperative. We would like to provide a new business model based on the strong cooperation among the WISPs and the end-users. The access network will be owned and maintained by a group of end-users. The model is similar to that of producer organization. The producer organization is a non profit organization and the end users are the stakeholders. With this new business model the price of the data communication will be significantly cheaper. To accomplish this goal a novel access network solution will be provided. The field of Wireless Mesh Networks is an active research area. There are many implementations and solutions. The novelty of our solution is the use of the WMN as an access network and the integrated top down approach. This network will be able to provide high level services such as SIP, localization, etc. Another novelty of the solution is the efficient resource management framework. Robust and reliable, mesh wireless systems offer multiple points of connection to the network and no central tower. Mesh users can bypass obstacles like hills and trees by using different signal paths. Mesh networks are easily expandable at very low cost, and they have no single point of failure. Mesh networks also feature shorter distances between nodes, which means each antenna can broadcast at lower power, creating less interference and allowing more users to communicate simultaneously. The Hungarian RLL resource management is a real novelty for the WMN community. Figure 5.The novelty is the resource management via WMN The business model innovation of the Hungarian RLL is. Farming In this field we would like to provide a framework for yield estimation. Currently only few and imprecise methods are know. We would like to use data mining to find out a novel more precise yield estimation method. With precise yield estimation the PO and the farmers will be able to achieve better prices on the market and they will be able to react timely to the changes to fulfill the legal contracts with large supermarket chains. The framework for data collection and the yield estimation algorithm will form the basis for further developments. 7

16 The human centric innovation: the Hungarian Rural Living Lab It's about people Our idea is to organise a local rural community network, which will run on a voluntary basis and can be compared to other voluntary groups focussed around local issues. Like other voluntary groups they have sometimes found their greatest challenges are not technical (e.g. developing affordable internet access in a local area) but social; encouraging and sustaining volunteer input, a critical mass of users, and devising a sustainable organisational model. Some groups have splintered as individual participants follow their own goals or found it difficult to maintain a user base when large corporate internet service suppliers have reduced the price of broadband connectivity and increased availability. Conclusion What we hope to accomplish through the Hungarian Rural Living Lab? Define and gain a better understanding of an innovative open rural community through its Producer Organisation in Homokhátság small region, its strengths and its issues, as well as the opportunities that it presents to both communities and governments. Communicate the results of the Rural Living Lab in order to strengthen the coordination of innovation in rural communities; local and regional government to adopt a more integrated approach and share effective strategies with all Hungarians and Europeans. Establish a synergy between governments and rural communities to reach a common vision of the goals and objectives of the Rural Living Lab to be achieved at the local, regional and national levels. Demonstrate the benefits of setting up vibrant and productive partnerships between the various agricultural sectors (private, government and community) of open rural communities. Encourage rural communities to make innovation a priority in Homokhátság small region than at regional/national level. Sustain rural communities' interest in and active participation at the Rural Operational Program within the National Development Plan 2 and the Innovation Program under NORT.in the fall of Influence government's actions and contribute to the development of a national and regional rural policy framework. Position Hungary as a regional agro-industry leader in innovation in open rural communities at transnational level. References Because of the scope of the challenge, the European Commission s Information Society and Media DG allocated 40 million from the fifth call of FP6 to pilot a European Network of Living Labs. There are already 12 Living Labs sites in Europe, China, India and Brazil. The projects will identify, prototype, validate and test new ICT services and technologies. They are industry-driven, with several major European and global corporations 8

17 participating. There is also clear public, private and civic collaboration throughout. The current project called - Karl N. Stauber, May Creating New Rural Development Strategies: The Role of Nonprofits, in New Governance for a New Rural Economy: Reinventing Public and Private Institutions, Proceedings of a conference sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Rural America, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City A more complete discussion of this framework can be found in Deborah Markley, Don Macke and Vicki Luther, Energizing Entrepreneurs: Charting a Course for Rural Communities, Nebraska: Heartland Centre for Leadership Development, Kállai, Tünde Bilicki, Vilmos Kasza, Miklós: Africa Wireless Mesh Network For Rural Communities, IST, IST-Africa 2007 Conference Proceedings Paul Cunningham and Miriam Cunningham (Eds) IIMC International Information Management Corporation, 2007 ISBN:

18 Information integration in multi-dimensional agri-food supply chain networks: a service-oriented approach in the KodA program Sjaak Wolfert 1, Cor Verdouw 1 Adrie Beulens 2 1 LEI, Wageningen UR, P.O. Box 29703, Den Haag, 2502 LS, The Netherlands, Tel: , Fax: , sjaak.wolfert@wur.nl, cor.verdouw@wur.nl 2 Information Technology Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8130, Wageningen, 6700 EW, The Netherlands, Tel: , Fax: , adrie.beulens@wur.nl Abstract. Agri-food companies increasingly participate as networked enterprises in multidimensional, dynamic and knowledge-based networks. They have to make new connections rapidly and employ up-to-the-minute information smoothly in business operations. Appropriate exchange and integration of information should enable this. As part of the Dutch co-innovation program KodA, an in-depth study investigated the role of information integration in multi-dimensional networks, described the current situation in agri-food supply chain networks (particularly arable farming) and provided a vision for the future. This paper presents the results of this study. It concludes that the level of standardization for data, application and process integration in arable farming is poor. A serviceoriented approach that supports companies to concentrate on their business processes is proposed as a solution direction. Developments should focus on industry-specific elements, adopting worldwide cross-industry standards and building upon existing industry standards. A step-by-step approach in which business partners themselves are responsible, organizational embedding and involvement of all relevant stakeholders are important success factors. Keywords. service-oriented architecture (SOA), business process management (BPM), information integration, data standardization, interoperability, arable farming Introduction The business environment of agri-food production is changing rapidly, driven by various and changing needs of consumers and society. Production is becoming more demand-driven, has to be transparent and must meet quality and environmental standards. Several incidents in the last decades (e.g. foot and mouth disease, swine fever, dioxin scandals) have made food safety one of the major issues. Meeting these requirements gives actors in the supply chain a licence to produce. Besides, agricultural markets in Western Europe are under pressure because of high land and labour prices in combination with intensified competition due to globalisation. One main answer to this development is to innovate towards a more demanddriven and knowledge-based production, producing high-grade products. This requires application of state-of-the-art knowledge and involvement of research and technology institutes in innovation. In such context, agri-food supply chains are not simple linear chains, but are characterized by multiple network dimensions (see Fig. 1): Vertical chain dimension: combination of actors that together develop, produce and distribute products to fulfill customer needs; Horizontal fulfillment dimension: combination of producers who complement each other providing a complete assortment in the required volume and delivery reliability; Horizontal innovation dimension: cooperation of producers in developing resources and business processes in order to exploit economies of scale and synergy due to complementary competences (including joint creativity); Geographic cluster dimension: regional cooperation focusing on combining logistic flows or creating a closed system that utilizes mutual inputs and outputs. 10

19 horizontal fulfillment H1 innovation H2 geographic cluster CLUS- TER Vertical Figure 1. Multiple dimensions of Agri-Food Supply Chain Networks Therefore, we prefer to speak of agri-food supply chain networks (further abbreviated as AFSCN). Three basic forms of network governance can be distinguished in AFSCNs (Lazzarini et al., 2001): Managerial Discretion (plan): discretionary actions by a coordinating agent, who centrally plans the flow of products and information; Standardization: standardized rules and shared mechanisms to orchestrate transactions; Mutual Adjustment: alignment of plans through mutual feedback processes and joint problem solving and decision making. Multi-dimensional networks put the emphasis on standardization and mutual adjustment, requiring a high flexibility of processes and enterprises. The requirements of licence to produce, knowledge-based production and flexibility require in their turn appropriate communication between and steering of all processes in the complete AFSCN. Related to this, appropriate information integration is important. An in-depth study was conducted to investigate what appropriate information integration means for AFSCNs, to describe the current situation and to provide a vision for the future. This paper presents the results of this study that was carried out as part of the KodA program (see text box). In KodA, we consider the farm as the focal company in the AFSCN, which is a networked enterprise where several network dimensions come together. 11

20 In the remainder of this paper we will first elaborate on the problem statement and its context using a wider conceptual framework, related to general concepts derived from literature. The next section will reflect the current situation for AFSCNs to this framework, resulting in a list of problem areas. A vision for the future is then provided as a guide for working on these problems. Next, we will briefly describe the work in progress and finally draw conclusions and set an agenda of future challenges for research and development. General information about the RTD program KodA KodA is a Dutch acronym for Kennis op de Akker, which can be best translated in English as: From knowledge to practice in the field of arable farming. In KodA, about 60 arable farmers, their suppliers and processors (about 12 large companies), work together to improve quality and efficiency of arable crop production. This co-operation takes place in interactive learning networks in which predefined tasks for innovation are gradually implemented. KodA has a total budget of 8 MEuro for 4 years, in a private-public partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture. ICT is seen as a key enabler to achieve the program s objectives. ICT enables the farmer to use and deploy knowledge, information and data efficiently. Development of integrated management support systems in which actual, state-of-the-art knowledge and farm-specific data are combined, is considered as a major condition for further development of sustainable practices (Wolfert et al., 2005; Wolfert et al., 2007). Conceptual framework for information-integration Integration of information for the farm as a networked enterprise in multi-dimensional AFSCNs is complex. Therefore, the study started with defining a conceptual framework (among others based on Giachetti, 2004) that is visualized in Fig. 2 and distinguishes between: Different integration levels: o Intra-enterprise: within enterprises to overcome fragmentation between organizational units (functional silos) and systems; o Inter-enterprise: between enterprises to move from operating as an isolated company towards a virtual enterprise that is integrated in multi-dimensional networks. Different integration types: o Process Integration: alignment of tasks by coordination mechanisms; o Application Integration: alignment of software systems so that one system online can use data generated by another one (interoperability); o Data Integration: alignment of data definitions in order to be able to share data; o Physical Integration: technical infrastructure to enable communication between hardware components (connectivity). 12