University of Sharjah and IBM launch My FarmWell Mobile App to Promote Sustainable Agriculture in Water-Stressed Regions
Developed through the IBM Sustainability Accelerator, the new mobile application supports sustainable agriculture in the UAE and MENA region.
Empowers farmers with groundwater monitoring and data-driven irrigation insights to address water scarcity challenges in arid areas.
Sharjah, UAE – May, 2025 – The University of Sharjah (UoS), in collaboration with IBM (NYSE: IBM ) through the IBM Sustainability Accelerator, today announced the launch of My FarmWell, a mobile application designed to tackle water scarcity challenges and transform sustainable agriculture across the UAE and the broader Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Built using IBM Environmental Intelligence and UoS Welly Chatbot , My FarmWell integrates IBM Cloud and region-specific water and climate data to provide farmers with timely, farm-level insights. From optimizing irrigation strategies to understanding local regulations, the app offers a comprehensive toolkit to support more sustainable and productive agricultural practices.
With its bilingual (English and Arabic) user-friendly interface, My FarmWell equips farmers with access to well-specific data such as current water levels, historical groundwater trends, water quality indices (IWQI), and crop recommendations supporting smarter decisions in increasingly water-scarce environments.
Speaking on the launch, UoS Chancellor His Excellency Prof. Essam El-Din Ajami expressed his pride in this scientific achievement, which stems from collaborative research conducted with IBM. He emphasized that, 'This milestone aligns with the university's strategic commitment to serving local and regional communities through impactful research that addresses environmental challenges'. He added that the University of Sharjah is dedicated to advancing sustainability efforts in a way that benefits not only the United Arab Emirates but also positions the university as a leading model for the entire Middle East and North Africa region.
UoS Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies, Prof. Maamar Bettayeb, affirmed the keenness of the university's research sector to collaborate with various entities and institutions in conducting research of tangible societal benefit. He noted that 'My FarmWell represents a practical application of cutting-edge innovations in sustainability, offering solutions to pressing environmental challenges.' He added that it is also a concrete step toward smart, resilient, and sustainable agriculture.
Dr. Adewale Giwa, Principal Investigator of the project, underscored the app's transformative potential, saying, 'My FarmWell equips farmers with crucial insights that facilitate smarter water use and long-term sustainability.'
'My FarmWell is a great example of how IBM technology can help businesses of all sizes manage through environmental risks', said Shukri Eid, General Manager, IBM Gulf, Levant, and Pakistan. 'Here we are empowering farmers with data-driven insights on water, but Cloud and AI can unlock progress for all sorts of organizations, helping them boost resiliency and lower costs.'
Other Key Features of My FarmWell include: Intuitive app screen: Provides weather information based on user location, quick overview of selected well details, links to agricultural regulations, food market prices, and a University of Sharjah-developed chatbot for farming and well-related advice.
Comprehensive weather information: Powered by IBM Environmental Intelligence, offering current temperature (high, low, and perceived), weather conditions, humidity, wind speed and direction, precipitation forecast for the next 24 hours, and weather forecast for the next 10 days.
Well water monitoring and insights: Allows users to track historical groundwater changes, assess trends over time, and evaluate the severity of well water scarcity.
Crop recommendations: Suggests suitable crops to grow based on specific water quality indices (Integrated Water Quality Index levels).
Farm water consumption calculator: Helps estimate water needs for crops, trees, and livestock, optimizing farm water usage.
Educational hub: Provides comprehensive resources on groundwater conservation and climate adaptation.
Market price integration: Links to global food market prices, enabling farmers to align irrigation strategies with market trends.
My FarmWell reflects a strong partnership between academia and industry, designed to address critical regional challenges through innovation. The project exemplifies the mission of the IBM Sustainability Accelerator, a social innovation program that applies IBM technologies, such as hybrid cloud and AI, and an ecosystem of experts to enhance and scale nonprofit and government organization initiatives, accelerating environmental and economic impact.
The app is available for download here: Android | iPhone
ABOUT UNIVERSITY OF SHARJAH: The University of Sharjah (UoS) stands as a premier institution in the UAE, recognized for its academic excellence and research prowess. Ranked #1 in the UAE and #4 in the Arab region by U.S. News & World Report, UoS showcases its commitment to quality education. UoS ranks 53rd worldwide for Research Quality and 69th in the Times Higher Education Worldwide Young University Rankings 2024. The university offers over 120 programs across 14 colleges, emphasizing disciplines like engineering, health sciences, and business. Its expansive campus boasts over 200 advanced laboratories, state-of-the-art sports facilities, and dedicated research centers. Strategic partnerships with esteemed institutions such as McMaster University and the University of Sheffield further enhance its global footprint.
ABOUT IBM:
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs, and gain a competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of governments and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently, and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity, and service.
About the IBM Sustainability Accelerator:
Launched in 2022, the IBM Sustainability Accelerator is a social innovation program that supports communities facing environmental and economic stress around the world, through technologies like AI and an ecosystem of experts. Each year, the program selects five new projects to develop and scale technology and AI solutions addressing topics like sustainable agriculture, clean energy, water management, resilient cities or sustainable consumption and production.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mid East Info
4 days ago
- Mid East Info
UiPath Appoints Sara Al-Alsheikh as Regional Vice President for Saudi Arabia To Accelerate Agentic Automation Adoption Strategy Across the Gulf
The company's first female leader in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain brings over a decade of tech leadership to drive customer success and regional growth Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – June, 2025 – UiPath (NYSE: PATH), a global leader in agentic automation , today announced the appointment of Sara Al-Alsheikh as Regional Vice President (RVP) and Managing Director for Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain, amid rising demand for AI-powered automation adoption across the Gulf. Based in Riyadh, Al-Alsheikh will lead UiPath's go-to-market and customer success strategy across Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain and act as Managing Director of the UiPath regional hub, headquartered in Riyadh. Al-Alsheikh will focus on accelerating growth in key sectors such as government, banking, oil and gas, and others, strengthening UiPath's partner ecosystem, and driving customer success across large-scale digital transformation initiatives. Agentic Automation Momentum Across the Gulf: The Gulf region is experiencing a significant surge in digital transformation initiatives, with organizations increasingly adopting advanced automation technologies to enhance efficiency and competitiveness. UiPath is at the forefront of this evolution, enabling local businesses and governments to develop and orchestrate complex AI-powered automation deployments through seamless integration of AI agents, software robots, and human collaboration. Thanks to her exceptional track record of proven success having worked closely with UiPath customers in the region since joining in 2023 as Director of Public Sector and Public Investment Fund (PIF), Al-Alsheikh's appointment aligns with this momentum. Furthermore, it is placing UiPath in a solid position to further support the Gulf's ambitious Vision 2030 objectives by fostering innovation and driving sustainable growth across key sectors, while also supporting gender inclusion goals. Sara's appointment reflects the Kingdom's ongoing transformation and growing emphasis on empowering women in leadership as part of Vision 2030. With over a decade of experience at global technology firms including HP, IBM, and SAP, she represents a new generation of Saudi leaders driving innovation, inclusion, and sustainable growth across the region's technology landscape. 'I could not be more thrilled to step into this leadership role at such a pivotal time when the Kingdom is accelerating its digital transformation roadmap and making AI a cornerstone of its strategy. At the same time, UiPath has reached a pinnacle of innovation through the recent relaunch of the UiPath Platform as the first enterprise-grade platform for agentic automation on the market' said Sara Al-Alsheikh, Regional Vice President and Managing Director for Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain at UiPath. 'My mission is to help our clients reimagine how work gets done faster, smarter, and more autonomously thanks to agentic automation, with UiPath at the core of their innovation journey.' 'Sara's leadership is a strategic asset for UiPath and a symbol of what's possible when talent, vision, and inclusion intersect,' said Zakaria Haltout, Area Vice President Middle East and Africa at UiPath. 'She brings not only invaluable regional insight but also the drive to execute at scale, and we are excited to see her lead our next chapter of growth.' About UiPath: UiPath (NYSE: PATH) is a global leader in agentic automation, empowering enterprises to harness the full potential of AI agents to autonomously execute and optimize complex business processes. The UiPath Platform™ uniquely combines controlled agency, developer flexibility, and seamless integration to help organizations scale agentic automation safely and confidently. Committed to security, governance, and interoperability, UiPath supports enterprises as they transition into a future where automation delivers on the full potential of AI to transform industries.
Mid East Info
5 days ago
- Mid East Info
Vertiv expands Liquid Cooling Portfolio with Scalable Solutions for AI And HPC Applications - Middle East Business News and Information
Now available in EMEA, the expanded Vertiv™ CoolChip CDU family supports any stage of liquid cooling adoption Vertiv (NYSE: VRT), a global leader in critical digital infrastructure, today announced the expansion of the Vertiv™ CoolChip CDU (coolant distribution units) family with the launch of the Vertiv™ CoolChip CDU 70, Vertiv™ CoolChip CDU 100 and Vertiv™ CoolChip CDU 600 models in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). These direct-to-chip (DTC) liquid cooling solutions enhance Vertiv's position as a leading innovator and enabler in AI and HPC infrastructure. The Vertiv CoolChip CDU 600 will be showcased for the first time in EMEA at the Vertiv booth at Datacloud Global Congress held this week in Cannes. 'As workloads continue to drive higher rack densities and cooling demands, customers need liquid cooling solutions that adapt to their unique deployment strategies, whether retrofitting an existing environment or scaling a new build,' said Sam Bainborough, vice president, EMEA thermal business at Vertiv. 'The Vertiv CoolChip CDU family offers flexible, scalable solutions that simplify deployment and support long-term growth. By reducing integration complexity and adapting to a range of data center environments, these CDUs help organizations scale liquid cooling more efficiently.' The new models are designed to suit retrofit or greenfield data center environments, with models including in-rack and row-based configurations, and liquid-to-air and liquid-to-liquid technologies. The innovative systems offer a flexible, scalable approach to address rising capacity demands while accelerating liquid cooling adoption. The Vertiv CoolChip CDU family is part of Vertiv's comprehensive liquid cooling offering and the broader Vertiv™ 360AI portfolio of power, cooling and services that solve the complex challenges of AI deployment. Backed by Vertiv™ Liquid Cooling Services, a global end-to-end offering that supports design, installation, commissioning, fluid management, and maintenance, the liquid cooling portfolio fits in a wide variety of scenarios ranging from retrofitting existing facilities to scaling high-density AI and HPC clusters in new builds. Vertiv™ CoolChip CDU 70 is an in-row, liquid-to-air coolant distribution unit that enables a fast, cost-effective entry into liquid cooling for data centers retrofitting existing environments or deploying new infrastructure. Designed to utilize existing thermal infrastructure, this liquid-to-air CDU is ideal for facilities looking to deploy liquid cooling capacity without requiring major infrastructure changes. The system delivers up to 70 kW of cooling capacity and is designed for agility and scalability, helping to reduce secondary fluid network complexity and infrastructure footprint. Its integrated controller supports real-time monitoring, group control and unit-to-unit communication, for coordinated thermal performance, simplified management, and efficient scaling across multiple racks. Vertiv™ CoolChip CDU 100 brings powerful liquid-to-liquid in-rack cooling performance, giving data centers a secure and space-efficient solution for high-density workloads. Ideal for operators to introduce or expand liquid cooling deployments one rack at a time, supporting incremental growth or AI pilot programs without the need for large-scale infrastructure changes. With 100 kW of cooling capacity in a 4U form factor and a large-surface heat exchanger engineered for low approach temperatures, Vertiv CoolChip CDU 100 enables optimal heat transfer. An integrated controller provides monitoring and control capabilities to streamline operations and enhance visibility. Built-in filtration and precise temperature control within ±1°C help maintain fluid quality and thermal stability, while the physical separation of facility and IT loops supports secure, efficient system management in mission-critical environments. Vertiv™ CoolChip CDU 600 is an in-row, liquid-to-liquid model delivering robust, scalable liquid cooling capacity for high-density AI and HPC deployments. The 600 kW system is designed to meet the demands of hyperscale and colocation environments, supporting in-row configurations and integrating easily into raised floor or retrofit installations. Its design, including top or bottom piping connections and available internal manifolds, streamlines infrastructure planning and speeds implementation. With redundant pumps, advanced monitoring for temperature and fluid quality, and a flexible approach to deployment, Vertiv CoolChip CDU 600 offers reliability, visibility, and performance for customers scaling liquid cooling across broader IT environments.
Daily News Egypt
5 days ago
- Daily News Egypt
KOICA, GOEIC sign $11 m agreement to enhance Egypt trade facilitation
The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Egypt's General Organization of Export and Import Control (GOEIC) on Monday signed an $11m agreement to establish a digital platform aimed at enhancing trade facilitation in Egypt. The Record of Discussion (ROD) was signed in Cairo for the project, titled 'Establishment of the Digital Platform for risk-based inspection and tracking to facilitate trade in Egypt.' The initiative is set to run from 2025 to 2029. The signing ceremony was attended by KOICA's Deputy Country Director, Lee Myungshyn, and GOEIC's Chairperson, Essam El-Naggar. Also present were Mai Hassab El Nabbi Assal, Assistant Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade for Development Projects, International Relations, and Political Communication, and Eman Fakhry, Senior Manager of the Asian Cooperation Sector at the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation. The project aims to streamline Egypt's import cargo inspection processes and bolster the country's global trade competitiveness. Key components include the development of digital systems for cargo risk-based inspection, a laboratory information management system, and a market surveillance system. 'We believe this project will significantly enhance Egypt's trade facilitation capabilities, fostering economic growth and sustainability. Our collaboration with GOEIC marks a crucial step towards a more efficient and competitive trade environment in Egypt,' Lee Myungshyn, Deputy Country Director of KOICA Egypt Office, said. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, said that 'this project is a continuation of the coordinating efforts undertaken by the Ministry in collaboration with all concerned parties to enhance the utilization of Korean grant resources to support the Egyptian government's plans for digital transformation and promote inclusive and sustainable development.' She emphasised that through the digital platform for risk-based inspection and tracking, national efforts are supported to facilitate and develop trade flows through digital transformation. Dr. Al-Mashat also highlighted the project's importancein enhancing competitiveness by accelerating inspection and customs clearance processes, thereby reducing administrative barriers and ensuring compliance with international standards in foreign trade. Hassan El-Khatib, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, indicated that 'this project is part of the state's vision to govern ports, accelerate, simplify, and reduce the cost and time of conformity assessment procedures for goods at ports, aiming to decrease release times to reach global standards.' He added that this includes tightening control over the trading, importing, and exporting of low-quality goods, in line with Egypt's international commitments under the World Trade Organization's 'Trade Facilitation Agreement' regarding the implementation of integrated risk management systems in cross-border trade. Essam Al-Naggar, Chairperson of the General Authority for Export and Import Control, praised 'the support from the Korean government for implementing this project, which will contribute to establishing a modern integrated system for monitoring the import of industrial goods, including market surveillance, similar to practices in developed countries.' KOICA is a Korean government agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dedicated to implementing grant aid programmes designed to combat poverty and support sustainable socio-economic growth in developing countries worldwide. The KOICA Egypt Office, established in 1998, provides technical and technological education for youth in Egypt, supports the digitalisation of government services and systems, and carries out programmes to address gender-based violence, strengthen women's empowerment, and support vulnerable groups.
