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Innovation Oasis
What is Innovation Oasis?
Our R&D center is dedicated to advancing the Agri-food sector of the UAE using the best technology that’s built to withstand even the toughest environmental and weather conditions.
This is achieved with abundant research, development and innovation of technology, leading to the development of commercially viable and technically robust solutions for domestic production.
Innovation Oasis Working
How will it work?
For sustainable agricultural practices, Silal’s Innovation Oasis has to tackle four main challenges: high temperatures, lack of fresh water, poor soil quality, and high energy consumption.
Alongside those challenges, Innovation Oasis will always put a large focus on developing and using environmentally-safe technologies to battle the current worldwide problems of climate change.
Our approach involves forging partnerships with leading global entities, including thought leaders, investors, research organizations, universities, established enterprises, and innovative startups. We serve as an incubator that fosters innovation and acts as a central hub for testing and implementing cutting-edge agri-tech solutions.
Pillars of Innovation Oasis
Create an ecosystem for research, development, and innovation in Food and Agriculture Technology
Develop commercially viable and technically robust solutions to enable domestic production
Enhance the capacity and capability of farmers and advisors with both world-class knowledge and technologies
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Establish incubator programmes for startups in the agriculture and food sectors, that collaborate with technology & R&D providers
Innovation Oasis HQ
The new Innovation Oasis headquarters
Silal's Research and Development Center, located at Al Foah farms spanning an area of 34ha is a cutting-edge establishment designed to foster collaboration, drive innovation, and provide practical solutions in agri-tech. The state-of-the-art Research and Development Center is composed of four main parts:
The R&D Center houses a research building equipped with soil and plant labs, growth chambers, training facilities, and conference rooms. It serves as a hub for agricultural research, practical demonstrations, and knowledge exchange, engaging academic and commercial partners, government entities, and the public.
The center includes greenhouses and net-houses with integrated sensors, allowing precise monitoring of indoor factors and automated irrigation systems. Soil moisture sensors, weather stations, and equipment for applying plant protection products are also available, enabling research on crop performance and cultivation techniques.
Open field trial sites are provided for research on crops grown in outdoor environments. These sites feature structures, cooling systems, automated irrigation and fertilization, and sensors to measure temperature, humidity, soil moisture, and other parameters, contributing to advanced phenotyping capabilities.
The phenotyping facility consists of a glasshouse with cooling systems, automated shading, modular soil containers, and a gantry equipped with sensors like hyperspectral, laser, fluorescence, and thermal imaging cameras. An automated spray and fertilizer application system, along with crop monitoring tools, enhances the facility's capacity for studying plant characteristics.
Silal Agri-Tech innovations
Sensors for internet connected farms
In order to give farmers a better understanding of their crops, we invested in IoT sensors that can monitor and analyze farms 24/7 more precisely than any person could.
Partnerships
Partnership with Desolenator
Silal and Desolenator entered a collaboration to develop and implement a revolutionary new method of desalinating sea water into clean drinking water, that can also be used for agricultural needs. In addition, the desalination technology’s power source is based entirely on clean energy solutions, primarily custom solar panels that harness solar and thermal energy.
Partnerships
Partnership with RNZ
An element that has a large impact on the overall yield of a farm is the fertility of the soil in which crops are planted, so it is of vital importance that we ensure our farmers have the fertilizer that will provide the ideal nutrients for their type of soil. Alongside the fertilizer, having a quality source of water is imperative, which is why we partnered with RNZ to analyze all of our farmers’ soil and water and to provide them with an ideal, data-backed solution.
RNZ’s and Silal’s analysts will provide each of our farmers with an individual technical recommendation report. Our dedicated agriculture engineers are of constant support to farmers in order to ensure the optimum application of the fertilizer that will yield maximum production.
Partnerships
Red Sea Farms partnership
With the intention of further reinforcing sustainable farming practices across the UAE, Silal has partnered with Red Sea Farms Company. The move resulted in a pioneering project in the city of Al Ain, which consists of deploying new agricultural technologies and cooling greenhouses through the usage of salt water.
Partnerships
Partnering with DANA to advance agri-tech innovations
As part of its ongoing mission to cultivate a healthier and more sustainable future through agricultural innovation, Silal entered a partnership with DANA.
DANA is a venture builder and investment platform headquartered in Abu Dhabi. It focuses on empowering women-led startups in desert tech, including sectors such as agri-tech, water solutions, food security, waste management, and renewable energy.
