NIBC 2nd Webinar on ‘Strengthening the Seed Sector’ on 9th June 2021

On 9th June this year, in partnership with the Agricultural Network of the Netherlands Embassy in Tehran, the Netherlands-Iran Business Council (NIBC) held its second online webinar on ‘Strengthening the Seed Sector’. This webinar was supported and sponsored by the Iranian Embassy in The Hague and co-organized with the Netherlands Embassy in Tehran.

The program began with short keynote speeches by Mr. Arie Kraaijeveld (Chairman of NIBC), Mr. Alireza Naraghi (Economic Counselor of the Iranian Embassy in The Hague) and Mr. Hans Smolders (Agricultural Counselor for Iran and Iraq, The Netherlands Embassy in Tehran). After the keynote speeches, the following researchers, organizers, and entrepreneurs from The Netherlands and Iran gave their presentations to the online audience:

  • Ms. An Michiels , Director SeedNL and Director of AgKnowledge Partnering and Advisor for AgTech and Seeds, The Netherlands. She gave a talk on ‘Breaking ground for resilient seed systems”.
  • Dr. Ramin Rafezi, Head of the Genetics and Plant Breeding Department of the Vegetable Research Center (VRC), Faculty Member of VRC, Horticultural Sciences Research Institute of Iran (HSRI). He spoke on ‘Public-private partnership to improve vegetable seed production’.
  • Mr. Ronald de Bruin, Founder and Director of Agrisim B.V., The Netherlands. Mr. de Bruin spoke on ‘Solutions to optimize open farmland through big data, algorithms and analysis’.
  • Mr. Peter Oussoren, Chief Commercial Officer and Mr. Paul Koomen, Area Sales Manager APAC – LATAM at Seed Processing Holland BV. Mr. Oussoren and Mr. Koomen spoke on ‘The introduction of machines and technology needed for seed processing’.
  • Mr. Dr. Mostafa Karimian Eghbal, Associate Professor at Tarbiat Modares University, Iran and CEO of the Vision Consulting Group spoke on ‘The role of science and technology parks in the development of agricultural technologies in Iran’.

As in the 1st webinar in this series, Mr. Rolf Schrauwen, Business Strategy Consultant Agriculture & Horticulture and Associate of NIBC moderated the webinar in his usual professional manner. Over one hundred participants ranging from several Iranian ministries, knowledge institutes/universities, the Khorasan Razavi Agricultural and Natural Resources, and other organizations and companies took part in the webinar.

For a video recording of the webinar please click on the following link.

Seedlings
Beeld: ©J Garget