12-15 October 2026 | Little Rock, Arkansas
IEEE-USA and the IEEE Japan Office will host the IWRC Smart Agriculture Technology Summit 12-15 October 2026 in Little Rock. This event brings innovators, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, policymakers, researchers, and students from Arkansas and Japan together to discuss the state of agricultural technology and build bridges between the U.S. heartland and Japan.
THANKS TO OUR STRATEGIC PARTNERS
About IWRC Smart Ag
The IWRC Smart Agriculture Technology Summit will combine Japan’s premier agricultural research institution, the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), leading American, Japanese, and multinational businesses, and the world’s premier technology organization, the IEEE. Through this event, attendees have a unique opportunity to forge and strengthen professional relationships between Arkansas, the United States, and Japan.
The anchoring event will be the Innovation, Workforce, and Research Conference (IWRC) on 13 October. The conference will bring together representatives from government, industry, and academia in both Japan and the United States to exchange ideas and insights on the future direction of smart agriculture technologies and international collaboration.
In addition, there will be invitation-only site visits to agricultural institutions in Arkansas on 12, 14, and 15 October to gain firsthand insight into how next-generation technologies for food production, processing, and storage are being developed and applied.
This summit will serve as an important opportunity to strengthen collaboration between the industries and research institutions of Japan and the United States, while contributing to the advancement of smart agriculture.
Agriculture in Japan 
Japan is a global leader in advanced agricultural technology. We are excited to have NARO as a strategic partner for this event, with their strong connections to the ag tech sector in Japan and worldwide.
IEEE and NARO have a collaborative relationship and share a common interest in advancing innovation in smart agriculture. As IEEE continues to expand its activities in this field and engage the agriculture and food sectors, it looks forward to further strengthening its collaboration with NARO and other relevant organizations.
Agriculture in Arkansas 
According to the Arkansas Farm Bureau, “Agriculture is Arkansas’ largest industry, adding more than $20 billion to the state’s economy annually. Arkansas is a major exporter of rice, soybeans, cotton, poultry and feed grains. There are 49,346 farms statewide and 97 percent of Arkansas’ farms are family-owned.”
IEEE and Smart Agriculture
IEEE’s membership intersects with agriculture in countless ways; from automation to signal processing, chip design to computer programming, and more. IEEE represents the men and women who make 21st-century agriculture effective, safe, and productive. We are rapidly advancing discussions related to smart agriculture and plan to expand our activities in this field, whether through member groups that discuss future directions, standardization activities, or other related areas that engage current and new members from the agriculture and food sectors.
IEEE’s strengthening collaboration with NARO and other relevant organizations is essential to our support of the global agricultural innovator community.
