FROM AUTOMATION TO SUSTAINABILITY: RETHINKING AGRICULTURE WITH AI458
At the RIO+AGRO 2025 conference in Rio de Janeiro, Dr. Florian Kongoli, President of FLOGEN Stars Outreach and a renowned scientist in the field of sustainability, delivered the keynote lecture titled “The Revolutionary Role of Artificial Intelligence and Automation in Sustainable Agroeconomy.” Addressing an audience of experts and policymakers, he argued that artificial intelligence (AI) and automation—often viewed with suspicion as threats to employment or economic balance—are, in fact, powerful tools to positively transform global agriculture. According to Kongoli, these technologies enable the optimization of water, soil, and fertilizer use, the reduction of production costs, the increase of crop yields, and the improvement of human well-being by freeing people from repetitive tasks to focus on innovation and creativity.
To assess their true sustainability, Dr. Kongoli relies on his FLOGEN Sustainability Framework, a model he developed in 2015 based on three core criteria — economic development, environmental protection, and social progress — which must be fulfilled simultaneously, supported by three pillars: science and technology, governance and law, and civil society and industrial practice. This framework was officially adopted in 2024 as a constitutional law by the municipality of Nova Friburgo, Brazil, making it the first city in the world to legally require that every strategic or operational project be evaluated according to these sustainability criteria before approval.
Using historical and empirical evidence, including the example of the Green Revolution, Kongoli demonstrated that scientific and technological progress—particularly automation—has consistently allowed global food production to grow faster than the human population, disproving long-standing predictions of mass famine since Malthus. He concluded that the future of agriculture depends on the wise integration of AI as a tool capable of measuring, predicting, and optimizing every process, thus creating a sustainable, efficient, and human-centered agriculture built on knowledge, balance, and responsibility.
Palestra Principal : Florian Kongoli - Presidente da Flogen Stars Outreach.
October 2025 Events
FLORIAN KONGOLI INTERVIEWED AT RIO+AGRO 2025: SCIENCE, SUSTAINABILITY, AND THE FUTURE OF AI IN AGRICULTURE459
Dr. Florian Kongoli, President of FLOGEN Stars Outreach and CEO of FLOGEN Technologies, was interviewed by journalist Mario Linhares at the Rio+Agro Podcast following his plenary lecture at Rio+Agro 2025, the major agro-industrial and sustainability event held at RioCentro, the largest exhibition center in Latin America.
In his discussion, Dr. Kongoli reflected on his long relationship with Rio de Janeiro — the city of his honorary citizenship — and praised the rapid growth of the Rio+Agro forum, now recognized as one of Latin America’s premier platforms for innovation in agriculture and sustainability.
During the interview, Dr. Kongoli highlighted the importance of integrating science and technology into sustainability, a principle he has championed for over two decades. He explained how his FLOGEN Sustainability Framework, first introduced in 2015 and later adopted as a municipal law in Nova Friburgo (Brazil), provides a universal model for evaluating whether any activity — industrial or agricultural — meets the three essential pillars of sustainability: environmental protection, economic development, and social progress.
He also discussed the key themes from his lecture, focusing on the revolutionary role of artificial intelligence and automation in agriculture, where technology can reduce environmental impact, increase productivity, and enhance quality of life when applied responsibly.
The conversation, recorded as part of the Rio+Agro Podcast series, celebrated Dr. Kongoli’s global leadership in promoting sustainability through science and technology. His ongoing commitment to bridging research, policy, and industry continues to inspire initiatives worldwide — from the SIPS Summits he organizes each year to his collaborations with governments, academia, and private enterprises.
FLOGEN Sustainability Framework is a unique model of sustainability that consists of 3 equally important criteria and 3 equally important actors. Based on the magic number of 3 it is designed as a table with 3 pillars that sustain 3 criteria.
The three equally important criteria are:
Economic development
Environmental protection
Social development
These criteria are equally important and need to be fulfilled simultaneously. If anyone not fulfilled sustainability cannot be achieved.
If environmental protection is achieved and the economic development and growth and social development are forgotten the environment will not be protected in long term since the means of protection will be missing and people that do not have to eat will not protect the environment.
If economic development and growth is achieved and the environment protection and social development are forgotten the economic growth will not be achieved in long term because of dangerous environment and existential problems of human beings.
If social development and quality of life of human beings is achieved at a certain point in timer and economic growth and environment protection are forgotten the social development will not be possible in long term since economic growth and environment protection make possible and enable social development and the quality of life of human beings.
The above goal can be achieved or destroyed by the following three equally important actors/pillars are:
Science and Technology
Governance and Management
Education and Civil Society
To reach sustainability, the 3 criteria need to be fulfilled simultaneously by a close cooperation of the three actors/pillars. If any of the actors/pillar fails, the entire structed falls down.
By aligning these three pillars, the framework aims to create a balanced, equitable, and long -lasting approach to sustainability- one that can be applied at local, national, and global levels.
The FLOGEN Sustainability Framework is designed for practical implementation across a field of life through the 3 equally important pillars:
Science and Technology: Innovations in energy, automation, recycling are central to the framework. Science and technological advancements have to make sure that all the 3 criteria are fulfilled simultaneously and drive economic growth and improve social development by minimizing environmental impact through the reduction of emissions and improving resource efficiency.
Governance and Management: Governments and private company management create legal frameworks that assure economic growth social development and the protection of the environment. The legal framework makes sure that science and technology development such as AI and automation serve the three criteria of sustainability that included social development and serve humanity.
Education and Civil Society: Preparing the future generation and assuring lifelong learning is an important core component. The education systems prepares the workforce for scientific and technologies challenges while civil society drives action through advocacy, public campaigns, and grassroots initiatives.
The framework was presented for the first time at SIPS 2016 and published officially in 2016 and FLOGEN SIPS 2016 official publication. The full article is given here: https://www.flogen.org/pdf/sips16_524FS.pdf
A video explains in simple terms FLOGEN Sustainability Framework is given here:
exposes the confusion and disfigured concept of sustainability through interviews of various people
clarifies the unique principle of 3 of the FLOGEN Sustainability Framework: 3 equally important criteria and 3 equally important actors/pillars
makes the link with UN Sustainable Development Goals and exposes the weak points
enforces the practical applicability of the framework for strategic development and operations of any city and organization preventing going unbalanced in any direction in detriment of others.
BACKGROUND
The FLOGEN Sustainability Framework was conceived and developed to clarify the major confusion that existed in literature and in practice about sustainability about 20 years ago and that still exists today. The confusion exists in mixing in one basket everything without differentiating among goals, criteria, actors etc. This led to jumping in extremes. It was the in the beginning the focus in economic growth and industrial development that damages the environment. Then everything jumped in another extreme: Environment protection ignoring growth and social development. Now in the times of economic crises it was understood that ignoring growth destroys damages the environment and social development.
Also 20 years ago the role of science and technology was considered a very damaging factor for sustainability. None was thinking about it as a major factor to reach sustainability. Dr Kongoli started this crusade to give the right guiding place
AUTHOR
The FLOGEN Sustainability Framework was developed by Dr. Florian Kongoli, Chairman of FLOGEN Stars Outreach, a recognized leader in the field of sustainable development. His extensive experience in materials science, engineering, and environmental management led him to the realization that traditional approaches to sustainability were in fact unsustainable and often fall short because they lack a coordinated, systems-based strategy. An important incentive of creating the framework was the adversity against the science and technology that was perceived as an enemy of sustainable development for many years in the past in sustainable circles.
This video of 2014 shows one of the first contribution of Dr. Florian Kongoli that is referred as the video that changed the world in one decade on the role of science and technology on sustainability:
GLOBAL INFLUENCE
In a bid to provide a comprehensive solution to the world's pressing environmental, social, and economic challenges Dr. Kongoli introduced this framework to the global stage. He has presented his framework in several invited plenary lectures around the world. Some of them are given below.
United Nations, Geneva (2022)
Dr. Florian Kongoli presented the FLOGEN Sustainability Framework upon invitation as an opening sustainability plenary lecture at a United Nations meeting in Geneva in February 2022. The presentation was aimed at policymakers, business leaders, and scientists, emphasizing the importance of a unified approach that leverages science and technology to achieve sustainable development. The framework was well-received at the UN for its clear, data-driven methodology and its focus on science and technology as central drivers of sustainability. Rather than viewing technology as a mere tool, the framework positions it as the core enabler of all sustainable solutions. The full video recording of the presentation s given here:
Rio De Janeiro (2024)
Invited Plenary Lecture at Rio + Agro Congress in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 2024
France (2021)
Plenary lecture at the solemn meeting of Lorraine Academy of Sciences, Nancy, France
Singapore (2019)
Invited Plenary Lecture at NTU, Singapore on the occasion of the inauguration of the Institute of Science and Technology for Humanity
Greece (2018)
Invited Plenary lecture at Shechtman-Suresh Convocation & Honorary Symposium
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW OF THE CITY OF NOVA FRIBURGO
In a world’s first pioneering act, on September 12th, 2024, the City Council of Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in a special plenary session unanimously voted to adopt the Flogen Sustainability Framework as a law. This marks the first time in the world that a scientific concept has been approved to be integrated into the constitutional law of a city and used as a criterion for the city's operations, as well as for the approval of all public and private projects.
The project law was proposed and written by City Councillor Professor Pierre, a visionary, innovative and efficient leader who delivered a passionate presentation advocating for the Flogen Sustainability Framework and its scientific and practical methods for achieving sustainability. He passionately presented and advocated to the city council in which the governing party, opposition parties and all independents voted unanimously 14:0 to include FLOGEN Sustainability Framework as a constitutional law of the city. The city of Nova Friburgo made history setting up an example for numerous municipalities around the world.
On 19 September 2024, Mayor Johnny Maycon, a big success story himself, signed The FLOGEN Sustainability Framework into law. The law was published in the Official Gazette the same day making it officially a constitutional law of the City of Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
All strategic projects of the city need to fulfill the criteria of FLOGEN Sustainability framework in order to be approved. Through this initiative, the city has implemented policies align with the framework's principles, demonstrating how local governments can use science and technology to create sustainable cities. The application of the framework has helped Nova Friburgo become a model for sustainable urban development in Brazil.
The FLOGEN Sustainability Framework is not just theoretical; it has been applied in real-world scenarios.
SIPS (Sustainability through Science and Technology / Sustainable Industrial Processing Summit) has adopted the framework, and it is fully based on it for the entire design and functioning. SIPS summits around the world: https://www.flogen.org/?p=32#toop
Atlantic Green Tech Corporation, a corporation in Brazil was set based on FLOGEN Sustainability framework. The video of the CEO of Atlantic Green Tech explaining this is given here:
Environmental Preservation project in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest Biome - A presentation of Alan Lopes, Congressman of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Video:
WORLDWIDE RECOGNITION
Dr Florian Kongoli, the author of FLOGEN Sustainability Framework and Chairman of FLOGEN Stars Outreach has ben recognized around the world for his contribution to Science and Technology.
Academic Honors:
Guest Member, European Academy of Sciences (2025)
Honorary Member, Lorraine Academy of Sciences (2021)
Certificate of Appreciation in recognition of his contribution toward sustainable development through FLOGEN Sustainability Framework by Tomas Bata University in Zlin (Czech Republic)/Faculty of Applied Informatics.
The FLOGEN Sustainability Framework offers a comprehensive, actionable approach to achieving sustainable development by prioritizing the integration of science, technology, governance, and education. By following the framework's guidelines, cities and industries around the world can create solutions that benefit the economy, protect the environment, and improve social well-being.
With its UN presentation by Dr. Florian Kongoli and successful implementation in SIPS and Nova Friburgo, the FLOGEN Sustainability Framework is proving to be a vital tool in the global effort to build a more sustainable future.
