Amsterdam, 28 September 2021 – Today the winners of the GreenTech Innovation Awards were announced at the opening of GreenTech Live & Online. The winners out of a total of 20 entries are: Corvus drones BV with Corvus Drones in the category ‘Concept’ and Van Iperen International with GreenSwitch Original in the category ‘Innovation’.
Chairwoman Liselotte de Vries (TU Delft AgTech Institute) explains: “The winners teamed up with other expert partners and have a system approach, which is key for future circularity and upcycling solutions to hold commercially and to drive meaningful impact. It’s a strength that they do not look at the greenhouse industry in isolation.”
Category winners
Category Concept: Corvus drones BV with Corvus Drones
Product description: The drone is a fully automatic flying drone in horticulture greenhouses for crop monitoring purposes. Unique is the automatic navigation based on visual odometry software (GPS signals are too weak to use in a greenhouse). Seed germination, usable plants and leaf area measurement are the first applications.
Jury comments:
“Corvus has chosen to team up with strategic partners in a platform concept. Each partner being strong in something else, the combination is very strong and promising”
“The business model, a subscription model, is inspiring and can be an example for other businesses”
“More dynamic assessments tools for greenhouses are welcome in the scope of digitalizing crop production and precision farming”
Advice of the jury: work on clarifying the advantage of the use of drones in other platforms (e.g. labour trolleys)
Question of the jury: How to you fly in dense crops?
Category Innovation: Van Iperen International with GreenSwitch Original
Product description: GreenSwitch® Original is the first Nitrate fertilizer from organic source. It is a pure, crystal clear liquid formulation suitable for high-tech greenhouses and any open field fertigation or foliar application in fruit, vegetables and ornamentals.
Jury comments:
“Fertilization made easy with big contribution to circular economy”
“We appreciated the systems-approach that GreenSwitch takes by tying together different actors in the food and energy supply”
“Potential for worldwide application”
“Interesting principle for extraction of other nutrients (from other sources) in the future”
Question of the jury: Is it scalable? What is the business case for and adoption expectancy of bio-gas plants?
The winners, nominees and entries for the Innovation Awards will be showcased and can be visited during the exhibition.
To check out the longlist of all the entries of the Innovation Awards please visit: https://www.greentech.nl/live-and-online/innovative-products/. And the nominees: https://www.greentech.nl/live-and-online/innovation-award/nominees/.
Jury
The jury of the GreenTech Innovation Awards 2021 consists of:
Chairman: Liselotte de Vries, TU Delft AgTech Institute (Netherlands)
Silke Hemming, Wageningen University & Research (Germany)
Peter Zwinkels, Tecknokas (Netherlands)
Mark Durno, Rockstart (United Kingdom)
Perry van Adrichem, Horti-Tech B.V. (Netherlands)
Wolfgang Steiner, Gemüsebau Steiner GmbH & Co KG (Germany)
The jury’s advisory committee consists of:
Brian Sparks, Greenhouse Grower (USA)
Leonardo Capitano, Vivai Capitanio (Italy)
Enrico Verhoef, Total Greenhouse Service (Mexico)
Heinrich Dressler, Haymarket (Germany)
Registration for GreenTech Live & Online
Visitors can still register via www.greentech.nl/live-and-online/.
GreenTech Amsterdam
GreenTech Live & Online will be held from Tuesday 28 – Thursday 30 September 2021. GreenTech Amsterdam, in full physical format, from Tuesday 14 – Thursday 16 June 2022. The exhibition is a global meeting place for all horticultural technology professionals with the focus on the early stages of the horticultural chain and the current issues growers face.
GreenTech is supported by AVAG, the industry association for the greenhouse technology sector in the Netherlands.
More information via the GreenTech website or follow GreenTech on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.
