Agri & Co Challenge attracts food and agritech startups from all over the world

The Canton of Fribourg launched the Agri & Co Challenge back in January of this year. This international call for projects with two distinct programs, Relocation and Remote Collaboration, is targeted at innovative companies active in the food, agriculture, and biomass industries. Out of the 154 candidates from a total of 53 countries, the judging panel selected 16 winners who were presented for the first time at the Awards Ceremony. Herewith the list of winning companies:

Relocation Program

AgroSustain, Switzerland: “A novel organic approach to extend storage of vegetables and fruits infected with broadly spread fungal pathogens” 

Augmenta, Greece: “State of the art deep learning device helping farmers optimizing their yields in real time” 

Bee Vectoring Technology, Canada: “A revolutionary patented technology that uses commercial bees to deliver targeted crop controls through the natural process of pollination”

Edapro, Switzerland: “Development of crop-specific microorganisms to naturally promote soil fertility and strengthens the plants” 

EDB Poliois Vegetais, Brazil: “Production of vegetable polyols – an innovative renewable and bio-based raw material for various applications such as seed coating” 

Golden Chlorella, Switzerland: “Innovative food based on Golden ChlorellaTM, a nutrient-dense micro-algae which is also one of the most sustainable source of protein” 

iDUS Controls, Canada: “A leading-edge IoT and cloud hosted solution for smart agriculture” 

Smart Yields, USA: “Combining the power of hardware sensors and software to help small scale farmers gaining unique and useful insights about their farm” 

Solvea, Romania: “A sustainable insect-based animal feed for aquaculture, agriculture and pet food industry”

Thinkmilk, Brazil / Switzerland: “An innovative milking process based on low-cost electronic sensors helping dairy farmers monitor and improve the health of their herd and milk quality” 

Under the ‘Relocation’ program, winning companies will be offered premises free of charge for two years at the St-Aubin Innovation Space. They will also each receive a cash prize of CHF 30,000, as well as bespoke mentoring and coaching. The 10 project winners of the Relocation Program will set up operations at the Agri & Co Innovation Center in Saint-Aubin next spring.

Remote Collaboration Program

AeroFarms, USA: “Taking vertical farming to a new level of precision and productivity with minimal environmental impact through patented and award winning aeroponic technology” 

Carbon Loop Technologies, Germany: “The only industrial process using open fire pyrolysis to capture carbon as premium quality Biochar”

EIO Diagnostics, Canada: “A fully automatable tool combining machine learning and multispectral sensors for early detection of mastitis in livestock” 

Polynatural, Chile: “A natural and organic edible coating to extend shelf life of fresh fruits by reducing microbial contamination and dehydration” 

Saathi Eco Innovations, India: “The first 100% biodegradable & compostable sanitary pad made from banana fiber, one of the most absorbent natural fibers & abundant in India” 

SwissDeCode, Switzerland: “The first portable and completely self-administered on-site DNA detection kit able to confirm product integrity in less than 30 minutes”  

Under the ‘Remote Collaboration’ program, winning companies that do not wish to relocate to the St-Aubin Innovation Space, but are nonetheless interested in breaking into the Swiss market, are given the opportunity to find out more about the agrofood network in the canton of Fribourg and Switzerland generally, with a view to forging long-term partnerships with local stakeholders.

(SK)