ImprovingValueChain

Overview applicants of the 2022 edition

The Dutch horticulture industry will be facing a number of challenges with regard to horticultural innovation in the future. It can, however, be said with absolute certainty that this applies equally to all links in the value chain. This is why this edition of the Innovation Prize will be focusing on the value chain through the following themes:

  • New horticultural products that lead to higher added value
  • Reducing costs in the chain by cutting back on the use of essential raw materials such as water, energy, etc.
  • Innovation of the value chain (e.g. short chains and other solutions)
  • Improving quality retention in the value chain with a view to reducing food waste
  • Closing the chain through solutions such as extracting valuable materials from residual flows
  • Innovations that create additional value in the fresh produce chain (flowers, plants, vegetables or fruit)
  • It is also imperative that the ideas entered for the Innovation Prize contribute to a circular economy

Key technologies play an important role in all these topics, in relation to which it must be demonstrated how key enabling technologies facilitate innovations that were not previously possible. To meet these challenges, it is of crucial importance that the horticulture industry of the future taps into innovations from related sectors (or cross-sector innovations) such as high-tech, water, agri-food, logistics, energy, retail, chemicals and the creative industries.
Cross-Border

Harrij Schmeitz (Chairman of the Jury): ‘This year we had a smaller list of applicants. This confirms the opinion of the Topsector Tuinbouw & Uitgangsmaterialen that there is a lot of energy on innovation for cultivation on sensoring, robotics and greenhouse technology. But there is to less focus on innovations for the supply chain, cerating added value to the supply chain. More focus to this in our innovationprograms is needed.”.

Organifarms

With our harvesting robot for strawberries we shorten the supply chain and reduce food loss and waste by detecting quality defects on the fruit and not damaging them while harvesting. Through our automated weighing and packaging the fruit can go directly into sales.

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ZonOpWaterbassin.nl [Aquasolsolar b.v.]

A sustainable revenue model [electricity generation] through double occupancy of the space in the water basin.

Planthunters

All energy (time, resources ect.) that are used in the production of floriculture products have to be used as optimal as possible.

Planthunters makes sure that every product arrives in a store where the chance of sale is the highest.
This way we make the Planthunters-dream a reality: ''no more wasted energies within the floriculture chain!''

Planthunters
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Vertigo Technologies

We provide accurate sensors for fruit quality inspection, based on the use of microwaves, that allow to optimize logistic and reduce waste. By allowing massive data collection in short time, fresco sensors aid the decision making and quality tracking in all steps of the value chain, from farm to retail.

Dutch Cotton B.V.

Cotton is a new crop in the Netherlands, adding value to the horticulture industry.
It will be a new sector to the local fashion industry that will increase the local production of cotton based products, making a cleaner and more sustainable product for the end consumer.

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CSR-Focus

CSR-Focus

We inspire organizations to be sustainable by translating complex processes into user-friendly software to create insights for sustainability strategy. We are the first to offer a tool in which an organization identifies the most material sustainability topics and then prioritizes them based on an assessment of the organization and its stakeholders. In this way, we contribute to the optimalisation in horticulture value chains by enabling companies to determine their sustainability status and position more quickly and cheaper and, in this way, to start making an impact with greater focus.

InnoFlex Technologies B.V.

Air pollution in greenhouse horticulture and the immediate vicinity is tackled by means of a transparent air-purifying foil, nitrogen emisions are reduced and in turn economic activities can continue to take place.

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INFITIV DARK

Infitiv

Infitiv is developing an IOT solution to monitor and predict the fruit quality, focusing on the long-term storage, to reduce food loss and extend the shelf life.

OPTIMIZ

We enable the remote inspection of the handling, quality and condition of horticultural products in the supply chain with the goal of reducing the impact of in-transit losses on the traders.

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Odd.Bot

To accelerate the transition to sustainable agriculture Odd.Bot is providing the successor of chemical- & manual weeding to initially assist the organic farmers with their strenuous handweeding tasks with robotic mechanical weeding so that the conventional chemical farmers can follow.

Farmertronics Engineering BV

With the application of our robot tractor, the eTrac, no more fossil fuels are needed for growing fruit or trees, and there are no more emissions of CO2 or nitrogen oxides. By harvesting solar energy on the farm, it can be used for the eTrac, closing the loop. The eTrac is also relatively light, so that less soil compaction will take place.

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AgriData Innovations

ADI is a growing startup specialised in developing robotic systems and image analysis software for monitoring crops in indoor agricultural settings. From the gathered data we distill metrics such as measuring growth, scouting for disease/pests and providing quality control insights. With these insights we are giving higher resolution information to farmers on their crops. This will facilitate more targeted solutions to increase the yield and quality of their product.

Our mission is that, with the use of our technology, we will help in satisfying the growing demand for food with a growing global human population. In striving for this goal, we also aim to minimize the use of crop care chemicals on the plants grown, reducing the runoff effects they have on their surrounding ecosystems.

Hudson River Biotechnology / Plentrance

Hudson River has withdrawn itself from the competition

Our biodegradable Plentrance™ particles penetrate the plant cell wall and makes active ingredients available in the right place at the right time. This allows actors across the chain to decrease use of chemicals, optimize flowering time and save on fertilizers.

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