The Intel Business Challenge Europe is one of the most prestigious startup competitions of the continent. IBC is for innovative products, technologies fostered by startup companies in the area of ICT, medical devices, bio- and nanotechnology. Among the top 24 projects is SmartVineyard, the precision viticulture system, which addresses the problem of cost-efficient protection against grape diseases by capturing and processing accurate weather parameters with its state of the art decision support system.
Intel Business Challenge Europe this year takes place in Vilnius, Lithuania on September 8-10. The final round of the competition brings together the top 24 projects selected out of the hundreds of submitted applications. Moreover, the jury will select 5 teams to represent Europe in Intel Global Challenge in Silicon Valley later this year.
The SmartVineyard system consists of two main components: the hardware for data acquisition and software for displaying forecast and providing vineyard management functionalities. Fitted with leading-edge sensors, SmartVineyard devices capture microclimatic data to calculate the probability and intensity of specific diseases and to display information on an intuitive user interface. Using cellular communication, all captured data is forwarded to, and stored in the central servers. Forecasts and alerts are accurately calculated with mathematical models and algorithms and sent to the user interface available on computers or any mobile devices.
„Similar devices are already applied in Precision Viticulture, however, unlike other systems, SmartVineyard monitors microclimatic conditions and extends the variety of services by providing viticulturists the most accurate information on the intensity of major grape diseases. Our system gives grape and wine producers real-time insight to the spread of diseases, this way more conscious decisions could be made.” - informed us Csaba Árendás, CEO.
SmartVineyard already collected several accoladdes earlier this year. It won the Hungarian Innovation Grand Prize, was acknowledged as the Enterprise of the Month in may, and selected to be among the top ten projects at Cambridge University’s CUTEC startup challenge. Moreover, the company succeeded in doubling its income and the number of employees. The system is already in use by top wineries, viticulturist institutes, universities as well as experts throughout Hungary as well as Europe.
