AGRIVI is an AgriTech company from Croatia, whose approach to solving the global food problem is through the digitalization of agriculture. The company was recently awarded by the European Innovation Council (EIC) with a grant of 1.15 M€, which will help them build an AI-driven agronomic adviser to support farms in meeting the EU compliance requirements for crop protection and food safety. Spinverse funding experts successfully supported the company in the highly competitive funding application process.
AGRIVI agronomic adviser drives sustainable farming
Complying to one of the major goals of the European Union’s Green Deal to reduce the usage of pesticides by 50% by 2030 presents significant challenges to farms. Whilst adhering to the tightening regulations, the farmers need to make sure that the reduced protection of their crops does not impact their yields and profitability. At the same time, the majority of small and mid-sized farms in the EU struggle with the advanced digital agriculture solutions.
The 8 M€ project partially funded by the EIC, AGRIVI will bring an AI-driven agronomic adviser to the market by 2024. The digital tool will always be present to communicate with the farmer as a virtual assistant in an easy-to-use form of chatbot. The tool will guide farmers in making three important decisions. Firstly, the adviser will help detect the need for crop protection by identifying actual risks of pests and diseases on their crops and secondly, recommend how to protect crops by suggesting products which secure compliance with EU and national regulations. Further, the tool recommends when it is safe to harvest crops by analyzing crop protection waiting period and pesticide residue levels.
The use of the AGRIVI agronomic adviser is expected to manifest itself at the farms as improved productivity and food safety, less post-harvest food waste, decreased usage of pesticides, improved soil health and biodiversity.
Spinverse helped in securing the 1.15 M€ grant funding
To increase the chances of success of their important project, AGRIVI decided to get support for the proposal application process from Spinverse, who they knew has the required expertise on preparing successful grant proposals. Spinverse funding experts were supporting AGRIVI in the complex application process from start to finish — with the desired outcome.
The Chief Operating Officer Mate Knezovic at AGRIVI says: “The funding experts at Spinverse were most helpful, responsive, and professional. They provided us with very valuable insights into many aspects in the project preparation phase and also gave us useful tips during the proposal writing process. We were very happy with our collaboration.”
Mate Knezovic concludes by reminding that grant application is a long and time-consuming process which requires specialised expertise companies rarely have in-house. He advises any company planning to apply for public funding to carefully choose any partners, including a funding expert, to increase their chances of success in the competitive grant application calls.
More information: https://www.agrivi.com