Koppert and Blue Radix winners GreenTech Innovation and Concept Awards 2024

Koppert: winner of the GreenTech Concept Award.

The winners of the GreenTech Awards were announced at the opening of GreenTech Amsterdam 2024. Koppert wins the Concept Award for the product Koppert’s Digital Assistant. Blue Radix won the Innovation Award for the product Integrated Autonomous Climate & Irrigation Control. 

Chairman of the Jury, Egon Janssen, explains why: “Artificial Intelligence and data science are developing really fast. The winners of the Concept and Innovation Award show that this new technology can help to improve sustainability and reduce labour shortage. The jury was impressed by the scalability of the winning innovation and concept, which can result in a huge impact in the coming years”.

GreenTech Concept Award Winner

Koppert’s Digital Assistant offers personalised and context-rich IPM support by merging data from growers’ crop management systems and Koppert’s unique IPM knowledge.

For growers, the Digital Assistant embodies a revolutionary leap forward, surpassing superficial chatbot interaction. It incorporates vital data from the grower’s own crop management system (e.g. climate, pest prevalence, treatments) and combines with Koppert’s unique knowledge of IPM management and agricultural practices.

Janssen is impressed by Koppert’s approach: “Knowledge of plagues and diseases is widely available in literature. The knowledge level of growers varies depending on experience. The initiative to use a ChatGPT-like approach to assist growers can greatly increase the average knowledge level of growers.”

Blue Radix: Winner of the GreenTech Innovation Award.

GreenTech Innovation Award

Blue Radix – Integrated Autonomous Climate and Irrigation Control. This product enhances and integrates Blue Radix’s proven Autonomous Climate Control with Autonomous Irrigation Control, leveraging advanced AI. The Crop Controller ensures precise climate and irrigation execution, reducing climate computer work for the production manager by 80 per cent. It is set to revolutionise daily greenhouse management, delivering a five per cent profit increase and seven per cent yield improvement, ten per cent less water and fertiliser usage, and 15 per cent energy savings.

Egon Janssen explains: “We have seen many innovations using AI and Data Science to optimise a single process in the greenhouse. Since there are many processes that influence each other, the real challenge is to optimise the total operation. Blue Radix combining autonomous climate and water control is an important step towards the goal of autonomous greenhouses.”

GreenTech is proud that these winning products will be showcased on the show floor. The longlist of 51 novelties, of which 47 were submitted for the awards, will also be showcased. You can view the innovative products and learn more about the six nominees at this link.

Jury

The jury of the GreenTech Innovation & Concept Awards 2024 consists of:
• Chairman: Egon Janssen, TNO (Netherlands)
• Silke Hemming, Wageningen University Research (Germany)
• Perry van Adrichem, HortiTech B.V. (Netherlands)
• Peter Zwinkels, Technokas (Netherlands)
• Roel Vanderbruggen, Proefcentrum Hoogstraten (Belgium)
• Bart van Meurs, Division Q (Netherlands)
• Jolanda Heistek, Royal FloraHolland (Netherlands)
• Tijl Hoefnagels, Rubio (Netherlands)
The jury’s advisory committee consists of:
• Brian Sparks, Greenhouse Grower (USA)
• Leonardo Capitanio, Vivai Capitanio (Italy) and AIPH President
• Enrico Verhoef, Total Greenhouse Service (Mexico)
• Heinrich Dressler, Haymarket (Germany)

GreenTech Amsterdam will be held from now until Thursday, June 13, 2024. For more information and to register, go to this link.

GreenTech is an AIPH-approved International Horticultural Trade Exhibition. AIPH will moderate a panel session on Thursday, June 13, about Sustainable Growing Media.