New opportunities with the Startup Days at Grüne Woche

Nico Hansen has changed sides. Last year, the founder from Hamburg won over the expert jury from the agriculture and food industry with his vegan cheese alternative Vanozza. Today, he will be sitting on the jury himself when the Startup Days begin on the stage in Hall 27. ‘I'm happy just to be able to listen and enjoy. When I perform myself, I'm really tense,’ he says.

For the seventh time, the prize for young start-ups from the agricultural technology and food industry will be awarded at Grüne Woche in cooperation with the Andreas Hermes Academy. The event is supported by Rentenbank. This Tuesday and Wednesday (1.30 - 2.20 pm), ten companies will present their ideas in just two minutes and then spend eight minutes answering the sometimes tricky questions from the seven-member panel of experts from the agriculture and food industry. The judging takes place in seven categories, including the business idea, social added value, scalability and the presentation itself. The award ceremony will take place on Wednesday at 6 pm in Hall 3.2 on the stage of the Erlebnisbauernhof.

‘We had the wrong image of the trade fair’

But it's not just about winning. For two days, companies can present their products and make important contacts in Hall 27. Dr Michael Müller also presented his start-up at the Startup Days last year. Pflanzentheke from Lorsch has set itself the task of enabling the safe and vertical cultivation of fruit and vegetables with climate-resilient cultivation systems and cultivation techniques. Müller landed in second place. Unlike Nico Hansen and Vanozza (Hall 27/224b), he did not win free trade fair participation. Nevertheless, Pflanzentheke will be exhibiting this time (Hall 6.2/105) - out of conviction.

‘It was really important for us that we were able to familiarise ourselves with Grüne Woche last year through the Startup Days. We had a completely false impression of the trade fair beforehand. We meet a lot of farmers and direct marketers here,’ he says. Participants EntoSus (1.2/150c) and CinSOIL (Hall 22/118) have also recognised this and are represented with an exhibition stand.

The Startup Days will begin on Tuesday, 21 January at 11.00 a.m. with an interview with Lars Jaeger, Director of Grüne Woche. The programme will be rounded off with forward-looking talks offering insights into the latest developments and trends in the industry. Pupils will also have the opportunity to ask the founders questions as part of ‘Startup Days meets young generation’. Nico Hansen from Vanozza will be there today at 11.30 a.m. (Hall 27).

These ten start-ups are in the final

Almost 30 startups that fulfil at least one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals have applied with their innovations for a place at the Grüne Woche Startup Days.

Ten of them qualified for the final round:

AGAi is launching ‘Ask the Soil Pope’, a platform designed to provide targeted support to farmers, agricultural entrepreneurs and agronomists, as well as experts in the field of soil science and agriculture with generative artificial intelligence. The company is still in the start-up phase. https://www.bodenpapst.de/#/de/home

AI.Land from Krefeld aims to increase transparency and efficiency along the value chain between vegetable producers and consumers through the use of innovative automation technologies. Supported by robotics and an open-core merchandise management system, producers can produce regional vegetable boxes directly in the field and market them locally. https://www.a-i.land

Esencia Foods from Berlin produces mycelium biomass for food companies that produce vegan meat and fish products. At the heart of the start-up is the patent-pending solid-state fermentation platform. https://www.esenciafoods.co

Greenhub from Leipzig started out as a university project. The company specialises in transforming greenhouses and vertical farms into highly efficient, sustainable food production systems. By using state-of-the-art technology in controlled environments, crop yields and the use of resources are optimised throughout the year. https://greenhub.eu

Karevo has developed a retrofittable optical sorting system that automatically recognises bad potatoes, making sorting work on farms easier. https://www.karevo.de/#

Nosh.bio uses microbial fermentation to produce nutritious, high-quality proteins from GMO-free mushrooms. The Berlin-based company describes its proprietary process as ‘the new standard in fermentation’. https://www.nosh.bio

Plances develops smart irrigation systems that effortlessly transform balconies into green oases. The Berlin start-up's long-term goal is to promote biodiversity in cities through extensive greening and to make urban living spaces more sustainable and liveable. https://plances.de/

SAFIA is a spin-off of the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM). With its patented rapid test technology, the company offers the food and agricultural industries an efficient solution for detecting contamination of food resources with mould toxins (mycotoxins) at an early stage in order to protect consumers. https://www.safia.tech

Tunen Agronomy uses artificial intelligence to optimise the operational management of arable farms. With a strong focus on data collection, data management and data analysis, Tunen has developed the first agronomic voice assistant. https://www.tunen.ai

ValueGrain from Hamburg has developed a technology that processes spent grains from breweries into a liquid flour. This refined raw material can replace up to 35% of wheat and other conventional flours in products such as bread, pasta, pizza or biscuits and can also be used as the main ingredient in meat alternatives, especially if the focus is on a clean-label and regional sourcing approach. https://value-grain.com