What's new? Session 1 of Digital Agriculture for Sustainable Food Systems

Session 1 completed (Feb 23-25, 2022)

In February we could finally kick-off the onsite sessions in Ruhstorf an der Rott. Giovanni from Dahlia Robotics GmbH, Moritz from Vivent and Alex from PAWWR joined the partners from EIT Food, LfL and Siemens to get to know the area, visit their testing fields and to define their individual milestones for the Challenge. Of course, the three days of the first onsite session in Bavaria were full of virtual in live insight sessions about the German AgTech market and farmers and their needs in Germany. The sessions were held by various research and industry players from our partner network such as Rudolf Sollacher from Siemens Technologies, Nicolas Schmid from John Deere, Andreas Gabriel from LfL,Thea Gherdan, sales coach for AgTech startups.

The teams also had their first introductions to their chosen sparring partners including:

• AgTech industry experts such as Dr. Thilo Steckl (ClAAS E-Systems GmbH), Nico Schmidt (John Deere), Thea Gherdan (Thefitgroup), Philipp Eggers (Eggers Landmaschinen), Dr. Christa Hoffmann (oeconos GmbH), Dr. Stefan Meldau (KWS Saat), Alexander Niehus (KTBL) and LLR Rechtsanwälte mbB (lawyers specialized in data protection and information technology)
• Research experts in AgriTech such as Veronika Hannus (HSWT), Anna Maria Molitor and Andreas Gabriel and Stefan Kopfinger (LfL)
• EIT Food Startup Network partners such as Dr. Philipp Rittershaus (Rootcamp), Andreas Schweikert (bitkom e.V.)

On top of that, each team had the chance to pitch their solution to selected media partners in order to widen their visibility within the German AgTech market.

What’s next?

The top three teams will get the chance to test and validate their solutions on the LfL testing grounds and work in the Siemens Makerspace in Ruhstorf an der Rott, Germany. In the first softlanding session, they defined their specific milestones and how they will contribute to reach the challenge goal. Their sparring partners and technology and startup experts from Siemens, LfL and EIT Food will support them in reaching their goals.

The second onsite session will take place on April 4-6 in Ruhstorf an der Rott. The prize money of 10.000,- Euro will be awarded to the winning team during the final Demo Day on June 1, 2022.  

Would you like to see how we support the teams in Ruhstorf an der Rott or join us on our mission to transform the food system? Stay updated via our project page.