{"id":3931,"date":"2023-06-24T10:19:24","date_gmt":"2023-06-24T10:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationisrael.org.il\/en\/?post_type=article&p=3931"},"modified":"2023-11-30T07:25:45","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T07:25:45","slug":"a-fast-track-to-innovation","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/innovationisrael.org.il\/en\/article\/a-fast-track-to-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fast-Track to Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The story of Growee contains all the characteristics of a typical development and innovation process. Idan Avitan, a robotics engineer and founder of Growee, engaged in hydroponic agriculture (growing plants in water) as a hobby. Avitan identified the market trend, developed prototype systems that won awards at global innovation competitions, raised initial capital, and succeeded in proving technological, commercial, and preliminary sales feasibility. With the help of the Innovation Authority’s R&D Preparatory Program, and thanks to the support and counselling that it received, Growee is today progressing to commercialization and mass production of an innovative technology that will change the world of urban agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a developmental engineer, Avitan had worked extensively with new inventions and developments. “When I started dealing in hydroponic agriculture as a hobby, I realized that it was too complex a task for the average person. The water’s chemical composition and the environmental surroundings require constant control, and most people simply don’t have the necessary tools for this”, says Avitan. “In addition, at that time, I could identify an increasing trend of urban agriculture \u2013 in homes, stores, apartment buildings, and on rooftops (places without suitable land) \u2013 and the evolvement of a new market consisting of millions of people interested in smart, organic home-grown plants. The familiar technological solutions are suited to large greenhouses and there was no automated solution for the home grower.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Growee provides smart solutions for the home grower. The company’s innovative development enables to grow plants via a specially designated application and provides access to the hydroponic growing method that a simple grower perceives as too complicated. Via special sensors, the electronic system monitors the state of the water and surroundings, and the data is collected in the company’s cloud platform which analyzes it and takes action to fix the relevant parameters. For example, if the sensors indicate a low acidity level in the water near the plant’s roots, the system will perform an immediate analysis of the required level of acidity and inject substances into the water to remedy the situation. “There are 16 different substances which make up a precise cocktail suitable for any plant. This is something that the home grower can’t do, and which is error-prone”, Avitan points out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The field of urban home agriculture is largely DIY. Each person assembles his\/her own garden. This can be in a flower box or plastic container on the roof and so our solution needs to be suitable for everyone,” says Avitan. “This is an example of natural evolution of a market that still lacks uniformity or industry standards, so the system interfaces and connects with what currently exists”. One of the clear advantages of Growee’s solution is scalability \u2013 the ability to grow. The system can make the necessary adaptions over time, so that today we can grow a single flower box of a particular size and, tomorrow, increase the size tenfold. Everything is managed via the app \u2013 from anywhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the four years since its establishment, Growee has registered several patents and completed development of the product and intellectual property. The company also conducted pilots around the world and established a distribution network to markets in the US and Canada. Prototypes created by Growee have won some of the world’s largest startup competitions \u2013 in Paris, Berlin, London, and Las Vegas. Today, the company is working on producing the first series of the product that includes hundreds of systems, while at the same time conducting pilots with medical cannabis companies in Israel and the US. The company is also collaborating with educational institutions that are establishing educational hydroponic farms, including partnerships with the Growing Beyond Earth research program and NASA to enable outer space cultivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the company’s development process began in Tel Aviv, following the support it received from the South Up technological incubator, the company’s offices moved to Kibbutz Nir in the Gaza Periphery area. “During my military service in the Egoz Unit, I spent many years in Gaza and always assumed that I would only return here to fight.<\/p>\n<\/div>