Project description
Breakthrough technology to increase crop yield in greenhouses
Growing crops in greenhouses is beneficial to the environment, plant health and for meeting the needs of a growing population. Heating crop roots is essential for obtaining higher crop yields, but existing technologies fail to direct the energy to crops alone and instead heat the entire greenhouse. The EU-funded AgrowFab project aims to address this challenge by commercialising a cost-efficient and sustainable technology – a smart fabric that radiates heat as far infrared radiation and a root environment control unit. The technology will enhance crop yield by 35 % and significantly reduce energy waste.
Objective
Greenhouse managers need to improve their crops productivity to guarantee food security. Heating crops roots is essential to obtain higher yields, but existing technologies fail to direct the energy to the crops, heating the whole greenhouse instead. This has a large cost in terms of energy consumption (up to 40% energy waste) and GHG emissions and promotes pest infestation. With AgrowFab, we aim to commercialize a cost-efficient and sustainable technology consisting on a smart fabric that radiates heat as Far Infrared radiation (FIR). The fabric is made from nylon fibres coated with a proprietary non-metal carbon compound, making them electrically conductive. Our product’s nature (lightweight and mechanically flexible) allows its application to surface of any kind/size, and, thanks to a powerful control algorithm, it can be combined with other smart management systems to simultaneously control heating, irrigation and fertilization cycles, therefore enabling the complete management of the root-zone environment. AgrowFab controls the root’s capacity to absorb oxygen, water and nutrients on-demand, enhancing crop yields by 35%, while minimizing the energy waste (at least 40% lower) through accurate and faster (35-45%) temperature delivery. It also decreases the pesticide use by 20% and it can be powered using renewable energy sources. Our consortium is formed by San Hitech Ltd. – a leading engineering company with >20-year-experience and a wholesale branch for industrial electrical supplies – and ThermoSiv Ltd. – a experienced manufacturer of smart heating fabrics – which have joined their engineering and commercial capabilities to bring AgrowFab to market. Through this project, we aim to boost the competitiveness of both companies, reaching cumulative revenues of €47 million after 5 years of commercialization, creating 35 new job positions. With a total Phase 2 investment of €1.9 million, this would imply a ROI of 3.91.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels renewable energy
- engineering and technology civil engineering water engineering irrigation
- social sciences economics and business economics production economics productivity
- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME - SME instrument
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
Haifa
Israel
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.