First chemical free, sustainable & scalable disinfection system for intense agriculture in greenhouse facilities

Información del proyecto

SPARC

Identificador del acuerdo de subvención: 868040

DOI

10.3030/868040

Proyecto cerrado

Fecha de la firma de la CE 21 Julio 2019

Fecha de inicio 1 Junio 2019

Fecha de finalización 30 Septiembre 2019

Financiado con arreglo a

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Coste total

€ 71 429,00

Aportación de la UE

€ 50 000,00

Coordinado por

TECH MIST LTD
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SPARC (First chemical free, sustainable & scalable disinfection system for intense agriculture in greenhouse facilities)

Período documentado: 2019-06-01 hasta 2019-09-30

Resumen del contexto y de los objetivos generales del proyecto

In the ideal greenhouse environment fruits and vegetables grow without the risk of infections, pathogen control costs are minimized, and greenhouse workers are not unknowingly compromised by their working environment. This allows for greenhouse operators to attain their maximum yields and profits. Unfortunately, this is not the reality. Pests and pathogens are present and billions of euros in production are lost every year by greenhouse operators stemming from contamination and inefficient greenhouse treatment methods. Once a pest or pathogen is present within a greenhouse it is costly in both time and money to eliminate. Leading to significant increases in the use of synthetic pesticides; from 0.2 million tons in 1950s to more than 5 million tons by 2000. This has a direct effect on the surrounding environment; pesticides can seep into the ground, putting at risk drinking water and surrounding ecosystems. To combat this, techmist has developed SPARC, a highly reactive gas-based system that provides unprecedented levels of disinfection and pest demise and is a unique approach to the infrastructure management of disinfection and pest management in a greenhouse environment. During the project, the company is looking to upgrade the hardware of the system to improve the sensing capabilities, and corresponding firmware. Scale up of in house capacity will allow them to produce additional units for demonstration and validation in Holland and the UK.

Trabajo realizado desde el comienzo del proyecto hasta el final del período abarcado por el informe y los principales resultados hasta la fecha

TechMist’s SPARC is unknown player in the EU and competes with a high volume, established chemical pesticide and disinfectant market, therefore market scepticism will be a key barrier for market entry. To overcome this barrier, a key finding from the feasibility study revived that fast market penetration would require engineering upgrades to the SPARC to improve user experience and interfacing during treatment. With simultaneous improvements in treatment efficiency and costs via real time analysis. The ability for smart learning from each treatment was also deemed imperative for entry into Europe’s diverse greenhouse produce and climate. Additionally, the company performed detailed analysis of the of the global and EU greenhouse market. They identified Holland, UK, France, Italy and Spain as the established and growing markets and therefore well placed for initial market penetration. Finally the company decided to execute a B2B model, selling directly to greenhouse growers, and also mapped the regulatory landscape with a special emphasis on acquiring the CE mark.

Avances que van más allá del estado de la técnica e impacto potencial esperado (incluida la repercusión socioeconómica y las implicaciones sociales más amplias del proyecto hasta la fecha)

The expected outcome of the project is to successfully execute the market validation and demonstrate that the value of highly effective disinfection capability in the segment of greenhouses. The powerful disinfection capacity coupled with the data driven analytics of the system will enable easy and seamless greenhouse disinfection to maximize the growing capacity of the growers, minimzing the risk of infection and subsequent financial losses, all while protecting the environment. The SPARC development will boost economic growth and create jobs within TechMist.

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