The THRIVE | Bayer Sustainability Challenge, which took place over ten months, culminated on Thursday September 9th, 2021 as ten finalists from start-ups and scale-ups across the globe pitched their solutions to a live audience and esteemed panel of leaders across the agrifood industry. These ten innovators were chosen out of the 268 applications received from 57 countries for a chance to compete for the THRIVE | Bayer Sustainable Startup Award, Sustainable Scaleup Award, and the People's Choice Award.
This virtual event, led by THRIVE Founder and CEO John Hartnett, successfully combined Bayer Crop Sciences’ sustainability commitments and THRIVE’s Global Initiative focus on the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals to promote innovations that can address pressing challenges in the global agrifood chain.
Panel members included Bayer Head of Global Public Affairs for Science & Sustainability Sara Boettiger, U.S. Department of State Ambassador Marcia Bernicat, and Food and Agriculture Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol. The panel explored many topics including the reduction of field greenhouse gas emissions and food waste, the environmental impact of crop protection, and the empowerment of smallholder farmers to access sustainable agricultural solutions. They also discussed the importance of innovation, entrepreneurship, and being open to new ideas as it can help promote vital conversation, education, collaboration, and policy in the agtech industry.
After listening to the ten international finalists pitch their solutions, the judging panel made the difficult decision of presenting the three awards.
The 2021 People’s Choice Award is voted on by agrifood leaders and peers—determining their “favorite company.” This award was presented to AgroCognitive, a Venezulan company working on an AI precision farming universal platform.
The 2021 Sustainable Startup Award was granted to Haystack Ag, an American company promoting high-accuracy, cost-effective soil carbon measurement. As the selected winner of this award, Haystack is set to receive investment, placement in THRIVE’s accelerator program, and access to Bayer’s research and development team.
Lastly, the 2021 Sustainable Scaleup Award was presented to MagGrow, an Irish-based company that is improving the effectiveness of pesticide sprays and reducing water usage. As the winner of this award, MagGrow will go on to explore a proof-of-concept pilot project with Bayer. The scaleup will receive automatic nomination for THRIVE’s Top 50 listing, which annually ranks agtech and foodtech companies who are pushing the boundaries of innovation and technology. MagGrow will also receive access to the Leaps by Bayer investment team, who invests in paradigm-shifting advances in the life sciences and collaborates with the world’s brightest minds in biotech and agriculture to solve the industry’s most pressing problems.
Missed the event? No need to worry. Watch the recorded livestream of the THRIVE | Bayer Sustainability Challenge here!