The Spanish finale where top-notch start-ups present their innovative solutions for water scarcity for Southern Europe.

The InnoWise Challenge Lab in Málaga, Spain, is one of the three final competitions for start-ups to find innovations for water scarcity in Southern Europe. This InnoWise Challenge Lab will take place during the annual Smart Agrifood Summit – a major event on innovation and entrepreneurship in the agrifood sector.

After three months of intensive training and specialised workshops from the agrifood and water industry’s finest experts, a total of ten start-ups will be put to the test. These companies will hear from keynote speakers, participate in a round-table on “Rethinking the Water Scarcity Innovation” and, of course, network with their peers and with the industry’s top professionals.

Finally, the event will culminate in a live “pitching competition”; the start-up that wins the first place will receive a EUR 10 000 award. Second place winner will receive a EUR 5 000 prize.

This is set to be a high-profile and incredibly exciting event. We can’t wait to see you all there!

Please note that the in-person event spaces are limited due to the COVID-19 restrictions. The event will also be live-streamed, with the link shared nearer the time for free open access to all.

The top ten startups competing here are comprised of:

  • Fata Morgana – Facility for desalinating seawater by means of thermal solar energy.
  • Vesitigia Blockchain – Blockchain platform for managing the operation and reputational risk in the supply chain.
  • BrioAgro – An intelligent irrigation platform.
  • Graniot – Precision farming with satellite imagery.
  • Savia Atmospheric Fountains and Rivers – Water-from-Air systems based on Ice-Chilled-Waters-Peltier chips.
  • Detektia – Groundwater monitoring with a single click.
  • FS Group Consulting – Accessible precision technological solution to water scarcity.
  • Groots – Sustainable, urban, vertical farming.
  • Métrica6 – IoT WAISENSE for water control in intelligent constructions
  • Spherag Teck IoT – Bidirectional AI-powered cloud-based agritech solution.

This event will be led by several amazing industry leaders:

  • Begoña Perez Villarreal – The current director of EIT Food CLC South, Begoña has 33 years of experience in R&D&I activities and technology transfer within the agrifood industry.
  • Gonzalo Delacámara – The head of the Water Economics Department at IMDEA Agua, Gonzalo specializes in environmental economics, innovations, circular economy, and climate change adaptation.
  • Jose María Mateo – On the Advisory Board for the Panda Agriculture and Water Fund, Jose advocates for the importance of water within the agrifood industry.
  • Francisco Gálvez – Currently the manager and CEO of Galpagro, Fransisco focuses on providing innovative agricultural solutions to farmers in order to help lower their overall costs.
  • Carlos Fernandez-Jauregui – PhD in Engineering and Hydrology, with specialisation in water resources management. Director of the Water Assessment and Advisory Global Network (WASA-GN), an International Organization focused on water governance issues of multidisciplinary nature.
  • Patricia Pastor – The managing director at GoHub Innovation, Patricia works together with main actors of Valencia in positioning the city as an international hub for innovation.
  • Antonia Lorenzo – The CEO at Bioazul, Antonia is a specialist in technologies for the minimization and up-grading of agro-food residues and wastewater treatment.
  • Elvira Domingo – The RIS Program manager at EIT Food, Elvira’s expertise lies in working with entrepreneurs and startups within the agrifood industry.
Register here