Clean Trust Challenge Winner Treads Unchartered Road And Looks Under The ‘Plant Canopy’


08/31/2017

Data gathered on the field, in combination with “aerial images”


The investors as well as the judges present at the Clean Energy Trust Challenge were impressed by Aker, the latter is a “drone tech company” based out of Chicago. Arko won the first place and received a fund worth “$400,000”.
 
Chicago Tribune reported that, unlike others Aker did not follow the prevailing trend in the “UAV space” and came up with “practical value and application to their consumers”. The primary market audience for Aker are the farmers. As the report stated:
“...Aker combines aerial images with analysis from agronomists and farm retailers to help growers use chemicals more efficiently, as well as find spots to improve drainage and identify crop-smothering weeds.”
 
A portion of the money in the prize will be used to “improve a tool that captures data under the canopy of plants”. The data collection on the field is still an “untapped” territory, whereby offering “great opportunity” for companies to flourish in capturing data that lies hidden “beneath the shade of crops”.
 
The “Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity” of Illinois gave out this prize sum and continued in its attempt of encouraging “Midwestern entrepreneurs” to turn to “clean-tech sector”. modernag.org also reported:
“More than $4.6 million in funding has been doled out to 38 different start ups since this initiatives conception in 2010”.
 
While, around “$950,000 in funding was awarded to five startups”. In fact, PowerTech Water is a started up cased out of Kentucky that focuses on “water quality” is also among the other winners. PowerTech Water received a sum of “$200,000” towards the betterment of their technology which is capable of removing sails, “corrosive minerals, and toxic material from water”.
 
Presently, PowerTech has not entered into the market of agricultural industry, but “there are obvious and sensible applications for their technology on the farm”.
 
 
References:
modernag.org