Digital Innovation Accelerator - KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA

Digital Innovation Accelerator (DIA)

The DIA is KWS Group’s innovation team dedicated to collaborating with companies and organizations who are developing innovative, digital technologies. Work with us to pilot your solution in real-world environments at an independent, world-renowned agricultural company.

We are a global team with a presence in cities that are major agricultural & tech hubs, including St. Louis, Einbeck, Boston, and Berlin.

We aim to rapidly find, test, and bring in innovations that will provide the most value to KWS and prepare our company and customers for the future of farming. We have identified four areas of focus that we believe will help KWS lead the path to that future. We look for and engage with potential collaborators who are developing solutions in these areas: the automated and connected farm, farmimg with less, farmer engagement and GxExM.

Areas of focus

The automated and connected farm

We believe farms of the future will be even more automated and connected than they are today. We’re seeking solutions in IoT, autonomous navigation, robotics, as well as technologies that improve rural broadband access.

Farming with less

We believe that climate change, declining arable land, and increasing population will mean that future farms will need to make do with less. We’re seeking solutions that facilitate better use of limited resources to enable sustainable farming.

Farmer engagement

We believe farmer needs will lead technology development. We’re looking for technology that enhances the life of the farmer and helps us to better connect with our customers.

GxExM

We believe the true potential of agriculture will be unlocked by understanding the relationships between genotype, environment, and management. We’re interested in technology capable of connecting the dots.

Technologies of focus

Our pursuit of our four core focus areas (The automated and connected farm, Farming with less, Farmer engagement, and GxExM) have led us to initiate projects involving these primary technologies:

Selected collaborations

EarthSense, Inc.

Breeding station | Champaign, IL March 2018 – Sept 2018

An ultra-compact, remote-controlled phenotyping robot and co-creation of machine learning driven models for trait classification in wheat.

RFID in the GRC

Greenhouse | St. Louis, MO Sept 2018 – Nov 2018

RFID chips and readers to automate individual plant tracking for track & traceability of transgenic material in greenhouse; RFID reading devices as components in an IoT environment for direct delivery to KWS databases.

What do we offer for startups and potential partners?

Direct access to a real-world test environment

Whether you’re developing a solution for the lab, greenhouse, or field; our world is your oyster. And we have activities in 70 countries across the globe!

Financial support

We think what you’re working on is valuable. We’re happy to be a paying beta-tester or early adopter. We’ll provide the means to support a pilot of your technology with us.

Personal connections

It goes without saying, but you’ll establish real relationships with decision-makers in our company. We’ll connect you with a dedicated PM to co-lead the pilot with you, and you’ll have access to KWS staff who would be potential end users of your solution.

Visibility

We’ll champion your solution both inside our company and to the world. This press release is just one example of what we could do: https://www.kws.com/corp/en/company/press/world-of-farming/

Interested in collaborating with us?

Get in touch!

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