A Cork company founded by a young UCC student who set out to protect crucially important bee populations across the globe has been named one of the ten most innovative in Europe.
ApisProtect have just been ranked alongside global giants like Siemens and a number of high-tech transport and Virtual Reality heavy-hitters in the list from influential global business magazine Fast Company.
It is the only Irish company to make the global list of 434 businesses.
ApisProtect was founded by Dr Fiona Murphy Edwards while she was working on research into bee populations at University College Cork in 2013.
It has since became a world-leader in designing advanced sensors and machine learning technology which can monitor the health of bee populations - which are crucial (and highly valuable) in the agribusiness sector as pollinators for major crops.
ApisProtect is currently monitoring the strength of twenty million honey bees in Europe, North America, and South Africa.
The technology developed in Cork means that beekeepers no longer need to rely solely on periodic, manual hive checks.
And it gives a 27/7 early warning system which allows bee-keepers to take immediate action to protect at-risk hives.
Dr Murphy Edwards and her company have won a wide range of national and international awards and ApisProtect is now ranked in the top ten in Europe on Fast Company’s 2020 World Most Innovative Companies list.
The list honors the businesses making the most profound impact on both industry and culture, showcasing a variety of ways to thrive in today’s fast-changing world. This year’s MIC list features 434 businesses from 39 countries.
Dr Fiona Edwards Murphy, CEO of ApisProtect, said; “Our mission at ApisProtect, is to save the honey bees, because if we don’t take action now, we’ll lose our most important insect ally. We want to secure the supply of one third of our diet, and make sure we can nourish and feed the 9.7 billion people on planet earth by 2050.”
“Our bee monitoring solution will enable beekeepers to direct their focus on cultivating larger and stronger colonies and transform beekeeping globally. We are honoured to be the only Irish company on this list”.