5 November 2021 News
On Thursday 28 October, Hillenraad presented the winners of the HillenraadTECH50. In 10 domains, companies that are the most promising and high-profile in horticultural technology received an award.
Enza Zaden was presented as the winner in the domain Genetics & Biology, beating the other nominees, Rijk Zwaan, Koppert Biological Systems, Keygene and Dümmen Orange. Jaap Mazereeuw: "I'm very proud of this. We are active in many technological domains with the ambition to develop and produce the best products for our customers. This is an important recognition for what we have achieved together at Enza Zaden worldwide over the past period. That is why it was also great that our colleagues Femke Appelman, Ruud Korver and Joost Verbeek were also present at the award ceremony."
Horticultural technology in all its facets not only plays an important role in solving global issues in the field of fresh and safe food, health and well-being, but also in current issues about efficient and effective use of raw materials, water and energy.
In order to interpret the developments in this area, for the Tech50 Hillenraad mapped out which companies play a significant role in the quest for autonomous cultivation. Autonomous cultivation is aimed at achieving optimal cultivation results from a distance and with as few human interventions as possible.
Within ten technology domains that are leading for autonomous cultivation, Hillenraad conducted research into more than 290 companies: established companies, scale-ups and start-ups. Ultimately, per domain only five Dutch companies were nominated. In addition, five foreign companies per domain were also included as benchmarks and to show that it is a worldwide trend to invest heavily in horticulture and technology.
In determining the winners, the five Dutch companies in each of the 10 domains were assessed and compared on the basis of a number of business factors, such as growth potential, innovative and/or disruptive technology, tech as a revenue model and substantial R&D investments. In addition, the opinion of the peer group with experts from the sector and the insight of Hillenraad itself weighed in.