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Disclosure: The GROW Impact Accelerator is funded by AgFunder, AFN’s parent company.
You may not know it, but we all get a big buzz from bees.
For thousands of years, people have been raising these creatures for their honey, as a sweetener, preservative and for their medicinal properties.
Moreover, bees are the archetypes of our planet; It is responsible for helping many of the world’s plants reproduce. That means they play a bigger role in our lives than just producing honey (which is great). Pollination leads to new generations of plants. They clothed us and sheltered us.
But pollinators – including bees – seem to be declining. The picture is too complex to fully explain, but disease, parasites, environmental degradation and climate change all play a role, they argue.
According to its website, Italian startup 3B aims to use technology to “listen to bees’ needs and intervene when they’re not sick” to fight on behalf of our furry friends. This technology platform involves sensors placed inside the honey bee hive to monitor what is going on inside.
3B recently joined the GROW Impact Accelerator, which is supported by AgFunder and GROW. AFN To find out more about the buzz-iness, he spoke to the startup’s CEO Niccolò Calanri (NC)…
AFNWhat problem is 3B trying to solve, and how does your technology solve it?
NC3 The bee is trying to prevent the death of key pollinators through monitoring and predictive measures. Our technology is deployed in a wide network of beekeepers – currently more than 3,000 in Italy and already in more than 80 countries worldwide – with the aim of measuring the health status of the beehive and providing a fast and effective decision-making support system. In addition, 3B developed several properties to restore the bee to the center of environmental bio-monitoring.
AFNWhat are some of the biggest challenges for 3B so far? What are some of your biggest successes?
NCAt 3Bee, the biggest challenge was to raise awareness about bee and pollinator conservation in a creative way. Insects are often lumped into the macro category of ‘annoying little animals that need to be defeated’, and combating this prejudice with gamification was a real challenge. Our most significant achievement so far has been people recognizing the value of the bee as a natural bio-indicator and messenger of environmental and social welfare, and identifying 3B as a helpful partner. [realize this.]
AFNDo you have numbers or case studies that demonstrate the impact of your tech?
NCwith ESA [the European Space Agency] We are building the first predictive system to analyze biodiversity.
with CREA [Italy’s Council for Agricultural Research & Analysis of Agricultural Economics] We are developing algorithms to analyze starvation deaths. Bees – and not just honey bees – are at increased risk of starvation due to climate change.
In collaboration with CNR [Italy’s National Research Council] In the process, we are building intelligent systems to study pollination and how to protect bees.
AFNWhat does ‘impact’ mean to you personally and 3bee as an organization? Why is social and environmental impact so important?
NCThe concept of influence is the driving force of the company. Our sometimes ‘activist’ mission has fueled the team’s growth with ambitious and goal-oriented resources. [and created a] A mindset aimed at rapid evolution.
3 Bee has added a property that measures the effect on the activity; [aimed at] Offsetting the direct effects of climate change on pollinators.
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