{"id":2670,"date":"2024-12-23T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-23T12:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationquarter.nl\/en\/?p=2670"},"modified":"2026-07-13T13:25:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T13:25:53","slug":"how-vivent-is-transforming-crop-health-monitoring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationquarter.nl\/en\/updates\/how-vivent-is-transforming-crop-health-monitoring\/","title":{"rendered":"How Vivent is Transforming Crop Health Monitoring"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Greater Rotterdam \u2013 The Hague area is a world leading ecosystem for HighTech Horticulture<\/a> and entrepreneurs from around the world working on cutting edge solutions are choosing to establish a presence in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One such company is Vivent Biosignals, who drew inspiration from working with information networks within trains to \u201clook for similar information networks in living things,\u201d as Co-Founder and CEO Carrol Plummer<\/a> mentioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most companies start by addressing a specific problem or market inefficiency but Vivent\u2019s founders were certain that they would uncover important insights with disruptive market potential by exploring the fascinating ways in which living things use information networks. Once their research showed that they could reliably monitor and interpret these networks and provide unique insights, they developed a strong go to market plan and started building a business. This required intensive product development and Vivent brought together an A-list team in Caleb Carroll<\/a> (Chief Information Officer), Nick Barker<\/a> (CTO), and Andrzej Kurenda<\/a> (Chief Scientific Officer) one of the world\u2019s leading electrophysiologists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Team Vivent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Advanced monitoring for healthier crops<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Vivent now offers services to both growers and suppliers in the hightech horticulture sector. For growers, they offer crop health monitoring services and as Carrol explained, \u201cWe actually kind of plug into their plants. It\u2019s like a Fitbit for a plant or a wearable for a plant.\u201d Vivent continuously monitors crops, providing alerts for elevated levels of crop stress. This allows growers to identify  issues well before visual symptoms are evident. Their biosensor connects to eight plants and Vivent will \u201cinstall one in the middle of a compartment and one or two more in places in the compartment where the grower expects to have issues. So it could be the northeast corner where it\u2019s cool and damp, and they expect a fungal infection, or it could be underneath vents where they might expect some aggressive insects,\u201d Carrol described. Vivent is also working with companies in a multitude of roles including developing new plant varieties, new substrates, new crop treatments, and more. They help accelerate product development and demonstrate product efficacy by providing real time and constant feedback on how plants are responding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preserving expertise for future growersOne of the main challenges Vivent sees in the industry is that head growers are ageing and the transition to younger growers needs to be made while transferring as much knowledge as possible. Carrol illustrated that Vivent\u2019s systems are \u201ccapturing the knowledge of the older, experienced, very knowledgeable growers and helping transmit that knowledge to younger growers.\u201d Vivent is a data and technology driven solution, something new growers are interested in as they seek out real time proactive systems. Vivent works with numerous universities and incubators to demonstrate their innovative approach and focus on the future generations of growers. They collaborate closely with Wageningen University<\/a> in the Netherlands and several other universities in Canada and their home base in Switzerland. The list of incubators they have been a part of is extensive including the MassChallenge<\/a>, HortiHeroes<\/a> in Zuid-Holland, EIT Food System Accelerator<\/a>, and Creative Destruction Lab<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

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