SMARTtray® has been awarded the OWL Innovation Award Market Visions. With the OWL Innovation Award, OstWestfalenLippe GmbH puts the innovations of local companies in the public eye in order to recognize them and provide new impetus. The prize is awarded in three categories: Market Visions, Shaping the Future and Start-up.
About the award
The OWL Innovation Award is an important business award with impressive results and is very well received by the business community. Since the first edition in 1995, the competition has been held 15 times. A total of 1,313 applications were judged by the jury. The response was also high in the current 2023/2024 round of the competition: 97 companies took part with 103 innovative entries. After an intensive evaluation process, the jury selected five winners from the top-class field of participants. SMARTtray® receives the award in the “Shaping the future” category.
Jury sees SMARTtray® as a game changer in plant breeding
IIn its statement, the jury particularly praised the innovative power of the disruptive workflow: “With 30 years of professional experience and a large network, the founder has succeeded in launching a needs-based and highly efficient solution for the development of new plant varieties through persistent development work. The jury is convinced that SMARTtray will revolutionize plant breeding and that the process will be used worldwide – thus making an important contribution to securing food for a growing world population in the face of climate change. SMARTtray is a game changer in plant breeding and a prime example of how domestic SMEs are developing solutions for the social challenges of the future.”
Award ceremony on April 10
After the winners were announced in January 2024, the official award ceremony took place on April 10 in Bielefeld. SMARTtray® CEO Dr. Zeljko Micic accepted the award and took the opportunity to present the SMARTtray® system once again to the interested audience and outline the company’s future path.
