Although we’ve already started 2023, we can’t overlook what a great year 2022 was for us—our FIRST YEAR. Let’s take a look back to present our annual recap.
This recap helps us reflect and express our gratitude to those who have supported and collaborated with us as we’ve taken these steps, moved our projects forward, invested time and effort into each one, and prepared for all the new challenges ahead.
Throughout 2022, we focused primarily on getting to know our customers better—their problems and needs—and on beginning to develop our first products to provide solutions. Our main goal: to develop smart, connected machinery for more sustainable, eco-friendly, and efficient agriculture through electrification—which we call e-Farming.
The key to making all this happen is our electric agricultural vehicles and robots, which can be programmed and monitored using “MyZETRACK” from any device. Added to this is the simplest renewable-energy charging system, tailored to each situation, to provide the vehicle with the necessary range while producing zero emissions.
For these initial developments, in 2022 we have focused on selecting the right partners and suppliers to ensure we have access to the best available technology and capabilities. In addition to our partners Agrimac and Whitehole, Quipplan has joined us as a partner in 2022. These three companies share our vision, believe in our project’s goals, and have a strong track record, providing us with experience and technological and industrial expertise. In particular, our new partner, Quipplan, has an excellent track record and experience in developing industrial-scale products, as well as capabilities and expertise in design, rapid prototyping, machining, molding, and all types of materials and their processing.
We must also mention the unique collaboration provided by Coolberries throughout 2022 and the knowledge we have developed together regarding the potential of electrification in berry farms.
Initial Projects
In addition, we have access to other capabilities and suppliers necessary for the development of the projects submitted and approved through various calls for proposals, such as those from Technology Centers. Together with Vicomtech, we have begun developing an autonomous driving system as part of a project approved under the Hazitek program, which provides R&D&I funding from the SPRI (Basque Government). This is a long-term project that will allow us to develop our own technology tailored to our customers’ needs.
Once again, together with Vicomtech, we were awarded a grant to develop weed detection solutions using computer vision. This grant was awarded to us by the EU’s DIH-World program during its second call for proposals. The project, to be carried out in 2023, focuses on one of the most in-demand and necessary applications in agriculture: the treatment and elimination of weeds using precision techniques.
In October, our proposal was selected in the first call for proposals of the IDAE’s MOVES Singulares II program to develop an electrified agricultural vehicle platform. This is an 18-month project. In addition to our own powertrain, the project includes the development of charging and energy management solutions, as well as software for vehicle monitoring and management.
Finally, as the culmination of a very successful year, we earned the support and recognition of being the highest-rated project among all those submitted to the Bizkaia Provincial Council’s (DFB) call for innovative business projects, as part of its program for creating innovative companies.
These are our first steps toward profitable products and solutions that add value for our customers as they face major challenges. Challenges such as adapting to increasingly stringent regulations regarding the quality and sustainability of agricultural processes, labor shortages and the difficulty of securing a stable workforce, technological changes, and digitalization.
New Year, New Challenges
In 2023, our first electric agricultural vehicle prototypes will arrive, and we will conduct new field trials with our customers to test and improve them, identifying the best applications for weed detection, treatment, and management; brush clearing and eco-friendly mulch shredding; fruit harvesting and transport within the farm itself; and other functions compatible with our electrified, connected, and smart platforms.
“Conservation is a state of harmony between people and the land.” This idea inspires us to underscore our business vision: to combine our track record and our business, industrial, and technological capabilities to develop quality products aimed at providing value and solutions to companies and farmers for the sustainable and efficient management of resources.
- The AutoAVS project, file number ZL-2022/00625, under the Business R&D Support Grant Program – HAZITEK 2022, is an initiative co-financed by the Basque Government and the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund 2021–2027 (ERDF)
- The ZETRACK1 project, file number 3/12/DP/2022/00063, under the 2022 Innovative Business Creation Program, Area 1—Development of Innovative Business Projects, is funded by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia
- The Blue-ZE experiment, file number 00129 from the 1st DIH-World Open Call, is funded by this European project, which is co-financed by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Program under grant agreement No. 952176.
- The ZEET project, under file number [to be filled in], is part of the incentive program for unique projects in electric mobility (MOVES Unique Projects II Program), within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU
