Ifac, the professional services firm for the farming, food and agribusiness sector. We are delighted to support the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Arena Awards 2020, in association with the National Ploughing Association, for the second year in a row.
The awards, including the ifac Best Newcomer Award 2020, recognise Irish businesses and entrepreneurs that are leading the way with their agtech and ag-engineering products for the industry. Owing to Covid-19, this year’s awards have moved online with a digital award ceremony taking place on the 15th of September.
The ifac Best Newcomer Award 2019 went to HerdEye, an agtech startup developing vision systems for livestock health monitoring. Its vision system uses artificial intelligence to monitor cows to determine when a cow is going to calve, if they are experiencing heat stress or lameness, and for body condition scoring.
David Leydon, Head of Food and AgriBusiness at ifac said, “We are delighted to be supporting Enterprise Ireland and the National Ploughing Association in this years’s search for outstanding agtech talent and innovation. Many of the businesses represented in the ifac Best Newcomer 2020 category will be part of the future of the Irish agtech sector, and their products are being developed to help ease some of the pressures on Irish farmers today. It was a pleasure to work with Ciarna and the team and we look forward to working with them into the future.
“The winner of this award will recieve ifac’s advisory and accountancy services for 12 months at a critical stage of their development. This includes business structure and tax advisory, financial planning, as well as support with their business’ growth strategy and funding applications.”
Ciaran Feeney, Co-founder of Herdeye said, “We were delighted to win the ifac Best Newcomer Award at the EI Innovation Arena Awards at last year’s Ploughing Championship. Working with David and the team at ifac has been a huge benefit to HerdEye. Without their support, sector knowledge, and commercial acumen, we would not be where we are today. We look forward to continuing to work with ifac as we grow our HerdEye team and business.”
James Maloney, Project Manager for Enterprise Ireland said, “Unfortunately, the buzz of attending the Innovation Arena at National Ploughing will never be replicated in an online competition. What it will achieve, however, is recognition of the innovative and entrepreneurial activity that is driving forward this country despite Covid-19. Many Enterprise Ireland companies have adjusted to deliver success, whether it has been developing important PPE, or ensuring that vital food and industry services remain open. This resilience is particularly evident in the agri-community. We are delighted that early-stage companies like Herdeye are being discovered, and supported by the ifac Best Newcomer Award again this year”.
The closing date for entries for the online Innovation Arena Awards is the 10th of July 2020. Click here to enter.