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Get to Know the 2020 GIA Finalist: Engine2Photonics

Skandalaris Center
April 21, 2020
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This week, six ventures will complete for up to $50,000 in the 2020 Global Impact Award. We are thrilled to introduce the scalable, sustainable, and quick-to-market ventures with proof of concept and a broad impact. Today’s feature is Engine2Photonics.

About Engine2Photonics

Engine2Photonics is developing a lighting solution that can automatically predict tip burn before it begins and adjust the light accordingly to prevent it. This isn't just an intensity adjustment; we will control spectrum and even dynamic lighting regimes. Our product will feature computer vision technology, a suite of sensors, and a microcontroller that allow each light to function as a stand-alone watchdog against tip burn without a full facility upgrade, which is often hard for growers to afford.

 

Industry: Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) technology, specifically lighting, for food crops. CEA includes any instance where crops are grown in an environment that can be manipulated by the grower, such as greenhouses, vertical farms, and warehouse farms, usually growing leafy greens, tomatoes, and other veggies.

Number of Employees: No employees; 3 founders

Total Funding (as of March 2020): ~$20,000 including revenue from sales and Kickstarter

About the Founding Team:

  • Benjamin Wolf, Ph.D., is the project director and a co-founder of E2P. He holds a BS in Plant Biology from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in Plant Science from Washington University. Ben’s expertise lies in plant sciences, electrical engineering, and LED luminaire design. He also has direct experience with controlled environment growing, including fully indoor and greenhouse cultivation.
  • Rafael Saer, Ph.D., is the science director and a co-founder of E2P. He holds a BS in Microbiology from the University of Miami, a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of British Columbia, with additional postdoctoral training at Washington University. He has expertise in photosynthetic systems, technical consulting, and programming microcontrollers.
  • Zuzana Kocsisova, Ph.D., is the communications director and a co-founder of E2P. She holds a BS in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Evansville and a Ph.D. in Genetics from Washington University. Her expertise lies in genetics, science communication, and statistical analysis. 

 

What problem is Engine2Photonics solving?

Indoor growers (like myself) face a difficult challenge. Lower-margin, but high demand, crops like lettuce are difficult to make a profit on. In fact, most fully-indoor urban produce farms are not profitable or barely are. One way to solve this is to reduce cycle times for crops, which can be a difficult challenge. When you "push" leafy greens too hard by simply throwing more light and nitrogen at them, they develop a condition called tip burn. Plants with tip burn cannot transport calcium to growing leaf tips fast enough, and so the edges of the leaf die and can begin to mold.  So currently, for growers, it's either grow slow or grow mold.

 

What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned since starting your venture?

When you're a technical team like ours, you really need a good group of business advisors who can help you make good business decisions.

What do you love about being an entrepreneur?

The ability to pursue interesting technologies that I think can help my industry. My day job is greenhouse growing, so I see first-hand the issues growers face when using traditional lighting technologies, and I want to be a part of the solution that gives growers more options.

 

What words of advice do you have for those interested in starting a venture?

Make sure you understand your markets, not just your technologies. That has always been a key struggle for us.

 

How did your experience in the Skandalaris Venture Competition (SVC) shape your venture?

SVC really helped us realize we need to focus on our core competency, which is a B2B lighting technology. Even though we did have a successful Kickstarter campaign for a small USB grow light, we see a better fit with the tip burn reduction technology.

 

Website: www.engine2photonics.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/e2photonics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/e2photonics

Instagram: @engine2photonics