b'SEED INNOVATION DAYSLeft to right: Florian Mayer (head of RWAs seed division), Georg Sladek (Agro Innovation Lab), Antje and Johannes Wolff (phenoLytics GmbH) and Christoph Metzker (RWA board member).And the winner of Seed Innovation Days 2023 is phenoLytics GmbHUSING A PATENTED PROCESS 3D MICRO XRAY CT, PHENOLYTICS SYSTEMS ALLOW FULLY AUTOMATED, QUANTITATIVE 3D PHENOTYPING OF SEEDS & GERMINATING SEEDLINGS OVER THE GERMINATION PROCESS.BY: MADELEINE BAERGp henoLytics GmbH was awarded the Seed InnovationThe format of the event was really unique, bringing together Challenges top honors. Their winning systemphenoTesteverything from predicting the climate, to pollen analysis, to field offers fully automated 3D or 4D phenotyping of seeds andphenotyping and getting all these experts and innovators together seedlings with high throughput and precise measurement of internalto find a lot of common ground, ways to potentially work together and external organs, including hidden structures such as roots inand to break down the silos that very often exist in an industry, medium, generating actionable big data. The connected 3D seedsays Johannes.sorting systemphenoScort leverages this data to sort for usableNow that phenoLytics has the Seed Innovation Challenge win in seeds. The judges praised phenoLytics innovators for their mature,hand, whats next for the company? Its full steam ahead, says Antje.market ready technology, which represents a game-changer in seedWe are currently developing new algorithms [and] we are analysis. currently also developing a new device which will allow to measure For us, this victory is a great affirmation of our ideas. pheno- at variable resolutions, smaller and larger plants, hopefully at an Lytics stands for disruptive technology, the use of which requireseven higher throughput. Together with adapted algorithms, this a fundamental rethinking in seed analysis. We are pleased that itswill allow us to optimally cover all seeds and seedlings, from fine potential has been recognized, said phenoLytics founders Antjegrasses to large forestry plants.and Johannes Wolff. Winning, Johannes says, was a great surprise. The company is also focused on integrating its technological We came here not primarily to win the Challenge but to findofferings.collaborators and to find new applications for our technology port- We have pitched mainly one technology here, but we have an folio. [Winning] was a huge confirmation for us, a validation thatinterconnected portfolio: we have 3D phenotyping for the lab, we even leading industry experts in the field of seed technology alsohave 3D field phenotyping technology, and we have a patented 3D consider our technology to be as valuable as we see it. In additionsorter to leverage this integrated data. Really [the goal is to] inte-to being able to showcase their own innovation, Antje and Johannesgrate these technologies into an ecosystem, leverage that data across say they appreciated Seed Innovation Days as an opportunity to seethe ecosystem, use the 3D data to sort and to correlate it with the the impressive breadth and depth of innovation currently occurringoutput in the field: really integrating not just an isolated niche appli-within the seed industry, and possibly to build the relationship forcation, but really something that can disrupt and help to improve all future collaboration. kinds of processes across the whole value chain, says Johannes. 32ISEED WORLD EUROPEISEEDWORLD.COM/EUROPE'