Hungarian viticulture-technology success

The Hungarian viticulture company SmartVineyard finished 8th among the 20,000 competitors participating in Intel's prestigious Global Challenge competition in San Francisco, California in the United States. The the four-day final stage took place earlier this month.

What come to most people’s mind about California are the high-tech environment in Silicon Valley, Hollywood movies and quality wine. Not many people know, however, that Californian wine tradition can be traced back to Ágoston Haraszthy, a Hungarian emigrant in the 19th century. This draws interesting parallels with the success of the sensor network system developed – and presented in the finals of the Intel Global Challenge in San Francisco – by the Hungarian company SmartVineyard.

It was a long road until the finals, as the team first had to perform well in the European finals where – among 4,000 teams – they were awarded 3rd place, qualifying for the finals in Silicon Valley. There, they competed with 25 teams from all over the world.

The four-day finals took place between November 3 and 6 and were more than a simple competition as the young entrepreneurs had the opportunity to participate in numerous professional activities. For example, they visited Stanford University, met top tech executives and consulted with experienced business mentors.

The finals took place in Berkeley University, where the various teams held presentations in front of venture capitalists. SmartVineyard's agro-technological innovation was recognized by the jury to warrant a place in the top eight.

The Hungarian team's participation in the finals was continuously shared on YouTube, reaching thousands of viewers over four days. As SmartVineyard's CEO Csaba Árendás remarked, "if Hungarians can do so much for California in terms of wine, we hope that in the near future, we can do just as much for plant protection".