Matija Zulj, AGRIVI’s founder and CEO, was named one of the ambassadors of the European Innovation Council at the EIC Summit, held on Thursday, December 8 in Brussels.
The European Innovation Council (EIC) is the leading European innovation program for identifying, developing, and scaling up revolutionary technologies and game-changing innovations, established within the framework of the Horizon Europe program.
The EIC has secured EUR 1.6 billion for 2023 to support top innovators, entrepreneurs, and small businesses in developing high-risk innovations that have an impact on shaping new markets and generating jobs, growth, and prosperity in Europe. Entrepreneurs are supported throughout the entire cycle in the form of grants, but also through grants combined with capital investments.
At the beginning of 2022, AGRIVI itself was selected as one of 99 companies within the EIC’s Accelerator and secured 1.15 million euros for the purpose of developing a digital advisor driven by artificial intelligence technology, which will advise farmers on issues of crop protection and food safety. The agronomic advisor will serve as a virtual assistant in the form of a chatbot, and it is expected that it will appear on the market in 2024 at the earliest.
As an ambassador of the European Council for Innovation, Matija Zulj will be responsible for promoting the council’s activities, funding opportunities, and representing the Council at certain media events on behalf of AGRIVI.
We are incredibly pleased that the European Innovation Council has recognized the products we develop and the positive social impact we achieve with them in the world. I am proud that we will carry the title of ambassador and promote the importance of strengthening investments in innovation at the European level, and the opportunities that the European Innovation Council provides to startups says Matija Zulj, founder and CEO at AGRIVI.
In the last few years, AGRIVI has positioned itself as one of the global leaders in software solutions for the digitalization of agriculture and collected investments from funds such as South Central Ventures, European Investment Fund, Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Fil Rouge Capital, AgriTech Hub, and Feelsgood.
In addition to the role of EIC ambassador, AGRIVI has since its beginnings played the role of ambassador and promoter of the importance of digitalization of agriculture and through market education, not only in Croatia but also at the European and global level. AGRIVI cooperates with the organizations like EIT Food, OECD-FAO, Farming First, Women in Farming, European Carbon Farmers, and is a partner of the first study of digital agriculture in Croatia, which was launched at the Faculty of Agro-Technological Sciences in Osijek.
