Founder Award PHÖNIX for BOKU Spin-Off "Agrobiogel

The BOKU spin-off "Agrobiogel" was awarded this year's Phoenix Start-up Prize in the "Spin-off" category on Wednesday evening. The agrochemical gel enables (crop) plants to survive dry periods over longer periods of time by slowly releasing water to the plants.

  • Verleihung Gründerpreis PHÖNIX
    vergrößern
    From left to right: Federal Minister Margarete Schramböck, award winner Gibson Stephen Nyanhongo, Keith Nyanhongo, Vice Rector Gerhard Mannsberger and Federal Minister Martin Polaschek (c)aws

The company relies on a technology developed by co-inventors Gibson S. Nyanhongo, Georg Gübitz, Sabrina Bischof and Andreas Ortner at BOKU's Institute of Environmental Biotechnology. With the help of the hydrogel, which is made from 100 percent wood, up to 40 percent of water can be saved during irrigation. Since Agrobiogel is made of wood, it degrades into humus after many years and infertile soils can be made usable in this way.

The award, which is endowed with 5,000 euros each, was presented this year for the eighth time on behalf of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Economics and was organized by Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) in cooperation with the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) and the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV). There were a total of 205 entries for the award. 20 companies were nominated, from which a jury finally selected the winners.

https://www.agrobiogel.com 

21.04.2022