Tübingen, Germany
23 June, 2022
- Computomics AI predicts performance of crops and novel plant crosses for any location, taking future climate change into account
- Plant breeders receive more choices for the launch of new varieties
- Investment highlights the importance of developing solutions for the global agricultural sector
The EIC Accelerator is one of the most competitive and most renowned funding programs worldwide, supporting selected Small and Medium Enterprises to scale up game-changing innovations. More than 1,000 start-ups and SMEs submitted a full application for funding in March 2022, of which 266 were interviewed by juries of experienced investors and entrepreneurs. Finally, the European Commission selected 74 innovative companies to receive funding and support. “By being selected, Computomics has clearly demonstrated to be part of the ‘Champions League’ of European startups,” says Dr. Sebastian J. Schultheiss, co-founder and Managing Director of Computomics.
Dr. Sebastian J. Schultheiss, co-founder and Managing Director of Computomics
Plant breeding secures the supply and food quality for an increasing population. Growing healthy plants adapted to a changing climate in future harsher environmental conditions requires innovation. Plant breeders should make use of the full potential of the available genetic plant material, identify new favorable traits, and speed up their breeding process. Current methods, however, have low success rates in adapting to new climate conditions, missing superior lines because they simply recommend crosses that worked well in the past.
⨉SeedScore® is a unique machine learning-based technology that uses bioinformatics to identify the best-performing plants for a range of future climate conditions. It supports traditional plant breeding methods and integrates additional variables such as plant genetics, plant traits (characteristics), the cultivation environment, the field management used and information on climate, weather, and soil. The result is a performance prediction delivering 10 times more candidates for commercial evaluation, speeding up the plant breeding process. On top of that, it allows the plant breeder to select crops that will be suitable for the weather patterns anticipated by climate change, and to select crosses for maximum performance — years ahead of typical breeding schedules. It enables decision making based on accurate data.
“In short, xSeedScore is the future of innovative plant breeding. We are proud to be recognized by the European Commission for this game-changing technology and, within the Accelerator, to be able to further advance it,” says Dr. Schultheiss.
The multi-million Euro funding by EIC for Computomics highlights the importance of developing solutions for the global agricultural sector and emphasizes the trust in our technology. Computomics will use the investment to further develop ⨉SeedScore®.
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