Innofocus Won InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence in Food & AgriTech for Cooling Film
Innofocus has won the Food and AgriTech category at the InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence for its sustainable farm-to-fork solutions aiming to reduce food wastage.
The InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence were presented at a black-tie gala dinner at The Venue Alexandria in Sydney on Wednesday night.
The Food and AgriTech Award was presented on the night by Shadow Minister for Science, Arts, Government Services and the Digital Economy Paul Fletcher.
Innofocus was awarded the top prize in the Food and AgriTech category for its novel technologies used to assist with the transportation of fresh produce and improving the energy efficiency of crops.
At Innofocus, we are very excited to win the top prize, and we are even more proud of the fact that our deep-tech innovation practices have realised tangible economic benefits and extensive social value, bringing practical help to industries and consumers, and making a real difference to energy saving and net-zero emissions.
In Australia, 7.6 million tonnes of food goes to waste every year, costing the economy an estimated $37 billion annually.
About 40 per cent of edible products are rejected by suppliers or consumers for being visually imperfect, while 20 per cent of fresh produce are damaged during the production, processing and transportation stages.
This process of transporting fresh produce is complex and requires strict climate control, and the Innofocus’s electricity-free cooling film is used for food preservation and distribution, helping to maintain the continued freshness of these goods while they are being transported. This is done through the use of radiative cooling principles, allowing the covered produce to radiate heat continuously without consuming any electricity.
Innofocus has also developed spectrum-selective cooling film which can transmit light spectrums that are used in photosynthesis while radiating those that contribute to heat. This tech can be incorporated into greenhouses as an energy-efficient cropping solution that can enhance nutrient efficiency serving to increase the yield and quality of fruit and vegetables.
