WGCIT Startup Irish Company Revolutionizing Beekeeping
By Tim Linden A pisProtect, an Ireland-based startup that is a resident of the Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology, recently announced the U.S. launch of its powerful commercial honey bee monitoring platform. Revolutionizing in-hive sensing, the company’s system gives beekeepers an easy way to monitor the condition of their colonies remotely in real time so they can improve colony health. Designed in conjunction with commercial beekeepers
for commercial beekeepers, ApisProtect claims to provide the most robust, unobtrusive, and cost-effective solution on the market. “Our science-based honeybee monitoring technology empowers beekeepers to manage their apiaries more efficiently, reduce labor and transport costs, and focus on cultivating larger and stronger colonies,” said CEO Dr. Fiona Edwards Murphy. “Using ApisProtect, beekeepers can generate an additional $98 of value from each hive per year.” The company grew from Dr.
and wondered if anyone had investigated putting sensors into beehives.” A little bit of research showed there had been some work in the area but nothing extensive, so she focused her PhD in that arena. She noted that a media interview was responsible for launching ApisProtect. “After discussing my PhD in a radio interview, beekeepers all over Ireland, and internationally, started getting in touch looking for this technology. My cofounders and I decided to start our company, ApisProtect, to see if we could bring this project to life.” Her doctoral work was specifically in the area of Internet of Things (IoT) applications for honeybee health. She has become among the most widely published authors on Internet of Things and honeybees. Now monitoring the health of more than 20 million honeybees across Europe and North America, ApisProtect brings the power of advanced sensors and machine learning technology into the hive to deliver a 24/7 early warning system so beekeepers can give at-risk hives immediate attention and improve bee health. Edwards Murphy said the value of this new technology is that beekeepers no longer need to rely solely on periodic,
Edwards Murphy’s PhD work at the School of Engineering, and the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at University College Cork
in Ireland. “Throughout my career, I have always been really interested in utilizing technology to solve issues that have impacted on people’s daily
lives,” she told Western Grower & Shipper in an email interview. “In 2012 and 2013, I saw how beekeepers all over the world were
concerned about colony collapse disorder and how that affected bees
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