September 23, 2019

By Lynda Kiernan

ThincLab Waite, an incubator dedicated to startups active in the agtech, food, and wine sectors, has been launched at the University of Adelaide’s Waite campus. 

This incubator, which will be the only one of its kind to concentrate on startups in agtech, food, and wine, will be an addition to the existing cadre of innovation hubs begun at the campus in July 2017 with ThincLab Adelaide, and later including ThincLab Châlons and ThincLab Singapore.

At the Waite campus the incubator will be located at a newly renovated space, and along with the other incubators will have access to the largest concentration of expertise in plant biology, cereal breeding, sustainable agriculture, wine, horticulture, and land management in the southern hemisphere.

And through its connections to ThincLab Singapore and ThincLab  Châlons, which is located in the Grand Est Agricultural Region France, ThincLab Waite will have the benefit of relationships within the food innovation and food security ecosystems in Asia and Europe.

“The South Australian agtech, food and wine sector is of crucial importance to our state but faces significant challenges that will require innovative solutions,” said Professor Noel Lindsay, University of Adelaide Pro Vice-Chancellor, Entrepreneurship.

“The University of Adelaide has targeted agrifood and wine as an industry engagement priority. ThincLab Waite is a collaboration platform, bringing together students, researchers, industry and government with the shared goal of addressing the grand challenges of food security and sustainability.”

This targeted engagement priority aligns with the university entering into a partnership last month with the South Australian government that will give bring together a diverse range of academics, and give researchers at the university access to five state-run farms – two of which will be used to conduct trials and to demonstrate new agtech technologies to farmers as a way to encourage early adoption. It also aligns with Australia for Agriculture 4.0 – an initiative backed by Austrade, Australia’s national promotional agency for trade and investment, with the goal of transforming overseas interest in agtech and food tech into capital investment in the country’s startups.

Although Australian innovators have been developing solutions for a variety of challenges facing the country’s growers – including drought, animal management, and disease and pest control – the Australian government noted that an existing lack of capital is hobbling the advancement of these developments. As recently as 2017, 80 percent of all agtech investments made in Australia were less than $1 million, according to Australian Financial Review,

However, agriculture is the largest contributing industry in South Australia, providing 152,000 jobs in FY 2017/18, and  accounting for nearly A$20 billion of the state’s economy. Through ThincLab Waite, scientists working to advance this critical industry will have access to office space, meeting rooms, industry mentors, investors, and a network of other related researchers.

Currently there are 18 members involved in the incubator, of which three are:

Mister RYE – a startup working with South Australian organic farmers to commercialize the first plant-based and environmentally friendly drinking straw.

Platfarm – an in-cab app targeting grape growers across six regions, helping with spatially oriented tasks, and with better management of tractor work for better soils, higher yields, and smarter use of inputs.

ByGen Pty Ltd – a spin-out of the University of Adelaide’s Department of Chemistry that uses agricultural waste to make high-quality and low cost activated carbon.