Nectar becomes a member of IVADO

Montréal, January 21, 2019 – Nectar, a Montréal start-up that provides beehive management solutions for commercial beekeepers, and the Institute for Data Valorization (IVADO) are proud to announce their partnership to promote Nectar’s positive impact on the development of solutions for the survival of honey bees. IVADO brings together professionals from various segments of the industry and academic researchers to develop leading-edge expertise in data science.

Capitalizing on data to help save the honey bees

It is a known fact: honey bees are experiencing a global crisis. Indeed, despite being a species of significance in our ecosystem, 40% of honey bees die each year. As the planet’s great pollinators, bees are directly responsible for one-third of the world’s food supply. To address the issue, Nectar has set out an innovative solution that relies on sensors and artificial intelligence algorithms to determine beehive conditions in real time.

Nectar strongly believes that IVADO is the ideal partner to expand its expertise in beehive data analysis leading to solutions that will have an even greater impact on bee survival.

In concrete terms, the collaboration will strengthen Nectar’s best practices in database development, data labeling and the selection of analysis algorithms and lead IVADO to broaden its horizons in biodiversity and contribute to research to improve the living conditions of bees and society, in keeping with its mission.

“One of the major problems that beekeepers face on a daily basis is that they are constantly reacting to problems that generally lead to the death of their bees. We must prompt a paradigm shift by providing them with prevention tools. I truly believe that artificial intelligence is the key, and so Nectar must surround itself with leading industry stakeholders, which, of course, include IVADO.”

“The work carried out by Nectar will yield tremendous social impacts, since the fates bees and humans are inextricably linked,” affirmed Nancy Laramée, director of partnerships at IVADO. “There is no doubt that Nectar will help improve the survival of bees. Through this partnership, we are pursuing our mission to transfer knowledge and support innovative initiatives.”

About IVADO

The Institute for data valorization (IVADO) is a joint initiative of HEC Montréal, Polytechnique Montréal and Université de Montréal that brings together nearly 100 industrial, academic and government partners. With over 1 100 member researchers, IVADO is a multidisciplinary centre of advanced expertise in statistics, artificial intelligence and operations research.

IVADO’s mission is to 1) contribute to the development of an economic sector in big data processing for decision making; 2) create privileged partnerships between industry and the administrative, social and academic sectors; 3) contribute to the advancement of knowledge and train new generations of data scientists; and 4) foster exchange and knowledge sharing between experts, partners, researchers and students.

IVADO provides a framework for six research centres: Canada Excellence Research Chair in Data Science for Real-Time Decision Making, CIRRELT, CRM, GERAD, MILA and Tech3Lab.

About Nectar

Nectar provides beehive management services to commercial beekeepers in the pollination market.

The firm aims to help beekeepers successfully manage their colonies to ensure the global survival of the honeybee. To that end, Nectar designs accessible and human interactive technologies so that beekeepers can raise thriving beehives.

Nectar currently has several hundred connected hives across Québec and Ontario. In the short term, it will finalize the development of its sensors and plans to connect several thousand beehives across North America in 2019. In addition, by April 2019, Nectar will undertake collaborative college and university research projects to enhance its technology and maintain its competitive edge.

In the medium term, Nectar intends to increase bee survival by 65% and reduce operating costs by 25%.

Finally, in the long term, the data gained through the technology will be used to:

• assist honey distributors and government agencies in the agricultural industry in obtaining accurate real-time information and reports on the honey production industry; and
• help the $200B horticultural farm sector better pollinate its crops.