ScanInsights wins ‘Start-Up Of The Year’ Award & €10,000 Prize at Enterprise Ireland Innovation Arena Awards at the National Ploughing Championships

Caption: Pictured outside the Innovation Arena after today's final is (l-r) Dr Dan Ryan, ScanInsights; Stephen Fagan, GlasPort Bio; and James Greevy, Herdwatch

• Herdwatch named as ‘Innovation Arena Champion’, GlasPort Bio wins ‘Green Impact Award’
• AI tools and green solutions for farms among finalists in 2025 Enterprise Ireland Innovation Arena Awards at the National Ploughing Championships
• 40 Irish agri innovators showcase cutting-edge solutions in one of the most visited exhibitions at the National Ploughing Championships

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ScanInsights has won the ‘Start-Up Innovator of the Year Award’ at the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Arena competition at the National Ploughing Championships for 2025. 

The Cork based company received their award, including a €10,000 prize, from Jenny Melia, CEO, Enterprise Ireland, at a ceremony at the National Ploughing Championships this afternoon, for their innovative technology which utilises AI to give real-time information on bovine scanning.

The ‘Green Impact Award’, which recognises an innovation focused on sustaining the development of food and farming for future generations to come, was won by GlasPort Bio. While the ‘2025 Innovation Arena Champion Award’, honouring an established company demonstrating a focus on scaling and innovation, was won by Herdwatch.

A total of nine companies participated in the live final at Enterprise Ireland’s Innovation Arena this afternoon, with three companies delivering a live pitch in three different categories. AI-driven tools to inform decisions on farms, a solar powered feeding machine and low-emission manure management systems were among the cutting-edge solutions which took centre stage in this year’s final.

The other finalists in the ‘Start-Up of the Year’ category were SM Advanced Technologies, and VetPal. Hibra Design and Slurry Quip were the other finalists in the ‘Green Impact Award’ and pitched today, while Cormac Tagging and Pearson Milking Technology were the other finalists for the ‘2025 Innovation Arena Champion Award’.  

A number of other companies who entered this year’s competition were also recognised today with a ‘Certificate of Achievement for Innovation’, for having received a minimum qualifying score.  These companies were Beotanics Ltd, Biocel, Bua Terra Limited, CORE Technology, Feedlync, Munster Bovine, Reap Interactive and SpreadPoint.

This is the 12th annual Enterprise Ireland Innovation Arena Awards, and the focus of this year’s exhibition is ‘Accelerate Sustainable Irish Agri Business’, showcasing pioneering solutions from Irish agritech innovators to thousands of visitors and international buyers at one of Europe’s largest outdoor events. 

Among this year’s exhibition, there is a strong focus on AI-driven technologies and sustainable innovations, designed to support farmers to make more informed decisions, and to help create more efficient, safer and sustainable practices on farms, as well as optimising operations and helping to create savings in terms of time and costs.  

Enterprise Ireland’s Innovation Arena is one of the most visited exhibitions annually at the National Ploughing Championships. Over the course of the event, 40 Irish agritech companies, researchers and academia will have the opportunity to showcase their trailblazing products and innovations, which are focused on solving a broad spectrum of global challenges, across areas such as animal science and technology, agri-engineering, animal health and nutrition, sustainability, climate action, and farm health and safety. 

As part of our programme of activity at this year’s National Ploughing Championships, a delegation of 25 international buyers from across Europe and the Nordics, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and North America have travelled to Screggan, Co Offaly, to meet with these innovators and other Irish-owned companies exhibiting across the site. 

Irish agritech companies supported by Enterprise Ireland are economic pillars in towns and communities across the country, with exports reaching €875m in 2024 and employing almost 5,000 people. These companies are delivering products and services in the areas of farm equipment, livestock handling and housing, smart farming solutions, crop cultivation and protection, as well as animal health and nutrition.  

Enterprise Ireland is committed to supporting Irish-owned companies to start, compete, scale and connect, and the Innovation Arena helps to foster the development of agritech innovators and to accelerate their business in domestic and global markets. 

Speaking at the Innovation Arena final, Jenny Melia, CEO, Enterprise Ireland said: “Irish agri innovators are renowned for their quality, excellence and knowledge- agriculture and tech are in our DNA. The companies participating in this year’s competition are the epitome of that, reshaping the future of agriculture internationally, delivering cutting-edge solutions with the power and ability to sustain and futureproof this sector for generations to come. Their ambition and drive are not only transforming this sector globally, but the agritech businesses we are celebrating this week are also deeply rooted in sustaining rural communities and economies by creating high-quality jobs and important local expenditure. 

“Enterprise Ireland’s ambition is that exporting focused companies will become the primary driver of the Irish economy, and these innovation focused agritech companies are at the heart of that strategy as they embrace new technologies and deliver novel innovations for global challenges.” 

Congratulating all the finalists and exhibitors in this year’s Innovation Arena, Anna May McHugh, Managing Director, NPA: “Year after year, the Innovation Arena shines a light on the creativity and ingenuity within Irish agritech. It is inspiring to see so many companies bringing forward solutions that will shape the future of farming, not just here in Ireland but across the world. The National Ploughing Association is proud to provide a stage for these innovators, and I warmly congratulate every finalist and exhibitor on their achievements and their contribution to sustaining rural communities and the wider agri sector.” 

A full list of all the companies participating in this year’s Innovation Arena can be found here. The Enterprise Ireland Innovation Arena is located at Row 10, Block 4, Stand 228 at the National Ploughing Championships. 

ENDS 

For further information, contact; 

Emma Jane Hade – Senior Communications Manager, Enterprise Ireland 

emma-jane.hade@enterprise-ireland.com / 087 775 8157 

Notes to editors; 

Photos will be issued to picture desks by Coalesce Photography

Overview of three award winners: 

Innovation Arena ‘Start-Up of the Year Award’ winner: 

ScanInsights (Cork)

The ScanInsights App makes scanning dairy and beef cows more accurate and more efficient. Built on a database of 2.5 million scans from bovine scanning in dairy and beef markets, this innovative technology provides a real time estimate to the operator while the scanning process is ongoing. It is completely automated combining all reproductive features it sees to produce a simple output the operator can see on their screen or visor. The ScanInsights App performs complex measurement tasks such as estimating the age of the foetus, the stage of the cycle and the sex of the calf. It runs on a standard mobile phone connected to the ultrasound machine.

Innovation Arena ‘Green Impact Award’ winner:

GlasPort Bio (Galway)

GasAbate by GlasPort Bio is a science-backed manure management system that cuts emissions while also reducing agitation time for farmers. Independent trials have shown that when injected into stored cattle and pig slurry, it reduces methane emissions by 80%, hydrogen sulphide by 80% and ammonia by 50%. It also delivers increased crop growth, reduces odours and improves the biomethane yield. GlasPort Bio’s proprietary dosage and verification system - Compli360 - delivers live farm data to its cloud-based reporting platform, supporting compliance with climate targets and sustainability standards, allowing farmers and the food chain to generate robust carbon insets. Having only started its commercialisation journey in mid-2025, GlasPort Bio is on track to deliver projects that will remove 12,000 tonnes of carbon from EU food production on an annualised basis. 

‘Innovation Arena Champion 2025’ finalists: 

Herdwatch (Tipperary)

Herdi – Herd Intelligence is the first context-aware AI assistant developed specifically for livestock producers. Built into the already popular and widely used Herdwatch app, the new AI assistant Herdi will help farmers to make faster and informed decisions by interpreting a wide range of data, such as vaccination records and grazing plans, weather forecasts and regulatory guidelines. By integrating both on-farm and external data sources, Herdi provides clear evidence-based insights through chat, voice, or visual formats. The AI assistant is designed to support everyday farm management tasks such as treatment tracking, grazing scheduling, and compliance navigation, offering practical support to over 22,000 farms across the sector.