Award-winning service for farmers

The method of ascertaining the ideal time to harvest silage corn using satellite images is unique worldwide and won first prize in the Göttingen District Innovation Award on November 14, 2019. Just over a hundred participants from all over Germany competed for nine titles in three categories. The entries include innovations from fields such as the environment, social welfare and industry. There were also four special prizes. The award ceremony was held in the Deutsches Theater in Göttingen.

Alexandra Meschede and Fabian Böke, who accompanied the entry on behalf of all KWS colleagues and project participants, have written their very own dialogue for insideKWS:

Fabian Böke: Hey, Alexandra, can you remember the first time you heard about the Göttingen District Innovation Award?

Alexandra Meschede: That was in December 2018. I read about that year’s award winners in the press. The first thing that crossed my mind was: That’s a chance for SAT TS-Monitoring!

Fabian Böke: And after some time thinking about it, we fortunately decided to submit an entry. In hindsight, that was a very good move.

Alexandra Meschede: What do you most remember about the entire application process?

Fabian Böke: I very much liked our flexible approach and in particular the fact it was always geared to our objective. There were occasions when I had the feeling we were a bit short of time. And the video we shot was really good.

Alexandra Meschede: When the film team visited us on October 8, 2019, that made me aware that things were serious and we were actually shortlisted. That was a very interesting day behind the camera.

Fabian Böke: It was also very exciting in front of the camera. The film team – Anna Torke-Pfalzgraf and you – didn’t make life very difficult for me to play my part in front of the camera. Since the first idea for SAT TS-Monitoring was thought up in 2013, I’ve handled the project with various colleagues and partners. I’ve had enough time since then to come up with suitable arguments.

Alexandra Meschede: After we shot the video, we didn’t hear from the Innovation Award for a long time and then we received the invitation to the award ceremony at some time or other. What was that day like for you?

Fabian Böke: The day of the award ceremony was pretty stressful. I was at a KWS winter event in North Rhine-Westphalia during the day and was caught in a traffic jam. I popped back home, grabbed a suit and set off again, but only just barely got to Göttingen in time – Anna’s and your time management was far better.

Alexandra Meschede: After all, we had to save a parking spot for you. I was pretty tense at the award ceremony. There no indications beforehand who would pick up the prizes. All the short-listed entries were classy, albeit very different from each other.

Fabian Böke: You could cut the tension with a knife. The moment we saw the video for the first time was also great. Seeing yourself on the big screen is strange. Our category – “Companies with more than 20 employees” – was also the last and when third and second spot were awarded, I thought: Pity, we haven’t made it among the top 3.

Alexandra Meschede: And then we heard our name called out: “First place in the category ‘Companies with more than 20 employees’ goes to SAT TS-Monitoring from KWS SAAT SE, Einbeck.”

Fabian Böke: I couldn’t really grasp at that moment that we’d actually come in first. Pumped up with adrenalin, we then managed to reach the stage without an accident and were presented with the prize. What do you feel is so special about the Innovation Award?

Alexandra Meschede: Not only the Innovation Award, but also the entire SAT TS-Monitoring project shows that KWS employees always have good ideas and it’s worthwhile being ambitious and pursuing them doggedly.

Fabian Böke: That’s true. The way our colleagues at Einbeck, as well as the various project partners, worked together across countries to realize this vision is a great example of teamwork. |