HiveKeepers, a company that is commercialising a new method of harvesting honey for hobbyists and beekeepers after five years of R&D, has won the top prize for innovation at an event sometimes called “the Olympics of beekeeping”.
According to a statement from the company on Wednesday, it won Gold for Innovation with its Micro Honey Harvester at the recent Apimondia World Beekeeping Awards at Copenhagen. HiveKeepers described its prize as “the highest international honour for excellence and advancement in the field”.
“Receiving gold at Apimondia is a career-defining moment, not just for HiveKeepers but for Australian innovation,” said Simon Mildren, Founder and CEO of HiveKeepers.
“We have spent years developing our Micro Honey Harvester, a system that empowers both backyard beekeepers to harvest honey more efficiently and commercial producers to present their honey in new ways.. This award tells us we are on the right path.”
The micro-harvester was designed and engineered in Melbourne in collaboration with Katapult Designs. According to HiveKeepers, it replaces the complexity inherent in beekeeping “with a compact, portable system” allowing beekeepers “to harvest honey quickly with minimal waste, mess or disruption to the bees.”
Mildren’s company launched a Kickstarter campaign in March, quickly hitting its $25,000 goal and eventually receiving pledges more than four times that. Their page can be seen here.
Picture: supplied
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