Empowering Women in Agrifood 2025: Interview with Nina Bazela founder of Antyszpak

Editor’s Note: This article was developed in partnership with and with financial backing from EIT Food.

On 25 November, the Demonstration Day of the Empowering Women in Agrifood (EWA) program occurred in the PKO Rotunda in Warsaw, an effort that sustains females business owners functioning to produce a much more lasting and cutting-edge food system.

Currently in its 6th version, EWA 2025 is a six-month business program developed to sustain hopeful and early-stage women business owners throughout 13 nations: Albania, Estonia, Greece, Italy, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Türkiye, and Ukraine.

Backed by EIT Food and the European Institute of Advancement and Innovation (EIT), a body of the European Union, EWA aids individuals develop the abilities, self-confidence and networks required to establish and scale their concepts. Although females play a crucial function in farming and country advancement, their job typically goes underrecognised. The program intends to resolve this by using functional assistance, customized training and accessibility to a durable neighborhood.

Following our previous meetings with Anabel Millán Leiva, Founder of Cucare Diagnostics, and Nadica Desanova, Founder of Mimic Technology, we end this three-part meeting collection with a female business owner whose AI-powered crop-protection service shows exactly how innovation can boost ranch effectiveness while sustaining biodiversity.

Meeting with Nina Bazela, founder of Antyszpak

Can you begin by sharing the motivation behind Antyszpak and exactly how your trip right into producing a smart, AI-driven crop-protection system started?

The motivation for Antyszpak originated from the genuine, functional requirements of orchard proprietors. While my group and I were servicing a various technical job for farming, we had the possibility to consult with these farmers that confessed they had no reliable approaches for securing their plants from birds. They especially whined concerning the typical tools frequently utilized today– like cannons that release loud 120 dB bangs every couple of mins -which aren’t really efficient and wind up disrupting the whole area.

They tested us, asking, “ Could not you develop something various, much more reliable and much less turbulent?” We began conceptualizing and understood we can make use of lasers, which trigger an all-natural worry reaction in birds. From there, we established our service: a robot turret that identifies birds in electronic camera photos utilizing aesthetic discovery formulas and tracks them with a laser beam of light till they leave the area.

What encouraged you to concentrate on AI-powered bird prevention, and exactly how do you think this innovation adds to a much more lasting and biodiverse farming system?

What actually encouraged us was the wish to produce a service that is both wise and reliable. By utilizing AI, Antyszpak just triggers the laser when a bird is in fact found in the electronic camera photos. This method considerably boosts performance while reducing power usage and extending the life of the laser.

Looking in advance, we intend to establish a bird category formula to ensure that we can at some point frighten just the bug birds while leaving safeguarded and helpful varieties entirely uninterrupted.

I think this innovation is a significant progression for sustainability since it permits those helpful birds to remain in the orchard and consume pests, which normally minimizes the requirement for hazardous chemicals and brings about much healthier dirt. It’s likewise a a lot more gentle and non-invasive option to approaches like safety webs, which can mistakenly damage or eliminate birds.

Past the atmosphere, there’s a genuine social and financial advantage as well; our system is quiet, so it removes the environmental pollution that typically creates problems in between farmers and their neighbors.

Antyszpak utilizes a robot turret that can securely prevent birds. Can you stroll us with exactly how this system functions and what makes your method distinct contrasted to typical crop-protection approaches?

Our service identifies birds in electronic camera photos utilizing aesthetic discovery formulas and afterwards tracks them with a laser beam of light till they leave the area. Birds are normally terrified of laser light and fly away when they see it close by.

There are currently services on the marketplace that make use of laser light for bird deterrance however they relocate the laser ‘thoughtlessly’ with the area, according to a pre-programmed course. Yet birds are brilliant; they find out these patterns and just feed in the components of the area that aren’t being brushed up then.

Our AI-based, targeted service not just boosts performance, however likewise reduces the power usage and extends laser life time many thanks to transforming the laser on just when a bird is found. In the future, many thanks to the advancement of a bird category formula, we will certainly have the ability to frighten just pest birds, leaving the safeguarded birds uninterrupted.

Presently, several farmers still count on typical approaches like aesthetic or audio deterrents, safety webs, or working with a falconer. Nevertheless, those approaches are either inadequate (since birds promptly obtain utilized to aesthetic and audio deterrents), or they are as well expensive and unattainable for smaller sized orchards.

What were several of the most significant difficulties you encountered in establishing Antyszpak, both on the technological and market sides, and exactly how did you conquer them?

Like any type of start-up established by young business owners, our most significant preliminary obstacle was certainly the absence of financing. We needed to establish both business and the innovation part-time while maintaining our ‘regular’ day work.

On the technological side, we were shocked by the quantity of time and commitment we needed to place in doing preliminary area examinations. As designers, we were a little bit perplexed in the beginning since some days we would certainly take a trip to an examination place just to discover no birds there, also if there had actually been hundreds the day in the past. We needed to speak with ornithologists to find out exactly how to increase our possibilities for effective examinations and, significantly, exactly how to prevent frightening the birds away ourselves simply by existing in the area.

On the marketplace side, nevertheless, we were in fact shocked by the high degree of passion from farmers. They actually do not have reliable and budget friendly services for bird prevention and have actually been really ready to experiment with cutting-edge concepts like ours that give efficient defense at a sensible rate.

When did you initially read about the EWA program, and what encouraged you to get involved?

I initially read about the EWA program while we remained in the center of establishing Antyszpak and searching for prospective resources of financing. I had the possibility to consult with Małgorzata Druciarek from EIT, that advised the campaign to me.

My inspiration to sign up with was actually based upon my previous experiences; I have actually had just wonderful experiences with programs that sustain females in innovation and attach us so we can do fantastic points with each other. Due to that, I made certain that taking part in EWA was mosting likely to deserve it.

Just how did the mentorship and training throughout the EWA program affect the advancement of Antyszpak? What would certainly you recognize as one of the most substantial lessons you discovered?

Taking Part In the EWA program has actually been a truly beneficial experience for me as a creator. Among one of the most functional advantages was the chance to function carefully with my advisor, Monika Borowiecka. Our partnership permitted me to improve our market method and organization design, which was a needed action for our development.

The training likewise concentrated on a number of essential proficiencies that are important for any type of start-up. I have actually had the ability to boost exactly how I pitch and offer the job skillfully, and I have actually gotten a much more organized method to evaluating the marketplace, recognizing the competitors, and preparing for worldwide growth.

Past the official training, the program supplied accessibility to the EIT Food community. I have actually communicated and also began straight cooperations with 2 various other individuals- cutting-edge farmers with a solid media existence. This collaboration has substantial capacity for Antyszpak from both a company and advertising and marketing viewpoint. It actually strengthened the concept that getting in touch with various other specialists in the AgriTech room is just one of one of the most vital points a creator can do.

Sustainability and security are core concepts of Antyszpak. Just how do you make certain that your service secures plants while staying risk-free for both birds and individuals?

Safety and security is something we take really seriously. Firstly, similar to any type of job entailing lasers, it is essential to preserve stringent precaution. We make certain– at both the software and hardware degrees– that the laser beam of light never ever goes beyond the set boundaries of the area or orchard.

We likewise give appropriate indication and advise the proprietors that nobody need to get in the orchard while the laser functions. Moreover, the system is placed high up and radiates the laser downward towards the trees and the ground, never ever up towards the skies.

Concerning the birds, we have actually developed the system to be gentle. Due to our bird discovery abilities, we aim the laser beside the bird as opposed to straight at it, which reduces any type of danger category formula to guarantee we just prevent hazardous varieties while leaving safeguarded birds in tranquility. We likewise wish to establish a human-detection formula to include an added layer of security, ensuring that also if somebody horns in the orchard, their sight will not go to any type of danger.

Just how do you see AI-powered accuracy devices like Antyszpak forming the future of farming, especially in the context of decreasing losses, boosting biodiversity and sustaining farmers?

I see AI-powered devices as a basic change towards much more lasting and financially secure farming. From a financial viewpoint, our objective is to straight enhance returns by securing plants from devastation, which equates right into greater revenue– specifically for little and medium-sized farmers. It’s likewise concerning expense and time effectiveness; since our service is much less labour-intensive than mounting webs or working with falconers, it minimizes the general monetary and time concern on the farmer.

Ecologically, the accuracy of AI permits us to be far more discerning. By discouraging just hazardous bugs, we will certainly leave helpful, insect-eating birds in tranquility, which normally minimizes the requirement for chemical pesticides. This adds to much healthier dirt, much better public wellness, and higher biodiversity because we get rid of the physical dangers positioned by safety webs

In conclusion, what suggestions would certainly you supply to various other females business owners curious about beginning their very own business trip in agrifood innovation?

My major item of suggestions is: network. You require to venture out there to agrifood occasions and fulfill determined, seasoned individuals that can assist verify your concepts and caution you concerning prospective dangers. It is similarly vital to speak to your customers straight. Attempt to discover what their real requirements are prior to you begin pitching your ‘wonderful concept’ and attempting to encourage them it’s precisely what they require.

And, naturally, I would very advise signing up with programs like EWA. It is a great means to fulfill various other motivating creators and discover a neighborhood where you can sustain each various other throughout this trip.

A lot more on the program

As component of EWA 2025, Nina signed up with an expanding #EWAProgramme neighborhood of greater than 600 alumnae throughout Europe. This network remains to sustain and open the capacity of early-stage women creators well past the period of the program.

She likewise had the chance to pitch her concept at the Next Bite Satellite occasion, Increasing Advancement With Female Management, hung on 4 December in Warsaw. The occasion combined virtually 350 trendsetters, creators, and capitalists to reconsider the future of food and emphasize women-led advancement throughout the agrifood community.

Enrollment for EWA 2026 opens up quickly! Keep tuned and assist develop a future of food powered by females. More information is available here

Concerning EIT Food

EIT Food is the globe’s biggest and most vibrant food advancement neighborhood. Backed by the European Institute of Advancement and Innovation, it functions throughout the food worth chain to increase advancement and entrepreneurship, furnishing changemakers with the abilities, devices, and assistance they require to improve the future of food.

EIT Food is just one of 9 advancement neighborhoods developed by the European Institute of Advancement and Innovation (EIT), an independent EU body established in 2008 to drive advancement and entrepreneurship throughout Europe.

Discover More at EIT Food or adhere to EIT Food on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram

The article Empowering Women in Agrifood 2025: Interview with Nina Bazela founder of Antyszpak showed up initially on EU-Startups.