We met Niccolò in February to ask him to come aboard the fifth number of KRANG and address the issue of shortagecertainly well known to him as the founder of 3Bee, a climate tech company leader in the protection of biodiversity with technology.
Involvement that is almost obvious (perhaps not even too much), given that biodiversity has been going through a period of great lack of protection, care and attention in recent decades, despite being one of nature’s most precious heritages, fundamental for the balance of the terrestrial ecosystem and for the management of natural resources.
“The inability to value the bee as a fundamental element of the ecosystem has diminished it to a confectionery producer of dubious utility and commercially “replaceable”: the natural alternative to sugar for conscious and km 0 diets, the paradox of a precarious supply chain“.
Niccolò in KRANG 05 makes us understand what the core of the problem is. We asked him to help us better understand what his company does.
Hi Niccolò, introduce yourself and tell us about yourself
Starting from my studies, I obtained a three-year degree in Biomedical Engineering and a master’s degree in Electronic Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano. Subsequently, I obtained the PhD in Electronics and quantum photons at the Politecnico di Milano. During and after the PhD I collaborated with important Research Institutes in the United States, in particular in Boston, such as MIT and NASA and with the CQC2T in Sydney.
3Bee was born in 2017 from an idea of me and Riccardo Balzaretti, co-founder: we have been friends of the village since we were children and, after a series of experiences abroad, also for Riccardo with a PhD in biology, we decided to return to Italy to found a company that would generate a concrete impact on the environment. We became passionate about bees and started working on the first beehives: before approaching this new project I was dealing with quantum electronics, in fact 3Bee was born from the union of our skills: on the one hand my engineering knowledge allowed us to develop the Hive-Tech technology, but on the other hand this was possible thanks to Riccardo’s biological knowledge, which allowed us to interpret and understand the data obtained from the monitoring of beehives and bees.
In 3Bee you develop technologies for the protection of biodiversity using the bee as a fundamental bio-indicator: tell us more about what you do
3Bee is the leading climate tech company in the protection of biodiversity, which connects nature with technology.
It is estimated that about 87.5% of wild plants worldwide (we are talking about 308,000 species) they depend for their reproduction on animal pollination. Also, about the 75% of crops for food purposes, they directly depend on the tireless work of pollination by bees. Also for this reason, through the technology associated with 3Bee’s regeneration initiatives, a concrete and monitorable impact is created with the aim of having concrete benefits on our Planet that are immediate and long-lasting.
3Bee’s mission is precisely this. To develop, also thanks to the support of virtuous partners, through the creation of technologies and innovations in the environmental field, a mapping of biodiversity in Europe and the first certified biodiversity index.
When we talked about your contribution on KRANG it was the beginning of the year, do you want to tell us about some new project?
We have recently launched the Oases of Biodiversity: limited areas of quick and rapid implementation, including pasture for pollinators with scalar flowering, shelters for pollinators and sustenance for bee colonies. The 3Bee biodiversity oases play a crucial role in promoting the conservation, ecological balance and resilience of ecosystems: the regenerated hectares of the oases are subjected to direct measurement with 3Bee technologies for the intervention and constant improvement of the index NDVI of the area. Not only environmental oases but spaces for social aggregation, which physically, thanks to awareness-raising courses, will strengthen awareness on the subject.
Now our goal is to go from 123 to 10,000 Biodiversity Oases created within two years. A goal that we can achieve thanks to the commitment and contribution of our team biodiversity growersmainly farms competent in the care and management of nectariferous forests, but also of research partners and companies that want to take an active role in safeguarding biodiversity.
