We are writing to wish you all the best during the Holiday Season and we hope that 2017 is an exciting and rewarding year for you.  We are very grateful for the support and encouragement we’ve been shown in 2016 and wanted to provide a quick look back at what we, at Vivent, have been doing, as well as share some future plans.

In January 2016 we produced the first of our Phytl Signs devices to measure electrical signals in plants.  Our technology enables measurement in situ and for extended periods of time.  This is a technological breakthrough opening up new research possibilities that will eventually lead to increased plant yields and quality.  Improving plant yields in a sustainable way is key to meeting increasing demands for food, animal feed, fuel and fiber for clothing and building, and we are proud to be working on such an important issue.

In March we released the first version of software for controlling our devices. Since then we’ve continued to develop the software and related data logging capability and we now have a system that researchers find easy and convenient to use.

In June we launched a Kickstarter campaign to develop a community of interested users and to explore the appeal of our concepts.  Although we did not reach our target funding we generated huge amounts of awareness and publicity around the world and gained substantial support from a wide range of backers. We also established a presence on social media like Twitter and Facebook.

We’ve used the substantial learnings from the campaign to guide our strategy for future product launches and we are now focused on academic and commercial plant researchers.  This of course encompasses universities but also includes plant research institutes and commercial organisations involved in agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, viticulture and forestry.

Excitingly, for the last half of the year we have been working closely with a number of researchers, in different parts of the world, on a wide range of plant experiments, using our device.  We presented early, promising results from these experiments at our first academic seminar here in Switzerland at the University of Lausanne, alongside Dr Ricardo Oliveira of the University of Sao Paolo.

In conjunction with certain academic researchers we have applied for research grants to continue these fascinating experiments.

Feedback from our early users has been key in developing the design criteria for the next generation technology.  They love the portability and convenience of the device including the solar panel for power.  We are excited to get started on the design and production of the next generation device aimed at researchers and look forward to enhancing our leaf clip, analytical tool kit and providing more accessories so the Phytl Signs devices can be used in an even wider set of conditions.

We are thankful for the enthusiasm and engagement of all of the users of the Phytl Signs devices and look forward to continuing to work with you.  Please contact us at info@phytlsigns.com if there is anything we can do for you.

We wish you all the best in 2017.  We’re looking forward to another exciting and rewarding year.

The entire Vivent team.