TO BEE OR NOT TO BEE

Siddharth Jadhav is taking on the twin challenges of pollination and yield forecasting using drones inspired by nature and powered by artificial intelligence.

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The story of agricultural innovation often begins in unexpected places. For Polybee's Siddharth Jadhav, it started with a curiosity that ran deeper than most: a blend of technological prowess and an almost poetic appreciation for the intricate dance of nature. The 31-year-old has been rewriting how we approach farming, food security and ecological sustainability for the past six years.

While immersed in aerial robotics research at the National University of Singapore in 2018, he stumbled into the Lean Launchpad programme. The initiative, designed to encourage researchers to explore the commercial applications of their expertise, pushed him to think beyond his academic projects. "I was looking for industries where we could solve big, hair-onfire problems at scale," explains the founder and chief executive officer of Polybee.

At the time, Singapore's growing emphasis on food security drew him to agriculture, an industry ripe for innovation.