Clermont-Ferrand-based start-up Bienesis is already the star of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas (January 6-9), one of the world’s leading technology trade shows. Winner of the Best of Innovation Award for its innovative vineyard protection system, the start-up has a bright future ahead of it.
Benjamin Lemaire hasn’t been able to hide his satisfaction since CES in Las Vegas.
Bienesis, the company he founded, will leave the USA with the Best of Innovation trophy, the highest distinction in the Food Tech category, for its Canopée: an automated deployment system to protect vines from the vagaries of the weather. This innovation is like a giant umbrella that deploys over the rows of grapes in the event of frost, hail or extreme heat.
“The winegrower receives an alert on his phone when a weather risk is forecast. He can then decide to activate the system remotely, via an application”. Energy self-sufficient and modular, this tool blends discreetly into the landscape once folded up. Tried and tested since 2024 by various French winegrowers, the system has already proved its worth in reducing grape losses and the use of phytosanitary products.
The Bienesis team’s objectives in going to Las Vegas were to meet future customers, investors and partners. “This spotlight multiplies these objectives tenfold: this morning alone, when we opened, we had a significant number of visitors to our stand, and I’m not even talking about the press or social networks, where it’s exploding,” continues Benjamin Lemaire.
The company enters a pivotal pre-industrialization phase. With the arrival of a French industrial partner, Bienesis continues to play the tricolor card that suits it so well. It remains to be seen whether the canopies will be manufactured in France: “We are currently studying a number of possible scenarios, including, of course, production in the region where we were born”.