*This is the fourth in a series of blog posts published as part of the author’s ongoing research.
Cevdet Bulut | PhD Candidate | School of Business Management, Royal Holloway, University of London
On one of the hottest days of June, with temperatures soaring to an unprecedented 39°C, Athens faced a heatwave that led to the temporary closure of the iconic Acropolis due to health concerns. Despite the extreme weather, I made my way to Demokritos, Greece’s largest research centre, which houses several tech companies, including Tesla’s R&D facility. Among them is Future Intelligence, a pioneering Greek company at the forefront of agricultural innovation in the country.
“Farmers cannot be the same as they were 50 years ago; they must keep pace with technology,” says Athanasia, a research engineer and project manager at Future Intelligence. She emphasises that climate change is reshaping agriculture, making it imperative for farmers to adapt. “The changes in climate and microclimates present significant challenges, but they also offer us a unique opportunity to develop more optimised solutions,” adds Nikos Triantafillidis, who oversees the company’s IoT operations.
Future Intelligence’s flagship product, Quhoma, is central to these efforts. Quhoma, a user-friendly application designed for farmers, integrates data collected from weather monitoring stations deployed in fields. “Imagine you’re a farmer with a large field that you can’t monitor closely,” Athanasia explains. “Quhoma allows you to track environmental data like moisture levels and weather conditions in real-time. It also provides tools like farm diaries for recording key activities such as irrigation and harvest days.”
“Our customers are not just buying a gadget; they’re investing in a technology that genuinely improves their farming practices. For instance, one farmer discovered through our sensors that his fields drained differently—a detail he hadn’t noticed in 20 years. This kind of insight is invaluable,” says Harris, a business development manager at Future Intelligence.
Quhoma’s simplicity is one of its most praised features, especially among farmers who may not be technologically savvy. “The interface is plain, simple to use, and offers full functionality,” says Panagiotis, head of the sales department at Future Intelligence. “Farmers appreciate its straightforwardness, as it makes technology accessible to those who may not have a deep understanding of it.”
The success of Quhoma wasn’t just about the technology itself, but also about how it was integrated into the farmers’ daily routines. Farmers can compare metrics between different fields, receive alerts, and track the traceability of their crops. Panagiotis notes, “By comparing moisture levels between two fields, farmers can make informed decisions about irrigation, saving both water and money. In one case, farmers in Sparta saved 1,000 euros in just the first month of using Quhoma, thanks to a reduction in water usage. Similarly, a farmer in Agrinio saved 1,800 euros on fertilizer costs.”
Originally founded in 2009 as a telecommunications company, Future Intelligence pivoted to IoT solutions as the technology became more widely recognised and integral to various industries. Headquartered in Athens with additional entities in the UK and Cyprus, the company employs between 24 and 30 people, with a dedicated team of six working specifically in the agricultural domain. “When we started back in 2009, we were focused on two main areas: short-range and large-scale communication. But by 2015, the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) led us naturally into the smart farming sector,” says Harris, underlining the agriculture as a key sector, crucial not only to the Greek economy but also carrying significant social implications.
Starting from scratch is never easy, and this was especially true for Future Intelligence. When Panagiotis first joined the company, there were some existing clients and limited marketing material to work with. “We had to start from the ground up,” he explained. The team took the risk on even performing door-to-door visits to connect with potential customers, a non business-as-usual process for a smart agriculture provider. Despite these challenges, their persistence paid off, and today, the company serves a wide range of clients, including those growing tomatoes, olives, vineyards, kiwis, and even medical cannabis.
Future Intelligence is not just a software company; it also develops its own hardware, a strategic choice that Harris believes gives them a competitive advantage. Although hardware development comes with challenges, it also allows the company to be more flexible and innovative, particularly in their R&D efforts.
When asked about the company’s business model, Harris candidly shared the challenges and strategies they employ. “Our approach has been a mix of B2B and B2C, but we’ve had to adapt to the market’s needs. While we initially focused on B2B, we realised that to build a sustainable business, we needed to offer end-to-end solutions directly to farmers.”
The IoT ecosystem in Greece is still maturing, with several small companies competing in a market that, while growing, remains relatively small. Harris pointed out that while there is no clear leader in the ecosystem, various stakeholders, including technical consultants, farmers, and the government, are working towards the digital transformation of agriculture. The government, in particular, plays a role by promoting digital adoption through funding and tenders, although these initiatives have met with mixed success.
The discussion around government subsidies in Greece reveals a unique challenge in the market. Unlike other countries studied, where subsidies might accelerate sales, Harris points out that in Greece, these subsidies can actually have the opposite effect. “Farmers are keen on our solutions, but when they know a government program might fund their purchase, they delay their decision. This makes the sales cycle much longer. Despite this, we’ve managed to build a customer base of real paying clients from day one, especially among larger agricultural businesses like wineries and olive oil producers.” This reliance on subsidies creates a barrier to market penetration, despite the clear cost savings and efficiency gains their products offer.
Other significant challenges the company faces is convincing traditional farmers to adopt new technology. Panagiotis shared that initial reactions were often sceptical, particularly among older farmers. “They’ve always relied on their own experience, so trusting a new technology was difficult at first,” he said. However, over time, as farmers began to see the tangible benefits of using Quhoma, their trust in the technology grew.
Nikos also recognised the challenges that come with growth. “As the market for smart farming solutions expands, so does the number of low-quality, do-it-yourself products that undermine the industry. We’ve had to work hard to differentiate ourselves from these lower-end solutions. It’s frustrating when a farmer tries a cheap gadget that doesn’t work and then hesitates to invest in our more robust system. But we’re committed to providing serious, reliable solutions that deliver real value.”
Looking ahead, Future Intelligence is keen to expand Quhoma’s capabilities. The company plans to develop new features from constructive feedback of its customers along with technology-driven innovative functionalities. In addition, they aim to scale their operations by partnering with larger agricultural entities that can leverage their established market channels to distribute these solutions more broadly. This strategy could help overcome some of the distribution and market penetration challenges they currently face. Moreover, their commitment to using open-source technology and focusing solely on the technology aspect of the value chain, rather than venturing into agronomy, positions them as a specialised player in the market.
About
This is a series of blogs curated by PhD candidate Cevdet Bulut, who is investigating the adoption of IoT in agriculture. In this series, the author shares a limited version of his field notes and highlights from multiple case studies in a news story format as part of his current research study. The scope of the case studies is to uncover what factors (socio-economic, cultural, technical, etc.) affect the adoption of IoT and to gain experience from the field that can guide the design of viable IoT-based business models for the sector. A new blog will be published on each case study with the participant’s permission.
Blogs in this series:
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