A horticulturalist and computer scientist may seem like an unlikely duo, but Green City Solutions’ cofounders, Peter Sänger and Liang Wu, have been driven by a shared goal to create a biotech air filter that reduces air pollution. We learned about their growth together from studying at university to successfully marketing their CityTree and CityBreeze products, which combine dust and carbon dioxide-absorbing moss with internet of things (IoT) technology, creating fresh air zones in many European cities.

Even small quantities of moss can absorb large amounts of harmful dust particles and greenhouse gases, so German Bestensee-based company Green City Solutions are harnessing the power of moss in their internet of things (IoT) CityTree and CityBreeze biotech products to target the most polluted parts of urban areas.

Consumers want all year-round healthy and sustainable fruit and vegetables wherever they live. The pressures are enormous on hard-grafting farmers but Spanish agro technology company Hispatec is showing how agriculture 4.0 can support them to boost productivity and keep environmentally conscious customers happy even thousands of miles away.

This summer has been all about football. Spectators have just about recovered from the nail-biting European Championship final after Italy took the top spot from the England squad on home turf (to the dismay of 60,000 fans baying in the wings).

Now, with football on the brain, we meet Nikolaj Thomassen, founder of the Danish company, Next11 Technologies, which has developed a novel smart football tracking system for individual and team training. It is ready to be launched to the mass market this month.