Vertigo Technologies

This interview details Vertigo Technologies, a company based in The Netherlands. The interview is with Luca Galatro, Ph.D., CEO and Co-Founder of Vertigo Technologies.

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What is the origin story of Vertigo technologies?

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Vertigo Technologies originates from Delft University of Technology, where it emerged as a spin-off with roots firmly embedded in the innovative environment of the Electronic Research Laboratory Group within the EEMCS faculty.

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During my doctoral journey in Electrical Engineering, in 2016, Professor Marco Spirito proposed my involvement in a project alongside Faisal Mubarak from VSL and Raffaele Romano, a collaborative researcher at the time. The vision was to take technology developed within the group and propel it into the realm of commercial viability. Our collective mission was to revolutionize microwave measurements and sensing, introducing novel testing methodologies that extended beyond conventional applications, supporting cutting-edge technologies such as 6G communications and material characterization. In 2017, Vertigo Technologies was established, initially focusing on test and measurement solutions for silicon and telecommunications.

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However, recognizing the versatility of our technology, we swiftly pivoted to explore applications in an entirely different market – quality analysis for fresh fruits and vegetables. Throughout 2019, proximity to the Westland and Rotterdam Harbour facilitated extensive engagements with the fruit industry. Our findings revealed a substantial demand for non-invasive sensing techniques that could significantly reduce waste and enhance yield across the entire value chain. Recognizing the transformative potential of our technology, we launched the Fresco Microwave Sensing business unit, dedicated to reshaping quality control practices in the fresh fruit sector. Fresco units are non-invasive sensors capable of detecting different internal quality traits of fresh fruits, related to aspects like ripening stage, shelf life, flavour, or defects, and it can do it very quickly.

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We made a handheld portable sensor, that can be used very flexibly in the orchard or in warehouses, that is starting to be adopted beginning from post-harvest treatment of exotic fruits like avocados and mangos. In parallel, we are developing a technology to integrate into sorting lines, that will allow to complement the use of the handheld sensor providing a solution for large-scale automatic measurements of fruit. The next steps will be targeting different fruits (we are already active with apples and pears), but also different parts of the value chain, particularly upstream towards production, where the loss of fresh fruit is massive and the need for non-invasive quality sensing is strongly felt.

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What are some of the biggest challenges facing Vertigo technologies in the future? 

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As we are trying to bring something new and disruptive to the market, the adoption is always a bit of a challenge, as novelty is always received with a mix of excitement and scepticism. While the agricultural sector has been strongly open to innovations in the last few years, it might still be a conservative field in many aspects. In that respect, this can pose a challenge in the development of technologies that, like ours, do not only put the base of their success in the excellence of their hardware technologies but also on the use of new data-based strategies, like machine learning, that require a continuous and extensive use in order to steadily improve their capabilities of predicting quality.

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It is important for us to have our sensors adopted as widely as possible in order to improve it and provide continuously better performances and features. Many users have tried alternative non-invasive technologies in the past, often with disappointment, and it is becoming one of our main objectives to educate and convince our potential users of the enormous benefits that can come from the adoption of an innovative and accurate technology like ours.

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What is unique about Vertigo technologies compared to competitors? 

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Our Microwave sensing technology is what makes our Fresco Microwave Sensing application absolutely unique in the market. As a matter of fact, our proprietary technology allows to overcome most of the challenges associated with other sensing technologies out there. Other than being non-invasive and very fast, our microwave sensing approach is totally insensitive to lighting conditions and enables an unparalleled capability of checking fruit very deep in the pulp.

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The combination of these aspects makes our sensors able to measure the internal quality of fresh fruit seamlessly in very diversified environments, like orchards, greenhouses, cold storage, labs and warehouses, while providing accurate insight into the internal status of a fruit, including metrics related to ripening stage, shelf life and flavour. 

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What are some other relevant metrics of the company (production quantity, team size, etc.)?

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Vertigo Technologies has still a small team with 4 full-time employees. We currently have Fresco Microwave Sensing units in operation for tests in 4 different countries (Netherlands, Belgium, USA, and Portugal).

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What are some goals in 2024 and beyond for Vertigo technologies?

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In 2024 we are launching on the market our handheld sensor, the FMS-H, for use in the analysis of internal quality of Avocados and Mangos. Our goal is to have our first commercial adoption of the sensor, after the successful pilots in 2023, and start to increase the amount of users in order to provide massive data to our quality prediction tool. At the same time, we are starting tests and pilots on other crops like apples and pears, and we aim to be able to have commercial versions supporting also these crops by the end of 2024.

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In the long run, our goal is to expand as much as possible the reach of our technology, both in terms of segments (from fruit breeding to retail), but also in terms of the type of fruit. Only in this way we can strongly impact on the fresh fruit value chain to reduce waste, increase production and improve produce quality

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How can people connect with you or learn more about Vertigo technologies? 

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The best way to keep updated is to go to our fresco website, https://fresco.vertigo-tech.com , and subscribe to our newsletter. We only send our major updates. Of course, we can be followed on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/company/vertigo-technologies-b-v/ , or we can be contacted at our emails info@vertigo-tech.com or fresco@vertigo-tech.com for more information, requests and quotations.

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