17 September 2018 – TAG Sensors, the Norwegian internet of things (IoT) company, has been awarded a €1.4 million grant from Horizon 2020, the EU Research and Innovation programme. The grant, which is the second received by TAG Sensors from the EU, will support the continued development of TAG Sensors´ market-leading technology.
TAG Sensors´ technology means it is possible to have continuous temperature logging, using radio-frequency identification (RFID), of individual products required to be kept at specific temperatures during transportation and storage. These goods include food and vaccines.
TAG Sensors is one of only 63 companies across Europe to receive funding from Horizon 2020 in this round, from a total of 1644 application received by the European Commission. TAG Sensors achieved top score (very good to excellent) on all the programme’s 20 evaluation criteria with positive feedback from the jury of six experts from private equity, banking and major industries. The primary focus of the program is on radical, market-creating innovations to improve productivity and international competitiveness and generate new jobs and higher standards of living. In addition to the grant, TAG Sensors will receive access to a wide range of other business acceleration services and facilitated access to risk finance, and business coaching to support and enhance innovation capacity.
TAG Sensors´ technology is expected to have a significant impact on the global food and pharmaceutical industries. In the food industry, an estimated $813 billion is lost each year partly caused by poor cold-chain management. The pharmaceutical industry loses an estimated $15.2 billion per annum due to temperature fluctuations in the shipping and storage. Customers are already using TAG Sensors platform in the pharmaceutical industry and the food sector, including McDonald’s.
The additional funding from the EU will help TAG Sensors further develop, optimise and commercialise its solution. As well as funding from the EU, TAG Sensors has also raised more than $5.5 million in funding from private investors and public funding, including Breed Reply, Europe’s leading IoT investor, Platform Ventures and Innovation Norway.
Knut Nygard, CEO, TAG Sensors said: “The award of this grant from Horizon 2020 is a fantastic achievement for the business and will help support the continued development and roll-out of our market-leading technology. The jury that made the decision recognised how innovative our technology was, its global potential, and our success so far. There is increasing global demand for our complete solution for cold chain management from leading companies in both the pharmaceutical and food industries. This funding, as well as support from existing investors, will allow us to capture the opportunities we see to grow the business.”