Pollinators like bees are very important for sustainable food chains. Equally important therefore, is efficient control of the apiaries, allowing beekeepers to gain relevant and real-time data on the bees’ system biology. The Italian startup Melixa developed smart beehives that operate in conjunction with a user-friendly monitoring system for beekeeping.

This enables beekeepers – either professionals or hobbyists – and bee researchers to fully control the apiaries and receive valuable information about the health and activity of bee colonies, as well as honey production. Melixa provides all kind of data in real-time, stores the data in a cloud-based system and discloses the data via a dashboard which helps the beekeepers to optimize the efficiency of their care operations for the colonies.

The Melixa system for hive monitoring is equipped with high precision technology, a weather station and a sensor that measures the bees’ flight activity. The smart hives can be monitored constantly from a distance, while collecting data on the bees’ health condition and behaviour. It is a cost-efficient solution to eliminate non-necessary interventions in the apiary. This improves the yield and reduces losses.