Speakers: Orlando Saez
Orlando Saez
Co-founder & CEO
Aker Technologies
Orlando is the co-founder & CEO of Aker Technologies, a venture-backed precision agriculture company based in St. Louis, MO. Orlando started his career in the telecommunications industry as a software engineer. He has held C-level roles in two early-stage companies with IPO exits including Boingo Wireless, the largest Wi-Fi hotspot in the world. Seven years ago, Orlando’s curiosity led him to the fast-growing precision agricultural sector. He met and lived in a farm for several years where he met his co-founder, a successful farmer and early technology adopter where Aker was born. Orlando is the inventor and co-authored the patent, which powers the company’s core IP. Orlando was the Director of the Office of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology for the State of Illinois where he led $78M government-sponsored investments for early-stage companies, and the creation of 1871, the #1 ranked private business incubator in the world. Orlando holds a BS Computer Engineering from University of Puerto Rico, MS in Computer Science from Illinois Institute of Technology and MBA at Stuart School of Business.
The Intersection of Remote Sensing Technologies and Farm Practices
For years, the agriculture industry has relied on an overabundance of weather models and remote sensing options like satellite, airplane, drone imagery and ground sensors. Farmers have a plethora of choices when it comes to technologies that can provide time sensitive and geo-referenced data, at a wide range of resolution, about what’s happening to crops in their fields. To stay competitive, AgTech companies must bring real value to growers – not just ex post facto field insights, but predictive to inform relevant field action along with the recommendation of optimal treatment and product to protect yield. Aker Technologies delivers value by combining satellite, innovative drone with IoT sensors, and AI/ML analytics to support effective input decisions to maximize plant health and yield.
Orlando will discuss how the intersection of remote sensing technologies and farm practices are converging into relevant use cases that bring net value to chemical manufacturers, crop consultants and growers. Scaling the current path of digital agronomy is helping growers make informed decisions to benefit their bottom line and the environment