Riga, Latvia. Cypriot university student team LIVIA won the European Innovation of the Year award at Gen-E 2026, Europe’s largest entrepreneurship festival, after representing Cyprus in the European finals. The agritech startup also received the FedEx Access Signature Award for its international growth potential.
European recognition
LIVIA qualified for the European finals after winning the JA Cyprus Company of the Year competition in April.
JA Cyprus chief executive Antigoni Komodiki described the award as a proud moment for the team and Cyprus.
“Their achievement shows that young people from our country have the talent, ambition and ability to compete and lead at the highest European level,” Komodiki told the Cyprus Mail. “This first-place award is also a recognition of the growing entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem in Cyprus, and a powerful reminder of what can be achieved when young people are given the right opportunities, support and trust.”
Precision agriculture platform
LIVIA is an agritech startup developed by Altair Astronomy & Space and founded by university student Christos Charalambous. It uses artificial intelligence, autonomous drones, satellite imagery and Earth observation technologies to help farmers monitor crop health more efficiently and sustainably.
The startup is participating in the IDEA Innovation Center accelerator programme and is developing an autonomous precision agriculture platform. The platform is intended to help farmers monitor irrigation needs, identify crop diseases and improve field management while reducing costs.
Team and next steps
The team includes Charalambous, co-founder and chief executive officer; Theofanis Orfanou, co-founder and chief technology officer; Ariadni Pashouli, biology lead; and Antreas Leonidou, machine learning and artificial intelligence lead.
The members combine expertise in aerospace, computer science, artificial intelligence, biology and engineering to apply space-sector innovations to agriculture.
The team is focused on completing its product, launching pilot projects with local agricultural partners and expanding internationally. Charalambous said the success reflected the team’s demonstration that the project had progressed beyond the concept stage.
