University of Athens Associate Professor Prokopios Magiatis and his team have invented some unusual devices.
Now, their latest innovation, the Olive Predictor, helps olive-oil producers determine the best time to harvest their olives to maximize the health benefits of their oil while producing enough quantity. This is useful because healthier olive oil can bring higher prices from health-conscious consumers.
The Olive Predictor received the highest score in the Olive Challenge, an unusual competition organized by the Filaios Olive Oil Society in collaboration with Greek governmental and private organizations and institutions.
This was a contest for Greeks who want to do something new with olives or olive oil. A variety of striking innovations, inventions and plans for various aspects of the Greek olive oil and olive sector were welcomed and submitted.
The Olive Predictor is an array of patented devices that was developed at the School of Pharmacy of the University of Athens by Prokopios Magiatis, Eleni Melliou, and their research team (Panagiotis Diamantakos, Iliana Kalaboki, Triada Giannara, Emilia Rigakou, Annia Tsolakou, Katerina Papakonstantinou, and Dr. Christos Papanikolaou), in collaboration with George Stavropoulos of Democritos Scientific Research Center.
The devices enable producers to predict the quantity and quality of oil their olives will produce in a very short time, using just a small amount of fruit.
As Magiatis explained, this invention enables olive farmers to make “the optimal choice about the harvest time to achieve the optimum ratio of quantity and quality”. More