The global Servitisation for the Energy Transition (SET) Alliance and Your Virtual Cold Chain Assistant (YourVCCA), two initiatives led by BASE, just launched a community of practice (CoP) dedicated to scaling up the deployment and use of cold rooms as a service in the agricultural sector.

Strengthening cold chain access is key to tackling post-harvest losses. Building on successful endeavours piloting the Cooling-as-a-Service business model linked to the digitalisation of agricultural cold storage, this community aims to bring together cooling companies and expert stakeholders to share knowledge, challenges, needs and strengthen ongoing efforts to achieve scalability. The community of practice aims to support its members with technical assistance to combine business model innovation with data science, and the creation of cross-sectoral collaboration to unite commercial investors with energy and agricultural stakeholders.

At BASE, we strongly believe in the power of data science to enable company readiness to scale and to build bridges between available finance and readily implementable solutions.

Background

Every year, one-third of all fruits and vegetables that are produced go to waste during the post-harvest phase, which includes grading, packaging, transportation, storage, and distribution. The main reasons behind these losses are inadequate cooling and storage infrastructure, lack of skills in operation and maintenance among supply chain actors, and insufficient market linkages.

To tackle these issues, BASE launched the YourVCCA initiative in February 2023, which included an incubator program offering strategic support to cooling companies to effectively implement Cooling-as-a-Service (CaaS) for agricultural cold storage, and to adopt the mobile application Coldtivate. This first-of-its-kind mobile digital tool was created to enable easier and more transparent management of stored crops in cold rooms, which makes it possible for farmers to monitor the shelf life of stored produce thanks to real-time sensor data, track their cold storage usage, and access market price forecasts to better determine when and where to sell crops. This type of digital tool can improve the utilisation of pay-per-use, or pay-per-crate, business models.

Benefits of being part of the Community

The Community of Practice is part of the global SET Alliance. Members gain exclusive access to specialised tools and resources specifically designed to support the adoption of the cold rooms as a service (CaaS) model. Opportunities for collaboration with fellow members provide a unique space to share experiences and overcome common obstacles by working together to identify pain points and find effective solutions. Moreover, members will receive expert guidance and support along the process of integrating digital tools, such as the mobile application Coldtivate. 

Joining the community offers further benefits such as increased visibility, access to a diverse network of experts, and participation in matchmaking events that bring together commercial investors, energy and agricultural stakeholders, with the common vision to enable affordable and wider access to clean cooling. 

The community places a strong emphasis on creating informative and educational materials as well as needs-based webinars that provide practical solutions, ensuring members stay up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices. The community seeks to build bridges and synergies across sectors to create meaningful collaborations.

Who is it aimed at?

• Companies deploying or looking to deploy an as-a-service business model for the provision of agricultural cooling services.

• Cooling technology providers or manufacturers focused on developing solar-powered, hybrid, or thermal storage systems. 

• Financiers seeking investment opportunities and connections with cooling companies utilising as-a-service models and digital tools to track their operations and financial performance.

To learn more on the membership benefits and fees, and express your interest in joining, you can contact the SET Alliance via a dedicated form here.