CropVoice™ by InnerPlant Named in Fast Company’s 2026 World Changing Ideas Awards

InnerPlant, the seed technology company engineering crops that communicate their needs, today announced that CropVoice™ has been named an Honorable Mention in Fast Company’s 2026 World Changing Ideas Awards. The annual recognition honors bold and transformative efforts that tackle the world’s most pressing issues — from fresh sustainability initiatives to cutting-edge AI developments.

“This recognition reflects the work of our entire team and the farmers who have trusted us with their fields,” said Shely Aronov, CEO and co-founder of InnerPlant. “We’re dedicated to helping these communities take control of disease, especially as the farming industry continues to face economic hardships, so to see our solution for them here is incredible.”

Now in its ninth year, the World Changing Ideas Awards celebrate organizations and projects delivering measurable impact across industries. This year’s awards highlight 191 outstanding projects across 14 categories, selected by a panel of Fast Company editors and reporters who evaluated more than 1,500 entries based on their impact, sustainability, design, creativity, scalability, and ability to improve society.

CropVoice™ is the world’s first real-time crop disease detection network. By engineering soybeans to emit optical signals when their immune systems detect fungal infection, InnerPlant gives farmers verified disease alerts weeks before symptoms appear. The platform combines plant-generated signals with laboratory analysis, on-the-ground scouting, weather data, and AI modeling to deliver actionable intelligence that helps farmers make precise fungicide decisions, protect yields, and reduce unnecessary chemical applications.

In 2025, the platform achieved a landmark milestone: the world’s first real-time wild detection of a fungal infection in a commercial soybean field, a feat not previously seen in the 10,000-year history of agriculture.

Over the past 18 months, the InnerPlant has been named a BloombergNEF Pioneer for Climate Innovation in Agriculture (2025), honored on Inc.’s Best in Business list (2025), named a 2026 BIG Innovation Awards Product Innovation Winner, a 2026 Excellence in Customer Service BIG Awards winner and recognized as 2026 Startup Disruptor in the Environment+Energy Leader Awards — all while CropVoice was scaling from its commercial launch to coverage of 50,000 acres across Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

CEO and co-founder Shely Aronov has been named to Inc.’s Female Founders 500 for two consecutive years (2025 and 2026), and InnerPlant’s CropVoice was previously named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2024.

The company anticipates CropVoice to scale tenfold to over 500,000 acres in 2026 through resale agreements with 14 CropLife 100 retailers.

“The World Changing Ideas Awards are more than inspiration — they’re a measure of real-world impact,” says Fast Company editor-in-chief Brendan Vaughan. “This year’s honorees are turning bold ideas into tangible solutions and addressing urgent global challenges with creativity and rigor.”

This year’s awards are featured on fastcompany.com. Fast Company’s Summer 2026 issue (on newsstands June 23) will feature select award winners.

About InnerPlant
InnerPlant is a seed technology company developing novel traits that harness plant physiology and unlock actionable data at scale. The Company’s technology enables the earliest detection of pathogens and other stresses in key crops to make farming more efficient, sustainable, and resilient. By tapping into plants’ immune systems, InnerPlant engineers crops that emit optical signals detectable from as far away as space when under attack by pathogens, pests, or other stressors. InnerPlant’s first commercial product, CropVoice, was named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2024. The company is backed by leading industry and venture partners, including John Deere, Systemiq Capital, and an alliance of North American farmers via Coutts Agro. For more information, visit innerplant.com.

About Fast Company
Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.

Media Contact:
John Heid Crackle PR 404-421-8857 innerplant@cracklepr.com

###

Contact Information

John Heid

PR Contact

Crackle PR

(1) 404-421-8857

innerplant@cracklepr.com