The importance of insects to the world's ecosystems cannot be overstated. With over 75% of the world's food production relying on pollinating insects, bees play an indispensable role in maintaining the balance of nature. However, insects worldwide, including bees, are facing a severe crisis. Insect populations have been declining drastically due to factors such as climate change, parasites, diseases, and habitat loss.
Norwegian company BeeFutures has decided to tackle this challenge head-on with the launch of ONIBI – an innovative, smart beehive that not only protects honeybees but also provides invaluable insights into the health of our ecosystems.

Photo: John Øivind Saxebøl (COO, BeeFutures), Christophe Brod (Founder & CEO, BeeFutures), Julius Espedal (Founder & CEO, NewTracks) What is ONIBI?
As a co-founder of GET and after many years in senior management at a telecom giant, entrepreneur Christophe Brod decided to change direction and join his family’s beekeeping business. Seeking to spend his time on something more meaningful, he turned to bees—a familiar yet challenging field. With a desire to improve beekeeping operations, he recognized the need for a system that could monitor bees even while he was traveling. This became the foundation of ONIBI. By incorporating cameras and sensors into beehives and analyzing the data with AI, Brod uncovered entirely new insights into bee behavior and health. The team discovered that the data collected from the hives not only optimized honey production but also provided valuable insights into environmental conditions on a much larger scale. Data collection became more valuable than beekeeping, and honey suddenly became a byproduct.
ONIBI is a smart beehive equipped with advanced technology to monitor, protect, and improve bees' living conditions. Using artificial intelligence (AI) and IoT technology, ONIBI collects data about both the internal and external environment of the hive, giving beekeepers and researchers a deeper understanding of bee health and activity. This enables early detection of threats, such as the infamous Varroa mite—a parasite that has become one of the greatest challenges for honeybees worldwide. ONIBI features a built-in solution to eradicate the mites using only heat, solar energy, and advanced automation algorithms.
But ONIBI is more than just a defender of honeybees—it also plays a critical role in monitoring the state of ecosystems across large geographical areas. By analyzing the data collected, ONIBI can provide early warnings about environmental challenges, such as pollution or climate changes, that threaten the survival of both honeybees and wild bees.
"We want to save the bees to ensure sustainable agriculture. One of our goals is to enable agriculture to use bees as indicators of whether farming methods truly support insects' ability to pollinate. Another goal is to encourage all European cities to adopt our hives, so they can gather data about bee health and collect valuable information," explains founder and CEO Christophe Brod.
Collaboration for the Future
BeeFutures is collaborating with NewTracks, which is responsible for the production of ONIBI. This week, NewTracks met with BeeFutures' founder and CEO Christophe Brod, along with COO John Øivind Saxebøl, to get an update on the research and plan the next production batch. BeeFutures has outgrown its offices in the Research Park and is now preparing for expansion. In addition to their offices in Oslo, they have facilities in France where their research department is located. They are also exploring the possibility of establishing a presence in the United States, where they already have many customers.
"We've received enormous international attention, including from the largest beekeeper in the U.S., Ubees, which manages 2,500 beehives," says Christophe.
Read more: https://beefutures.io
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