HiveTech Solutions

HiveTech Solutions is a women-owned startup developing technology that is dedicated to reversing honeybee decline. Its flagship product, the mobile indoor climate-controlled apiary (MICA), improves honeybee survival rates by 79 percent. The MICA is a portable enclosure for hives that fits on a flatbed trailer. The device provides a safe overwinter spot for colonies and keeps honeybees in a healthy hibernation so the bees don’t fall victim to deadly swings in weather that can prompt them to end their hibernation too soon. It also enables beekeepers to prevent common seasonal spikes in varroa mites, a parasite that is a significant factor in colony decline. CEO and co-founder Kimberly Drennan is an architect specializing in environmental design and high-performance housing. She teaches architecture at the University of Colorado-Boulder, where she met the company’s co-founder and Chief Science Officer Chelsea Cook after discovering there were beehives near a project site for her sophomore design class. Cook was managing those hives for CU as she completed a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She’s now an assistant professor at Marquette University. The two started a research project that capitalized on their professional talents and their commitment to saving the planet’s most ubiquitous pollinator.