Barcelona deep-tech SME generating electricity from plant photosynthesis and researching plant-inspired soft robotics systems.
ARKYNE TECHNOLOGIES (branded as BIOO) is a Barcelona-based deep-tech SME that converts plant photosynthesis into usable electricity through a proprietary bio-panel technology. Their flagship product, the BIOO Panel, embeds living plants in a bioelectrochemical system that captures electrons released during root microbial activity, generating continuous low-power electricity from soil biology. Beyond commercial energy applications, they engage in frontier academic research on plant-inspired soft robotics — artificial systems that mimic how plants grow, sense, and navigate their environment. They occupy an unusual position as both a product company with a working prototype and a scientific collaborator at the edge of bioinspired systems research.
BIOO Panel (2017–2020) is their core commercial project, generating green electricity from plant photosynthesis via root microbial activity, funded at €1.27M under SME Instrument Phase 2.
GrowBot (2019–2023) is a FET-funded research project in which BIOO participates as a partner, focused on plant-inspired growing artefacts using soft materials and biomimetic principles.
Both BIOO Panel and GrowBot draw on plant biology as a foundational discipline — one for energy harvesting, the other for robotic morphology and growth mechanics.
GrowBot keywords include soft materials and soft robotics, indicating BIOO is building capability in material systems that interface with biological or organic structures.
Their first H2020 project (BIOO Panel, 2017) was entirely product-driven — commercializing a specific bioelectrochemical technology under the SME Instrument, with no recorded research keywords, consistent with an engineering-to-market push. By 2019, their second project (GrowBot) introduced a research-heavy vocabulary: bioinspired robotics, soft robotics, plant biology, soft materials, energy generation — signaling an expansion from applied product development into frontier science. The trajectory suggests they are deliberately building scientific depth and research credibility alongside their commercial technology, likely to strengthen future funding and partnership opportunities.
BIOO is moving from standalone commercial product development toward collaborative frontier research, indicating they are positioning themselves as a scientifically credible partner — not just a vendor — in the emerging field of living and bioinspired systems.
They have coordinated at least one project independently (BIOO Panel via SME Instrument Phase 2), demonstrating they can lead EU-funded R&D, manage deliverables, and carry commercial responsibility. In their second project they take a partner role within a larger FET research consortium, showing flexibility across leadership and contributor positions. With only 9 unique partners across two projects, they work in small, focused teams — suggesting they value depth of collaboration over breadth.
Their network spans 9 unique partners across 4 countries — a compact but internationally distributed footprint typical of a focused deep-tech SME that selects partners by scientific fit rather than geographic proximity. No dominant country cluster is apparent from the data available.
BIOO is one of very few European companies that has taken plant-root microbial fuel cell technology from concept to a named commercial product, giving them rare dual credibility as both a technology vendor and a research partner. Their combination of SME Instrument validation (which requires demonstrated market traction) and FET participation (which requires scientific frontier contribution) is unusual — most organizations sit firmly in one camp or the other. For consortium builders, this means BIOO can credibly represent the commercial exploitation pathway while also contributing genuine scientific knowledge in plant-biology-based systems.
