The Company

Acanova AB was founded in 1995 to develop and market the ThermoSeed® technique. Acanova has unique know-how in the field of seed production and has access to an extensive international network.

Acanova's two main business operations are performed by our subsidiaries:

Acanova Innovation AB
Acanova Innovation AB has the exclusive rights to sell ThermoSeed® on the world market outside EU-countries, UK, Norway and Switzerland. (Customers in the EU, UK, Norway or Switzerland, please contact Lantmännen BioAgri).

We treat smaller batches of seeds, less than five metric tonnes, with ThermoSeed® in Sweden for demonstration and evaluation purposes. We also develop new technologies for seed treatment.

The Board

Kenneth
Alness

Chairman, born 1957

1995—
CEO and Chairman at Acanova

1997—2008
Director of Research at Lantmännen

2008—2021
CEO at Lantmännen BioAgri AB

Sven-Erik
Bucht

Board member, born 1954

2003—2010
Local government commissioner in Haparanda

2010—2019
Member of the Swedish Parliament

2014—2019
Minister for Agriculture and Rural affairs

Hans
Enocson

Board member, born 1950

2007—2017
President & CEO General Electric Nordic Region

2012—2022
Co-founder / Member Advisory Board, Stockholm Resilience Centre

2007—
Board member, Uppsala Innovation Center

2016—
Board member, Örebro University

The Founder

Kenneth next to a ThermoSeed® machine.

Kenneth Alness is an inventor and has been working in the field of biology and technology for more than 40 years.

His aim has always been to contribute to the development of more sustainable food production methods based on research. He invented the technique used in ThermoSeed® in the early 1990s and founded Acanova AB in 1995. He is today the owner and CEO of Acanova and has, until 2021, held key positions in ThermoSeed® either as CEO or chairman.

Kenneth has a long experience of applied research and innovation and has access to an extensive network of high-tech companies related to sustainable development. He has also been a board member in several innovative companies, research institutes and research founding organizations such as MISTRA, JTI, SLU Holding and others.

Milestones & achievements

1978—1996 Kenneth Alness holds various positions at the Swedish Agricultural University, SLU, including research leader and vice prefect at department for Technology and Agriculture.
1995 Receives the Anders Wall, (former chairman of Volvo) scholarship
1995 Founds Acanova where he today owns 100 percent.
1995 Becomes technical specialist at Spraying System in UK.
1997—2008 Director of research at Lantmännen
1998 ThermoSeed® patent filed by Acanova
2008 Elected member of Royal Swedish Agriculture Academy, KSLA.
2008-2021 CEO at Lantmännen Bioagri AB
2010-2016 CEO of Incotec Sweden AB

2012 Nominated as the best sustainable leader in Sweden
2016 Founder of ThermoSeed® Global AB which acquired all rights to ThermoSeed® from Incotec outside Scandinavia.
2017 Kenneth Alness and ThermoSeed® was given the award "Most successful innovation" during the first forty years in the history of SLU.
2021 ThermoSeed® and Lantmännen wins the Copa-Cocega award "5th European award for cooperative innovation" — in the category of "enviromental value creation".
2021 Sells final shares in ThermoSeed® Global AB to Lantmännen and gets the global rights as an agent for ThermoSeed® except countries within EU, UK, Norway and Switzerland. He also holds the rights to develop new technologies for seed treatment based on ThermoSeed® data.