September 8th, 2024:

• "Wake up call for Vertical Farming" by Leo Marcelis (Wageningen University)
• "Light in Vertical Farming" by Marc Juarez (Seoul Semiconductor)
• "The Plant is the heart of Vertical Farming" by David Katz, Prof. Silvana Nicola, Isabelle v. Dorn
• "How science impacts technology" by Galen Zhou (Sananbio)
• "From R+D to Scale" by Alexander Jaworski (GreenHub)

Plant science is at the heart of Vertical Farming, so the technology should be always built around biology and not vice versa. In this program pillar the focus is on the newest insights of science and in how far technology reflects this. Technological advancements will be presented in a panel followed by a discussion on how more synergies between research and industry can be achieved.

Urban consumption is a key driver of global greenhouse gas (GHG). To avoid climate breakdown, emissions from global urban consumption must be halved by 2030. GHG induced by food consumption in cities needs to be reduced by 36 percent by 2030 and 60 percent by 2050. Vertical Farming has an important role here and we can help cities to implement it easily and quickly.

New food sources like plant-based, edible insects, seaweed, and cell-based food have not yet found their way into the mainstream but are a clear trend. The overall food production will need to be raised by about 70 percent above 2009 levels, by 2050 (FAO, 2009). Therefore it needs a critical look at issues like health concerns, sustainability, and the potential of their production systems.

The Vertical /Indoor Farming industry has seen a challenging year with bankruptcies and restructuring of well known names. On the other hand we can observe successfull business models around the world can be observed. What is their strategy and how do they attract investment? What role does technology and automation play in this success?

Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA)/Vertical Farming has a long history and sound experience in growing medicinal cannabis for over two decades. Technology and understanding of cannabis plants are available on the market but it needs to be adapted to each regional market. Beyond cannabis the focus is also on the rich opportunities of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda, and European plants and their business cases for vertical farming.