SHORT DESCRPITION: GROWx is a vertical farm that develops sustainable urban agriculture. It grows various types of vegetables in a ‘food flat’ located in the Amstel III Business Park in Amsterdam. GROWx aims to grow fresh products closer to citizens and reduce negative factors such as transport movements, fuel costs and CO2 emission. Innovative hi-tech technologies allow to control indoor climate, so that pesticides are basically useless and water waste is strongly reduced. GROWx hopes to expand vertical farm to 2,000 m2; in this way it would be able to provide sustainably grown vegetables to half of the population of Amsterdam by 2025.
KEY ACTIVITIES: in the vertical farm, about one hundred types of fresh vegetables are grown: from the different kinds of basil, to mustard or borage etc. Everything is produced with hi-tech technologies which involve a smart LED light system. LEDs simulate every day a bright and shiny summer day; this perfect climate guarantees a rapid plant growth and a predictable nutrient content. This means the same high-quality food every single time of the year. At the end of the GROWx production chain there is the collaboration with top chefs to taste sustainably-sourced flavour combinations.
RELEVANT DIMENSION: innovative, hi-tech, Led light system.
BUSINESS MODEL: experimental.
