Spotlight on the Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit
There is no clearer sign of the booming state of indoor agriculture than the number of conferences, summits, and trade shows dedicated to the latest industry developments. One of the latest additions to the scene is the Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit. Initially launched in 2018, the summit returned to New York in June 2019 for another successful installment. Read on for a look at how this event is helping to advance indoor farming technology and the industry overall.
What is the objective of the Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit?
The goal of the Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit is to identify, enhance, and promote the important role that vertical and indoor farming can play in food systems at the local, regional, and national levels. To achieve this goal, the summit brings together over 300 delegates — including food producers, plant scientists, technology developers, city planners, financiers, and food buyers — for an intensive weekend of exploration, discussion, and collaboration. Delegates learn and share indoor agriculture best practices from around the world; discover the latest advancements in AI and automation, lighting, environmental control, and plant science; and collectively imagine the business models and partnerships that the industry needs to scale up its rapidly growing activities.
Who created the summit?
The Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit was launched by Rethink Events. The Rethink team works with a global network of industry advisors — including experts in water, waste, and agri-food tech — to produce highly focused, relevant gatherings that address the most critical issues for sector investors and developers. Rethink is committed to changing the game and advancing the industry by providing world-class platforms for knowledge-sharing, debate, and networking, with a particular concentration on promoting diversity and inclusion. Other events hosted by Rethink include the World Agri-Tech Innovation Series and the Future Food-Tech Summit, which are held every year in San Francisco, New York, and London.
Why does the summit matter?
One of the most important aspects of the Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit is that it offers a forum where both emerging and established players in the indoor agriculture industry can come together and share their knowledge and experience. The summit envisions itself as a meeting place: this is emphasized through elements such as breakout networking sessions, an online tool that delegates can use to arrange one-on-one conversations, a dedicated meeting room, and much more. The summit emphasizes that collaboration is the way forward for the industry, which is why it works to maximize opportunities for novice and senior delegates alike to listen and learn from one another.
What is the most important feature of the summit?
The Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit packs plenty of content into two days, and most delegates would agree that the highlight of the summit is the Technology Showcase.
Framed as a high-profile pitch session, the summit’s Technology Showcase offers selected early- and mid-stage companies with the opportunity to present their indoor agtech solution to an audience of operators, technology integrators, and venture capital investors. At the 2019 Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit, the following entrepreneurs participated in the Technology Showcase:
Grow Computer (USA) — Grow Computer is the first operating system of its kind geared toward indoor agriculture and CEA growing facilities. GrowOS, the system’s smart, IoT-enabled platform, provides growers with a huge range of capabilities (including advanced monitoring, controls, and data tracking and sharing) that can be easily controlled from a computer or mobile device.
Sustainable Indoor Growing System: SIGS (USA) — While the majority of indoor growing facilities grow crops from seed, the Sustainable Indoor Growing System is focused on grafted vegetable transplants. The goal of SIGS is to produce high-quality transplants in large numbers at an affordable price, while also minimizing the use of resources such as water, fertilizer, and pesticides.
Lettuce Lads (Canada) — Innovators in the field of hydroponics technology, Lettuce Lads works to empower farmers to grow more with less. Construction of an operational prototype of the company’s system design is currently underway.
Babylon (USA) — The automated, easily scalable hydroponic systems developed by Babylon make it simple and cost-effective for stakeholders such as restaurants and grocery retailers to grow premium-quality, fresh ingredients on-site and on demand.
La Grangette (France) — La Grangette fulfills its mission — to produce fresh, organic, locally grown food that is healthy for consumers and better for the environment — through its featured tech solution: an autonomous kitchen garden that allows people to easily grow their own vegetables at home year-round.
Root AI (USA) — Root AI envisions a future in which intelligent robots help growers to build cutting-edge farms. The startup recently introduced Virgo 1, its first agricultural robot, which has the ability to pick tomatoes without damaging them and to detect ripeness more accurately than humans.
Computomics (Germany) — This startup uses multi-omics datasets to help enable data-driven decisions around biological questions. Specifically, the company is focused on unlocking genotype-phenotype relationships, and thus accelerating sustainable agricultural development, agricultural biotech, and breeding initiatives.
