Following the recent funding award under the Singapore Food Agency’s ‘30x30 Express’ Grant to build its next mega-farm in Singapore by Q4 2021, &ever is pleased to announce that its Global R&D Center will be located in Singapore with the support from the Economic Development Board. &ever has entered into collaboration with Signify and plans to work with A*STAR and local academic institutes to explore research collaborations, whereby multiple research activities will focus on reducing energy consumption and optimizing yield in &ever’s indoor vertical farms. The first project will focus on hybrid lighting systems, a sustainable smart combination of sunlight capturing systems with next-generation LED grow lights.
Singapore – November 2020 – &ever today at the Asia-Pacific Agri Food Innovation Summit, a virtual industry event, announced the setup of its global R&D center in Singapore. The facility will be collocated with &ever’s new mega-farm in Changi, which will go live in Q4 2021.
In order to employ and refine sustainable practices, indoor vertical farms must make use of the most efficient lighting technologies on the market. Therefore, &ever teams up with Signify, a true innovator in horticultural lighting. Experiments will be carried out in &ever’s large-scale farming environment to continuously minimize electricity consumption, while optimizing taste profile and yield.
Another research project in the field of energy-saving solutions is to optimize hybrid lighting solutions in controlled indoor environments with the ultimate goal to develop a system which makes the best use of natural sunlight in closed systems, while only adding artificial light based on the plants’ requirements. &ever has plans to partner with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore, on this.
By teaming up with local higher learning institutions and established industry players, the R&D center will harness on the innovation potential for new climate control concepts and advanced LED technologies, most optimal seeds and substrate combinations as well as vision control and noninvasive crop monitoring solutions.
“Energy efficiency and sustainability are key differentiators of &ever’s approach to indoor vertical farming,” says &ever’s CEO Dr. Henner Schwarz, “and we continue to research the field to further enhance our farms.” “We look forward to the establishment of our first farm in Singapore and our Global R&D Center as the first of many efforts within Singapore as well as throughout Asia”.
“&ever brings with them leading capabilities, technologies and a spirit of innovation, which will contribute to the vibrancy of urban agriculture R&D capabilities in Singapore. This is in line with EDB’s efforts to develop Singapore as a leading hub to develop and commercialise Agri-Food technology solutions that can sustainably feed the world,” said Damian Chan, Executive Vice President and Member of EXCO, Planning and Policy.
Building on &ever’s capabilities and tapping on Singapore’s vast research network, the company will contribute towards the country’s “30 by 30” goal of producing 30% of Singapore’s nutritional needs locally by 2030. In that respect, &ever had announced its plan to build a mega-farm with 500+ tons annual production capacity in Singapore with the support of SFA under its ‘30x30 Express’ Grant about a month ago.
By creating seamless automation from seeding to harvesting and full digital control over the production process, &ever creates intelligent sustainable farming systems of the future; whereupon its R&D center will enable leading local engineers and scientists to create even more efficient and sustainable systems and processes.
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