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The Science of Sananbio - Research and Development
Led by a team of 38 scientists and another 100 R&D professionals, Sananbio is investing heavily in the science that is sustainable, local, and fresh indoor food and crop production. With deep expertise in photobiology, plant nutrition, and plant cultivation techniques, we are at the forefront of sustainable indoor agriculture.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Led by a team of 38 scientists and another 100 R&D professionals, Sananbio is investing heavily in the science that is sustainable, local, and fresh indoor food and crop production. With deep expertise in photobiology, plant nutrition, and plant cultivation techniques, we are at the forefront of sustainable indoor agriculture.
PHOTOBIOLOGY/SPECTRAL RESEARCH
Photobiology is an evolving area of science that studies the interactions of light on living organisms. One of Sananbio’s core focuses is the optimization of lighting spectrum’s that allow plants to thrive at all stages of growth. Through the latest’s developments in LED lighting technology in conjunction with years of scientific research, Sananbio is working to understand the synergy that exists between artificial light and plants. Our unique spectra has been trialed on a multitude of cultivars and our results have shown that by optimizing the spectrum based off of the cultivar we are able to increase nutritional value, drive unique genetic expression, increase active naturally occurring chemical compounds, and shorten flowering times.
PLANT NUTRITION
Sananbio’s team of elite plant scientist’s have worked tirelessly to develop proprietary nutrient blends that support a wide array of cultivars at different life stages of growth while growing in a controlled environment setting. With so much of our food today lacking proper nutritional value, our team is working to understand the most effective way grow nutritionally dense food sustainably in a indoor vertical farm. This cutting-edge science will lead to breakthroughs in the way we grow our food, how and when it is consumed, how it is transported to ensure maximum nutritional value.
VERTICAL FARM DESIGN and SUPPORT EQUIPMENT RESEARCH
With a team of scientists, senior designers, engineers, and product developers solely dedicated to understanding building the eco-systems that support thriving vertical farms, Sananbio is positioned at the fore-front of the science of vertical farming design and plant factory operations. We are focused on providing a holistic solution that allows us to partner with our clients from the ideation phase to the execution of their indoor vertical farm. Our research has given way to various patents in areas of plant growth illumination, hydroponic cultivation equipment, and accessories/equipment for industrial plant production. Great grow technology and equipment is just one aspect that must be taken in to account when venturing in to indoor vertical farming. Know before you grow.
THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND SANANBIO
INNOVATION AT OUR CORE
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT THAT IS DRIVING INNOVATION IN LED LIGHTING
Manufacturing Capacity
Sanan Opto-electronics, a sister company of Sananbio, is the world’s largest LED chip manufacturer accounting for 20% of the global chip production capacity. Sanan Group, our parent company, has built the infrastructure that allows Sananbio to capitalize upon cutting-edge technology development while providing the production capacity to support global market adoption of our technologies in the Ag-Tech space.
Vertical Integration
The vertical integration of the Sanan Group gives Sananbio a massive competitive advantage by allowing us to control our supply chain. This insight and perspective gives us unmatched flexibility in to our production capacity, global reach, and technological know-how. The diversity of industries we support gives us the versatility to respond to rapidly evolving markets as consumer demands shift.
Research and Development
A subset of the semiconductor industry, LED technology is incredibly research and development intensive sector and Sanan Opto is a global leader in this space. With 470 PhD’s and 502 engineers from all over the world, Sanan Opto possess the largest talent pool in the world dedicated to active research into LED technology.
Swegreen Vertical Farm Goes In-Store in Gothenburg, Sweden
Swegreen's first automated farming unit takes place at ICA Focus in Gothenburg
Swegreen's first automated farming unit takes place at ICA Focus in Gothenburg
Swegreen inks contract with ICA Focus in Gothenburg, to become the exclusive producer of hyper-locally grown vegetables via an automated cultivation system inside the store itself. The agreement is based on Swegreen's subscription-based Farming-as-a-Service, which gives food retailers and restaurants the opportunity to offer their customers fresh crops all year round – harvested directly on-site or in-store.
From left: Andreas Dahlin, CEO at Swegreen. Elsa Adlersson, ICA Focus' responsible for the In-Store greenhouse. Marcus Petersson, chairman at Swegreen.
The contract between Swegreen and ICA Focus concludes that the Gothenburg-based store will be the first in Sweden to offer its customers hyper-locally produced greens grown from seed to fully-grown size inside a store itself. The cultivation facility, which is provided by the Swedish startup company Swegreen, is based on so-called hydroponic cultivation technology that is both resource-efficient and climate-smart. The technical solution also includes the company's special lighting and nutrient recipe, air conditioning system for control of heat, humidity, and CO2 content plus a complete digital monitoring – as well as a data-driven intelligent system for optimization of all cultivation processes.
Through Swegreen's subscription-based business model, Farming-as-a-Service (FaaS), the cooperation between the parties is based on a long-term commitment where Swegreen ensures efficient production at agreed volumes and quality.
- Our FaaS model means that every store and restaurant owner can offer hyper-local, fresh and high-quality crops that are fantastically nutritious and tasty – at very competitive prices, says Swegreen's CEO, Andreas Dahlin.
- We are very proud and happy to start this collaboration with ICA Focus. It is a store that has the will to be at the forefront, and we think there are going to be many who desire to follow their footsteps.
ICA Focus is located in the Gårda district in central Gothenburg, just a stone’s throw away from the famous amusement park, Liseberg, and the Swedish Exhibition and WTC. A flagship store that always has a large assortment of environmental-friendly products.
- Our customers have demanded more locally produced and sustainable greens in our assortment – and it will not be more local and greener than this! Says Daniel Åkerhage, Store Manager at ICA Focus.
- Now we look forward to our first on-site harvest, which we expect to take place later this month.
At full capacity, it is possible to deliver and harvest around 300 units of fresh salad heads and herbs per day in the cultivation facility in the ICA Focus store.
With hydroponic cultivation technology, where the crops grow without soil with lighting from special LED lamps, it is possible to grow vegetables in an urban environment – and thus produce food very close to the consumer. It also removes unnecessary, expensive, and climate-damaging transportations. In addition, the crops do not need to be sprayed by pesticides or herbicides – they are ready to be eaten directly off the growing system. Up to 95% of the irrigation water is reused via the recycling system. Nutrients are also recycled, while the plants receive carbon dioxide through a filtered air intake from the store itself.
Swegreen has developed the cultivation module to be able to create integrated plant environments together with partners in the food and restaurant sector. Therefore, Swegreen has developed a cloud-based control- and monitoring system to make production easy to manage. Through data collection of current factors in the cultivation environment, the system can continuously refine and further optimize the cultivation processes by the use of artificial intelligence.
For more information contact:
Andreas Dahlin, CEO of Swegreen, +46 70-924 00 32, andreas.dahlin@swegreen.se
Daniel Åkerhage, store manager ICA Focus, +46 76-117 16 20, daniel@icafocus.se
Swegreen is a Swedish FoodTech company that combines advanced technology, data science, and agricultural knowledge to be able to efficiently produce high-quality and climate-smart crops in an urban environment. The company offers a subscription-based cultivation service called Farming-as-a-Service (FaaS). It gives food retailers and restaurants the opportunity to offer their customers hyper-locally produced, fresh, nutritious, and tasty greens all year round. www.swegreen.com
ICA Focus is a unique grocery store that has been a rendezvous place for food-loving Gothenburgers for over 25 years. With an assortment of over 35,000 items, you have about twice as much to choose from as in an ordinary ICA store. ICA Focus also has its own bakery, charcuterie and restaurant. The store also has one of Gothenburg's best fish delicate retailers, Fisk i Focus. ICA Focus is located in Focushuset, Gårda, in central Gothenburg.