On October 2nd the Province of Limburg, Philips Horticulture LED Solutions, HAS Hogeschool and Botany signed a partnership agreement for cultivation under completely controlled conditions at the former Floriadeterrein in Venlo. This form of high-tech horticulture makes it possible to cultivate plants on a large scale in climate cells away from the influence of natural factors.

The partnership will create a research and training center in the form of a ‘Completely Controlled Growing System’, CCGS for short.

In this CCGS it will be possible to control all of the factors that determine plant growth (light, air, temperature, nutrition, water and earth/substrate). This is the first European project to carry out research into all these factors for multi-layer cultivation on an industrial scale. This makes the CCGS a unique project. Research and production for the CCGS will take place at the Knowledge Landscape for the Venlo region.

Partnership
This partnership will enable the various parties to benefit from each other's expertise. Philips Horticulture LED Solutions is the leading global player in sustainable LED lighting solutions for horticultural applications, HAS Hogeschool trains qualified experts in breeding and cultivation techniques, and Botany, as a consultant to private parties in Europe, has many years of international experience of the operation and management of research facilities for the agricultural business.

Innovation and healthy food
The CCGS will be made up of a production space and two research labs. The production space will be used primarily for training purposes. The research areas will be used both for market-driven research assignments and for the partners' own research activities. The partnership will focus on knowledge creation, innovation, knowledge transfer and knowledge valorization. In the future the parties involved expect innovations in the field of nutrition and health, sustainability, new impulses for city farming as well as consistent, efficient and high levels of production.

The Province of Limburg is supporting the process as a facilitator, subsidizer and partner in information provision and networking. Through the CCGS the Province of Limburg is promoting education and research and more sustainable horticulture. It is supporting innovations, driving knowledge sharing and the creation of employment and raising the international profile of the region. An initiative like the CCGS (green and technology) can help to encourage young people to choose a 'green' career.

The arrival of the CCGS marks the transformation of the former Floriadeterrein into the Knowledge Landscape of the Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo.