UCS and Rudi Pauwels establish research centre

For UCS, this new research centre complements its existing research centre in Belgium. Dr Rudi Pauwels will also advise UCS on its plant molecular farming activities.  

Urban Crop Solutions has been active in researching growing plants without sunlight, in their own designed and engineered indoor farms, since 2014. Many of which have been commissioned and installed globally. Their past research activities at their headquarters in Belgium have already led to several new applications enabled by their farming technique. Their controlled environment growing techniques offer solutions to the global challenges of food scarcity, and the production of plant-based ingredients and raw materials.

With Dr Rudi Pauwels – who is world-renowned for his development of the world’s most widely used and successful AIDS inhibitors, and founder of several successful biotech companies – UCS will build a new research centre near Málaga in southern Spain. This research centre will work on the challenges brought about by global warming in southern European regions. In these regions, there is an opportunity and a need to rethink traditional farming practices, considering the increasing water shortages, and the advantages offered by modern agriculture. With consideration to the calls that in the future, farms should focus more on the production of the most nutritious crops, UCS and Dr Rudi Pauwels, have determined their joint mission as one that optimises the nutrient content of crops, through their controlled environment agriculture techniques. It is envisaged that the research centre will be operational by early 2023. The studies will be led by Dr Rudi Pauwels and Dr Oscar Navarrete, Chief Plant Scientist at Urban Crop Solutions.   

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Photo: From left to right; Dr. Rudi Pauwels, Maarten Vandecruys, Frederic Bulcaen, Jean-Pierre Coene. Courtesy of Agritech Tomorrow

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