From an empty room to a growing greenhouse
Our story in four chapters, from the first meeting to the two units we run today.
2021To be confirmed
How it started
A group of students at the Politecnico di Torino and one simple question: can you grow well without soil, in the city, with what you find in a lab?
- October 2021The first meeting, eight of us, in a Politecnico classroom.
- March 2022SmartGreen becomes a student team recognised by the university.
2022To be confirmed
The first prototype
A clear tank, a pump and a desk fan. Roots hanging in the air, misted at intervals. Taken apart and rebuilt more times than we can remember.
- June 2022The first sprouts in rockwool.
- November 2022The cabinet goes on show in the campus atrium.
2023To be confirmed
Competitions and recognition
Taking the work out of the lab: talks, competitions, juries. Each time a new question to start again from.
- May 2023The first public presentation of the project.
- December 2023Finalists in a university agritech competition.
2024To be confirmed
Terra and Space are born
The work grows and splits. SmartGreen Terra takes on hydroponics and aeroponics and trains a model that predicts plant growth. SmartGreen Space works on simulated Martian regolith, to learn at what doses a soil becomes fertile.
- February 2024SmartGreen Terra is born.
- September 2024SmartGreen Space is born, with the Astro-Tuber project.
From the archive
The first sprouts
Before there was a system, there was a tray of cubes and a lot of patience.
The first prototype
Taken apart and rebuilt more times than we can remember.
Evenings in the lab
The cabinet still lit when everyone else has gone home.
The sticker fridge
Every competition, every event, one more sticker.
Pipes and crates
What a system looks like before it becomes one.
The people
The next chapter
We write it with whoever joins now: students who want to build, companies and institutions with a problem to solve.