6 start-ups to track as they build green cities for tomorrow’s world

GreenTech is roaring ahead! Every day a galaxy of start-ups dedicated to developing green town planning are created. Fields include landscaping, water management optimisation and the design of new building materials. Discover our selection of innovating and inspirational start-ups to watch as they build the green cities of tomorrow.

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Also check: 4 benefits of green town planning!

Start-ups innovating in urban farming and landscaping

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Infarm, data-driven vertical urban farming

Infarm uses unused urban space to implant indoor vertical farming systems able to grow anything from herbs, lettuce and other vegetables to fruit. Incredibly data-driven, the cloud-based system is infinitely scalable. Farms are monitored and controlled from Infarm’s control center - a combination of IoT, Big Data and cloud analytics.

Greencity Solutions, the world’s first intelligent biotech urban air filter

Greencity Solutions “CityTrees” address the global problem of air pollution by combining stand-alone special, vertically installed moss culture media with IoT technology regulation and control sensors which have the same impact as 275 urban trees but require 99% less space. By 2050, 80% of the population will live in cities. All of them will have polluted air. Greencity Solutions can change that.

Innovation with urban gardens: the example of Detroit

Start-ups solving the problem of water scarcity

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Zelup, innovative cleaning technology

An exhibitor at Paysalia 2017, Zelup’s innovative technology is a new hydropneumatic fragmentation technology marketed to professional landscapers to improve cleaning effectiveness and save water. Pulverisation by tiny droplets uses 15 times less water than traditional high-pressure cleaners and saves wear and tear on equipment. The technology was developed by a Swedish golfer for cleaning clubs!

Watergen, pumping water from the air

Fresh water accounts for only 3% of our planet’s water resources and is becoming scarcer and scarcer. Watergen system aims to solve the global water crisis by extracting drinking water directly from the air for use in farming and desert operations without pumping from water tables. The system can also be used in cities, on golf courses and by landscape designers for gardens. As the company says “necessity is the mother of innovation”.

Start-ups inventing new materials for green town planning

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Woodoo, the next generation of wood materials

Anticipating a zero carbon society, Woodoo rebuilds wood, which is basically 60 to 90% air, at a molecular level to make it the highest performing construction material of the 21st century. Cities in tomorrow’s world will be built from dense, carbon-neutral wood - stiffer, cost-efficient, eco-designed, sustainable, weatherproof, fire-resistant and three times stronger than natural wood, Woodoo has a carbon footprint two times lower than concrete and 130 times lower than steel.

Pavegen, walk into Light

Pavegen is an eco-friendly solution to reduce urban power needs. This start-up’s paving slabs convert kinetic energy from footsteps into electricity used to power street lighting, information displays and other applications that turn on when people walk near them. Laid in busy pedestrian streets, school corridors and subway stations, they are an eco-friendly solution to reducing urban power needs. Although the wattage is not enormous, it is sufficient for many urban needs, particularly LED lighting. This selection is only a few of the inventions currently being developed. Eco-town planning has a host of solutions for turning downtown communities green! The diversity of these solutions sends a strong signal, both to landscaping professionals - to give them an outline of the new trends in their business - and to public authorities - to show them that there exist easy, simple solutions for transforming urban areas into green cities. Paysalia proposes a good sample of future technologies and services useful in landscaping. Do not miss out on this opportunity in 2019!

Photo credit : Unsplash / Annie Spratt Icons: Icons8