UrbanFarmers

Knowledge Collection Social Innovation
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Develop systems and solutions for urban agriculture, producing local food in the city of the 21st century.

www.urbanfarmers.ch

1 Like
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Brilliant! Does it work?

Roman, this is absolutely brilliant, thanks for sharing it. My main question would be: is the brilliance of the idea enough to propel it further, or are you struggling? Another Edgeryder, Anglo-Italian Alberto Masetti-Zannini, wrote how his social innovation venture was praised by corporation, foundations, venture capitalists, government agencies, but ultimately funded by… his family (his story is here and well worth a read, I recommend it).

What about UrbanFarmers? Who are your allies? What the difficulties, if any? Do you think Europe is conducive to this kind of initiative, or do you, as so many innovators, dream of California?

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Worth a trip!

Hi Roman, what a neat project. Can I come visit? It’s train ride away and I’m very curious to see this!

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UrbanFarmers

hi Nadja

we are located in Zurich at the viaduktstr. 93 in Zurich. Our showcase installation the UrbanFarmers BOX (www.urbanfarmersbox.com) is located.

You are happy to come visit and make an appointment with me on roman@urbanfarmers.ch

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Great!

Will do. Around when is the best time to meetup for you? I’m travelling a lot this month but february is a bit calmer. Btw, when do you plan on setting the one in Basel up? And are you guys actually already in production or still prototyping? Albertos questions below are ones I’m also curious about, Im going to be in a workshop on funding and evaluating social ventures this weekend and it would be good to know more about your experiences.

Thanks, Nadia

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Is it a business?

Hi Roman!

This is a very interesting project! I am pretty familiar with this theme since my product design thesis was a window farm working on a hydroponic system. Actually it was even produced and unfortunately ruined by a group of Italian manufacturers. A year later I discovered the “movement” of window farm was born in New York and was spreading around the world under the brilliant (open) idea of what Britta Riley called R&D-I-Y (r&d+ do-it-yourself).

So, are you selling your services as a consultant specialized on urban agriculture or are you manufacturing these half-container half-greenhouse urban farms and selling them?

And do you collaborate with citizens in order to develop new products, services, experiences (like Britta’s idea) or is it a closed process?

It would be great to have some feedback from you since I will be representing you at the mini-conference in 9 days at the Council of Europe!

Thanks!

ps: I will be in Basel around the 17th of March, can I visit the project you showed in the tedx presentation?

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Been in touch with Roman

Hey Tiago Roman got in touch via FB, and it seems they’re not up and running in Basel yet…but they are based in Zurich. I’m super curious to see it too so I got in touch and Roman found me on facebook.