A Korean SME seeks partner companies with expertise of vertical farming systems and AI technologies under technical cooperation,license, and joint venture agreements

A Korean SME is specialized in manufacturing agricultural machinery and developing smart solutions for farms, since 2018 when the company was founded. The firm is looking for partner companies that have expertise in smart farming and requires the following two: 1. *Vertical farming systems, using * 'aeroponics' and *hydroponics'(water growing system). 2. AI technologies for smart farming systems The aim is to cooperate with a partner company to build vertical farming systems and apply AI technologies for upgrading the farming environment that not only leads to cost/time reduction but also quality/production improvement. *Vertical farming systems: It refers to the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers. The main advantage of utilizing vertical farming technologies is the increased crop yield that comes with a smaller unit area of land requirement. The increased ability to cultivate a larger variety of crops at once because crops do not share the same plots of land while growing is another sought-after advantage. Additionally, crops are resistant to weather disruptions because of their placement indoors, meaning fewer crops are lost to extreme or unexpected weather occurrences. Because of its limited land usage, vertical farming is less disruptive to the native plants and animals, leading to further conservation of the local flora and fauna. *Aeroponics: Aeroponics is the process of growing plants in an air or mist environment without the use of soil or an aggregate medium. Aeroponic culture differs from both conventional hydroponics, aquaponics, and in-vitro (plant tissue culture) growing. Unlike hydroponics, which uses a liquid nutrient solution as a growing medium and essential minerals to sustain plant growth, or aquaponics, which uses water and fish waste, aeroponics is conducted without a growing medium. It is sometimes considered a type of hydroponics since water is used in aeroponics to transmit nutrients. *Hydroponics: Hydroponics is a type of horticulture and a subset of hydroculture that involves growing plants (usual crops) without soil, by using mineral nutrient solutions in an aqueous solvent. Hydroponics offers many advantages, notably a decrease in water usage in agriculture. Since hydroponics takes much less water to grow to produce, it could be possible in the future for people in harsh environments with little accessible water to grow their own food.