Intravision Group AS:Pioneering Agricultural Innovation

In an era marked by dynamic shifts in agricultural paradigms, the industry stands at the cusp of transformative innovation. Since its inception in 1998, Intravision has been at the forefront of this revolution, catalyzing change through its pioneering ventures in photobiology and Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). What began as an architectural and consultancy firm evolved into a trailblazer in harnessing light technology’s potential to redefine agricultural practices.

At the heart of this transformation lies IntravisionGroup AS, a beacon of innovation in the realm of sustainable agriculture. With a commitment to pushing boundaries and reimagining traditional approaches, the company has carved a niche for itself as a leader in research and technology. Central to its ethos is the fusion of advanced photobiology research with cutting-edge CEA solutions, propelling agricultural practices into a new era of efficiency and productivity.

Driving this vision forward is Per Lysaa, the visionary CEO, Founder, and Owner of Intravision Group AS. With a keen understanding of the intersection between technology and agriculture, Lysaa spearheads the company’s mission to revolutionize plant growth environments. His leadership, coupled with a relentless pursuit of excellence, has positioned Intravision as a global powerhouse in sustainable agriculture, poised to shape the future of food production and medicinal plant cultivation on a monumental scale.

Let’s understand the way of Intravision:

Transforming Agriculture

Established in 1998, Intravision embarked on its journey as an architecture and consultancy firm, initially focusing on exploring commercial applications for emerging technologies in colored light sources. Through collaboration with ENSYS AS, the company played a pivotal role in the development of Cold Cathode Light (CCL) tubes, which found diverse applications in sectors such as aquaculture, biotechnology, and CEA. This phase laid the foundation for Intravision’s transition into a frontrunner in photobiology research and CEA.

Around 2009, Intravision underwent a significant shift, redirecting its focus towards medicinal plants and the production of Genetically Modified Plant Pharmaceuticals (GM-PMPs). This strategic pivot marked a new era in the company’s approach to leveraging light for controlling living organisms. A key milestone during this period was the establishment of a partnership with the Canadian space exploration research institute, The Controlled Environment Systems Research Facility (CESRF) at the University of Guelph in 2010. This collaboration facilitated the integration of Intravision’s expertise with comprehensive plant environment management, leveraging CESRF’s association with NASA’s research initiatives. Through this collaboration, Intravision refined a suite of tools in plant and photobiology research, leading to breakthroughs in optimizing plant growth environments and directing metabolic processes to achieve maximum yield.

Intravision’s methodology extends beyond conventional cultivation practices, with a focus on generating standardized profiles of secondary metabolic compounds, including essential nutrients and medicinal properties, through precise environmental control. The GravityFlow™ system stands as a testament to this holistic approach, incorporating specialized machinery, LED lighting, hydroponics, and nutrient recycling mechanisms to ensure consistent, high-quality yields of medicinal plants and plant-based pharmaceuticals.

Renovating Agriculture and Healthcare with Innovation

Intravision underwent a significant evolution from its origins in architecture and consultancy to emerge as a leader in research and technology, particularly in the fields of photobiology and CEA. This transition was catalyzed by the company’s exploration of light technology’s potential in optimizing plant growth and production, exemplified by the early development of (CCL tubes and subsequent projects in aquaculture and biotechnology, which laid the groundwork for comprehensive CEA solutions.

A pivotal factor driving this transition was the increasing demand for sustainable agricultural practices, not only to ensure food security but also to facilitate the production of plant-based pharmaceuticals. Intravision recognized the opportunity to harness the potential of traditional medicinal plants and develop phytopharmaceutical applications by creating controlled environments that yield consistent outputs and enable the production of biosimilars. This shift was particularly significant considering the complexities involved in producing medicinal-grade herbs, where variations in chemical potency can arise due to factors such as soil minerals, altitude, and harvesting techniques.

Intravision’s solutions are designed to tackle these challenges by exerting precise control over growth environments, ensuring the expression of chemical attributes essential for medicinal plants. Technologies such as the GravityFlow™ system serve as a platform for cultivating medicine-grade herbs and plant-based treatments, effectively bridging the gap between traditional practices and evidence-based medicine. This approach not only facilitates the commercialization of traditional plant-based remedies but also revolutionizes the agricultural sector by integrating advanced technology into “smart farmer” production systems.

The company’s journey has been further enriched by its engagement with global perspectives on agriculture, food security, and sustainability. Collaborations with institutions like CESRF have bolstered Intravision’s technological capabilities, enabling the development of holistic solutions for CEA that benefit both food and medicinal plant production.

This transition reflects Intravision’s unwavering commitment to devising comprehensive solutions that address global challenges in agriculture and healthcare, with the overarching goal of making a positive impact on both food supply and medicinal plant production on a large scale.

Leading Innovation in Controlled Environment Agriculture

Intravision stands out for its holistic solutions, global presence, and incorporation of space technology transfers. The company distinguishes itself through its comprehensive offerings, international traction, and integration of photobiology research into CEA. Providing a full spectrum of services, from plant biology expertise to automated production systems, Intravision ensures seamless operations supported by remote management through its Luminous™ software. Its collaborative business model guarantees customers benefit from delivering high-quality plant products to wholesalers and food services.

Intravision’s turnkey solutions encompass plant biology, factory design, automated production system development, start-up operations, and ongoing services, positioning it as a leader in sustainable agriculture. The GravityFlow™ system, its flagship product, has garnered global acclaim, with successful installations at Elevate Farms in the USA and sublicensed operations in Canada and New Zealand. These endeavors have spurred expansions and attracted new clientele, expanding Intravision’s market footprint to Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa (MENA), reinforcing its technological prowess and cost-effectiveness in the sector.

This comprehensive strategy, combined with its collaborative model, distinguishes Intravision from its counterparts in the healthcare industry, showcasing its capacity to deliver sustainable, efficient solutions for controlled environment farming.

Innovations in Plant Production

The research and development efforts of Intravision concentrate on creating solutions for both food and medicinal plants. This is achieved particularly through partnerships with the CESRF at the University of Guelph and other research institutions. Their process utilizes advanced CEA, which includes LED lighting technology and precise environmental controls.

One of their significant projects, which is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), is aimed at cultivating high-value medicinal plants and fungi within the CEA framework. The objectives of this project encompass optimizing growth conditions for medicinal plants and fungi scrutinizing the influence of environmental factors on their germination, growth, and the production of essential secondary metabolites. This is done by identifying plant varieties and cultivars that flourish in CEA environments. This research further augments the understanding of how environmental variables affect the quality and composition of medicinal plants, thereby ensuring consistent phytochemical profiles.

Intravision’s partnership with CESRF has also resulted in projects that optimize CEA systems for food plants. This includes romaine lettuce and bush beans, which are cultivated through the GravityFlow™ system. This research focuses on key variables such as light quality, CO₂, relative humidity, temperature, and nutrient levels, thereby ensuring optimal production and a consistent yield.

Through these collaborations, Intravision has developed comprehensive solutions for CEA. These include integrated systems that utilize LED lighting, hydroponics, nutrient recycling, and other environmental controls. This integrated approach guarantees a high yield and quality for both food and medicinal plants, thereby advancing Intravision’s objective of revolutionizing urban farming and medicinal plant production.

Innovations in Sustainable Agriculture

The partnership with the CESRF has been a crucial factor in Intravision’s growth, offering unique tools and expertise in plant and photobiology research. This collaboration has led to progress in sustainable agriculture and space-tech transfers, culminating in technologies such as the PS2000 PhotoSystem Chambers. These chambers provide detailed insights into plant-environment interactions and comprehensive control strategies.

Inventions in Plant Production

Intravision offers a wide array of products and solutions aimed at optimizing plant growth and production in controlled environments. Key examples of these are the GravityFlow™ system and the PS2000 PhotoSystem research chambers.

The PS2000 PhotoSystem research chambers are a commercialized technology transfer from CESRF, the University of Guelph. These chambers are based on the CESRF’s hypobaric research chambers, which were designed to study plant growth and development, photosynthetic gas exchange, and other variables under low atmospheric pressures, for example, similar to those on Mars. The PS2000 PhotoSystem maintains much of the original functionality but without the vacuum capability, allowing researchers and commercial entities to explore a variety of controlled environment factors.

Equipped with a 9-band LED-light system, including ultraviolet light rays (UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C), the PS2000 research chambers are instrumental in developing precise light recipes for both food and medicinal plants. This functionality, coupled with the ability to manipulate multiple environmental parameters, makes the PS2000 a valuable tool for advancing plant growth research and production. The chambers allow for the study of plant interaction with both biotic and abiotic factors such as:

1.           Temperature

2.         Humidity

3.         Carbon dioxide

4.         Oxygen (higher or lower)

5.         Light (quantity and quality)

6.         Nutrients

7.         Plant water status

8.         Insect predation

9.         Pathogen application and response

In addition to the PS2000 photosystem chambers, Intarvision’s GravityFlow™ system provides a fully automated platform controlled by Luminous™ software. This encompasses LED lighting, hydroponics, air-dehumidification, and nutrient recycling. This system optimizes plant production in controlled environments, enabling high yield and quality. The company’s turnkey solutions cover everything from biological expertise to factory design, system installation, and remote management.

Through these comprehensive solutions, the company assists clients in optimizing plant growth and production, revolutionizing CEA for food and medicinal plants. This approach leverages technological advances and collaborations, ensuring consistent, high-quality yields while minimizing environmental impact.

Global Implementation and Adaptability

Intravision’s solutions have been successfully implemented in a variety of markets, including projects in Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Europe. Partnerships, such as those with Elevate Farms, exemplify the company’s capability to deliver high-quality produce and sustainable solutions. Current projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and with PlantForm Corp highlight the company’s global reach and adaptability.

Sustainable Cultivation and Production of Medicinal Plants

Plants are a rich source of essential oils and bioactive compounds such as polysaccharides, phenolics, alkaloids, steroids, lignins, resins, tannins, and anthocyanins. These compounds are primarily used to improve human health as they are safe and effective in healthcare applications. Since ancient times, medicinal plants have been consumed and regarded as a means of harnessing the therapeutic properties of nature. Herbal medicines of proven quality, safety, and efficacy are crucial for ensuring that all people worldwide have access to primary healthcare. The ever-increasing demand for nature-based health solutions has led to the development of new strategies by governing bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) to encourage clinical research for herbal medicine and urge countries to consider herbal medicine as an integral part of their health systems.

The plant kingdom has contributed approximately 70% of all-natural products, including major pharmaceutical drugs used by the pharmaceutical industry, such as painkillers from Opium, chemotherapeutic agents from Taxus, and the Nobel Prize-winning antimalarial drug artemisinin from Artemisia. Only a fraction of the plant kingdom has been investigated phytochemically and for its pharmacological activities. Despite advancements in science and technology for the use of plants as a major health source, challenges related to their sustainable and equitable use may be harder to overcome. The popularization of medicinal plant species, either as herbal medicine or a source of active metabolites for industrial drugs, often leads to increased market demand locally and internationally, resulting in the overexploitation of its natural population and an increased risk of extinction. Almost 60-70% of these medicinal plant species are harvested from their natural habitats, with an estimated trade value of US$ 3 billion. Despite increasing efforts to conserve medicinal plant species, there are numerous examples of overexploitation and extinction of these species.

Due to the increased demand for various medicinal plant species in the healthcare industry, there is an urgent need to protect and equitably use natural medicinal resources. Sustainable cultivation and management systems need to be established, and CEA is potentially a great solution to address this global issue. The quality produce of medicinal plant species under CEA is a step forward to elicit transformative change for sustainable and equitable sourcing. With this, efforts could be made to mimic or preserve the natural habitat on the one hand and meet the demand of the healthcare industry with quality produce on the other. Intravision, with the aim to grow endangered medicinal plants, has started a 5-year research project with CESRF, co-funded by the Canadian Research Council. The main objective of this project is to optimize the growth of different medicinal plant species with a higher accumulation of active secondary metabolites. This project will lead Intravision and partner organizations to find out a correlation amongst various environmental factors such as temperature, light (intensity, duration, and spectrum), CO₂ concentration, amount and composition of nutrients, and harvesting time on the accumulation of active metabolites in respective plant parts. Intravision has a long-standing research interest in growing medicinal plants or genetically modified plants with therapeutic compounds to combat various diseases, so-called ‘bio-factories,’ as plants have provided a promising production platform for bioactive compounds and recombinant therapeutics

Intravision, with its technologically advanced plant production system, will make it possible to control and automate a number of processes in medicinal plant cultivation and the production of active secondary metabolites with continuous harvest. The controlled production of medicinal plants or genetically modified/edited plants with therapeutic agents could revolutionize the healthcare industry without overexploiting natural habitats.

Efficient Resource Utilization in Agriculture

For the agriculture and food industry, the narrative concerning sustainability is commonly set around the need to feed a growing global population under resource constraints and the threat of climate change. Sustainability is crucial for positioning Intravision in the CEA industry. The appropriate utilization of resources is a key factor in Intravision’s success, and the company is striving to minimize the use of natural resources. Intravision’s growth facilities are more efficient in terms of land and water usage, optimized use of nutrients, and almost zero use of toxic chemicals such as insecticides and fungicides.

Furthermore, the systems ensure the supply of fresh produce all year round, which results in significantly less emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) as no postharvest storage is required, with minimal food loss and wastage. Intravision ensures 95-97% less water consumption than conventional greenhouse and land agriculture practices. The excess water available as a result of evapotranspiration in the controlled production system is captured and reused through reverse osmosis in a closed loop. Environmental sustainability is also achieved by maximizing the yield per unit area without the use of any toxic insecticide/pesticide or fungicide. The production of plants in vertically stacked layers with precise and accurate supply of nutrients to the plants, while no seasonal harvest is a prerequisite of the system, results in substantially increased annual production in comparison with other production facilities. Carbon footprint is always associated with energy consumption by the system and transportation of the produce from the system. As most of the facilities are in urban areas or on the premises of populated areas, there is a low carbon footprint for transportation.

Intravision is continuously seeking alternative options for power generation/utilization to make production more meaningful and sustainable. For example, incorporating renewable energy sources such as solar, geothermal, wind power, or energy produced from waste could be a solution for more sustainable utilization of energy for production systems. Furthermore, the design and utilization of equipment such as grow boxes and substrate utilization, which support regenerative practices, could significantly contribute towards more sustainable food production under CEA.

Eco-Friendly Practices for Sustainable Agriculture

Intravision is deeply committed to promoting eco-friendly practices and reducing resource consumption, particularly in light of the global challenges posed by freshwater scarcity and sustainable development. The company’s solutions aim to address these challenges head-on, acknowledging that agriculture accounts for 70% of global freshwater use. Intravision’s GravityFlow™ system, developed with insights from the CESRF at the University of Guelph and NASA’s research on closed-environment plant growth, provides an innovative approach to vertical farming that significantly reduces water usage.

This system leverages precise environmental controls, advanced LED lighting, and nutrient recycling, optimizing plant growth and minimizing waste. Intravision’s technologies are designed to enhance yield while conserving resources and ensuring the efficient production of medicinal plants and plant-based pharmaceuticals.

To further advance eco-friendly practices, Intravision is expanding its global reach with projects in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand, and Australia. These initiatives aim to demonstrate the versatility of Intravision’s technologies in various agricultural contexts, promoting sustainable farming practices worldwide. The company’s strategy involves reducing water usage, eliminating pesticides, and promoting year-round production, thereby addressing both food security and environmental sustainability.

Intravision’s commitment to sustainability extends beyond individual projects. The company acknowledges the pressing need for more sustainable approaches to freshwater management in agriculture, developing solutions that address the twin challenges of water scarcity and food security. Through its comprehensive, integrated systems, Intravision aims to set a new standard for CEA, fostering a healthier and more sustainable future.