At SAIA Agrobotics, tomato plants don’t grow from the ground up, but from the top down. Hanging from above on moving tracks, every single plant travels through the greenhouse like a living production line.

Like a car through a wash, each plant passes sensors and robotic arms, its health, growth and ripeness are checked automatically. The result: each plant receives exactly what it needs, at precisely the right moment. This isn’t just a clever trick, it’s a revolution in how we grow food. Because by reducing manual work and making every movement count, SAIA cuts labour by half, while improving yields and consistency.
  

Growing a smarter future

Across the world, the demand for fresh fruit and vegetables is rising. But extreme weather, water scarcity and labour shortages are putting traditional farming under pressure. Indoor farming offers the solution, controlled environments, higher productivity, but to make it truly scalable, we need automation that works in harmony with nature. That’s where SAIA steps in. Their patented vertical growing system makes each plant moveable, visible and measurable from all sides.

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Robotic arms and sensors perform automated checks
 

SAIA’s approach is more than robotics, it’s a new production paradigm. By combining a patented vertical growing method with mobile plant carriers, AI-driven crop insight and the world’s fastest robotic harvester, the system automates repetitive, labour-intensive tasks. Results? Labour savings of around 50% today, with scope to exceed 80% once the platform scales. That makes high-tech greenhouse growing possible and affordable in more places, from family farms to large commercial growers.
 

SAIA champions a transition to data-driven, autonomous ‘food factories’ - modular greenhouses where plants move, data drives every decision, and robots harvest with millimetre precision. Born from Wageningen University & Research know-how, proven in a test greenhouse in the Netherlands, SAIA is moving indoor farming from promise to practice. Feeding more people sustainably means rethinking how we grow. Because feeding a growing world isn’t just about producing more, it’s about producing better.

Image credits: SAIA Agrobotics.

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#newdutch is a mentality, a movement, and an international platform for Dutch innovation.

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The textile industry is ready for a transformation. For decades, it has leaned on oil-based synthetics and animal-derived fibres, materials that cost the planet more than they should.

Every day, hairdressers sweep away kilos of hair that could be something more. Strong, renewable, and full of keratin, the same protein found in wool, human hair is one of the most underused biomaterials on Earth. We collect these clippings, clean and process them using gentle, low-energy methods, and spin them into ādara®, the first commercial fibre of the Human Material Loop.
 

Durable, traceable, and kind to the planet

Made entirely from upcycled human hair, ādara® offers the warmth and softness of wool without the cruelty, plastics, or allergens. It’s naturally fire-retardant, antibacterial, and hypoallergenic. It regulates temperature and moisture, making it ideal for interiors and textiles that feel as good as they do good. Each strand of ādara® is fully traceable, from the salon floor to the final fabric roll. By collaborating directly with hairdressers, The Human Material Loop builds a transparent and ethical supply chain.
 

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ādara® is a 100% biobased protein fiber created for interiors. 
 

The Human Material Loop process uses mild salts and low temperatures, reducing energy use while keeping the natural strength of keratin intact. No toxins, no microplastics, just a clean loop of human material turned into high-performance textiles. Every step is tracked, and a digital product passport is in the works to show the complete journey of their material.
 

It's not just rethinking fibres, The Human Material Loop is rethinking responsibility. How they source, produce, and value materials in design. With ādara®, it offers architects, interior designers, and textile innovators a tangible path toward a circular future. The Human Material Loop shows their innovation at Architect@Work, Workspace Design Show, Heimtextil, and more. If you’re a designer seeking sustainable materials, or an investor ready to back a radical, scalable solution, take a look and join them. Because the next revolution in textiles isn’t synthetic. It’s human.
 

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#newdutch is a mentality, a movement, and an international platform for Dutch innovation.

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Does #newdutch spark an interest or a golden idea with you? We love hearing from you! You can email us at newdutch@nlbranding.nl