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It is already a while back that the idea of the GardenGarten took shape and the beginnings of a proof of concept where built. I have not been idle, in fact much has changed in the past months. Right from the start I was introduced to the TU/e Innovation Lab with Steven van Huiden as my contact person. He brought me into contact with a fellow student of the TU/e: Koen de Raad (Web science). Introducing the idea of future urban farming, we both knew we would make a good team and have a project with good potential. After a few more weeks the team had already grown with three other students of various backgrounds and skill; Jamiro Leander (Software), Stuart Smits (Biology) and Stijn van Geel (Business), strengthening the team.

Together we worked on the basis idea of the future of small scale urban farming. The results I gathered and created during the TU/e contest for the GardenGarten formed a basis for our ideas. Doing our research we decided to alter the idea from a personal in-home growing system to a larger dome like structure placed in urbanized areas to grow food and horticulture products. Still the design uses the same techniques and is also focused towards smaller scale production only now more oriented to supply a slightly larger number of people (~10-15).  A different name would be the start of this project and was found: DomeGrown. 

But this was still an idea, although of course a step further than achieved during the TU/e contest. To take the next step --and start building a physical hardware design -- workplace and guidance is necessary. Eventually we found this change via Steven. He introduced us to an important catalyst for the DomeGrown project; Bright Lab (Team Energy). This student initiative aims to help energy orientated projects and early stage start-ups with their development providing workspaces, guidance, workshops and a community of like-minded entrepreneurial students.

In Bright Lab we have positioned our workspace and have the opportunity to work in an environment suited for building a hardware proof of concept. We opt to share our expertise and knowledge with the other groups (6 in total), in return gaining access to their knowledge and willingness to help us!

Much needs to be done to build a real proof of concept and to realize our vision, but we are on the right track. A roadmap has been constructed that hopefully will lead us to a working model in the next two months. We will work on the business model and envision our potential customer. And perhaps soon it is time to scale up our team to take this important next step!