IGS Growth Towers Vertical Farming System

Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS) is a Scottish company founded in 2013 that designs and builds industrial-scale vertical farming systems. It helps growers, nurseries, pharmaceutical producers, energy companies and forestry operators produce crops year-round in a fully controlled environment, independent of climate.

The core product is the Growth Tower, a modular tower 6, 9 or 12 metres tall holding stacked Growth Trays with Lights. Each tray carries ventilated LED strips with per-tray control of spectrum, intensity and timing, plus ebb-and-flood hydroponics with closed-loop nutrient recycling. A central lift delivers irrigation, and the system controls temperature, humidity, CO2 and airflow together with HVAC. Cloud software provides IoT remote monitoring, camera-based crop tracking and automated growth recipes. IGS also supplies its Total Controlled Environment Agriculture platform, GigaFarm layouts, consultancy, deployment and support.

• Modular Growth Tower: 6, 9 or 12 metre towers that scale with the operation.
• Growth Trays with Lights: each tray houses ventilation, LEDs and a hydroponic liner.
• Tunable LED lighting: spectrum, intensity and timing set per tray with dimming and pulsing.
• Closed-loop hydroponics: ebb-and-flood irrigation with recycled nutrient solution and captured humidity.
• Climate control: temperature, humidity, CO2 and airflow managed in tandem with HVAC.
• Cloud control software: IoT remote monitoring, camera alerts and automated growth recipes.

• Seedling and nursery companies in Vietnam producing uniform transplants year-round for greenhouse growers.
• Pharmaceutical and herbal producers growing high-value medicinal plants under controlled conditions.
• Forestry and plantation companies propagating tree seedlings at scale.

• Shortens growth cycles by 30-50% on average, according to the company.
• Lowers operating costs through dynamic, per-tray LED lighting.
• Allows trays to be removed for maintenance without stopping the rest of the tower.
• Supports crop changes without hardware changes, from salad greens to tree seedlings and pharmaceutical crops.

Large controlled-environment farms are being built to cut food imports and secure supply against climate shocks, as shown by gigafarm projects in the Middle East and the United States. In Southeast Asia, hot climates, extreme weather and urbanisation are pushing growers toward indoor systems for leafy greens, seedlings and high-value crops.

Founded in 2013 in Scotland, with its registered address and Engineering Innovation Centre in Inverkeithing (opened January 2024). Raised a GBP 22.5 million Series C in January 2024; investors include S2G Ventures, AgFunder, Ospraie, Scottish Enterprise, Cleveland Avenue and Cofra. Projects include the 200-tower Dubai GigaFarm and 100 towers for Empire State Greenhouses in New York. Hosts a crop research centre with the James Hutton Institute.