Dr. Toyoki Kozai, president of the Agricultural Academy of Japan, will be among the industry luminaries delivering a keynote address at the 2018 International Indoor Plant Factory Symposium mid-June in Shanghai.

Kozai will discuss, "The Present & Future of the Plant Factory with Artificial Lighting."

The symposium is co-sponsored by AEssenseGrows and the Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences (SAAS). It runs June 12-15 at the Blue Palace Hotel in Jiading, Shanghai.

The event brings together some of the world’s leading experts in commercial indoor cultivation for an exchange of ideas and information about the latest innovations, technologies and research in the field.

To learn more about the symposium or to register, visit www.plantfactorysymposium.com.

Kozai's early work focused on greenhouse light environments, energy savings, ventilation and computer applications. His scientific interest then extended to in vitro environments and their control for sugar-free medium micro-propagation and transplant production in closed systems with artificial lighting. Since 2010, he has been working as the president of Japan Plant Factory Association (a non-profit organization) and is leading R & D of “plant factory with artificial lighting (PFAL)” and “greenhouse environment control” using heat pumps, fogging, null-balance CO2 enrichment and nutrient solution control systems. 

Other symposium presenters include:

• “Tomorrow’s city will be self-sustaining,” by Dr. Dickson Despommier, emeritus professor, Columbia University, United States
• “The transforming power of vertical farming—global trends and local impacts,” by Christine Zimmermann-Loessl, chairwoman of the Association for Vertical Farming, Germany
• “A total solution and innovation for smart plant factory with artificial lighting,” by Dr. Huafang Zhou, vice president of AEssenseGrows, United States
• “Grow light recipes and study of artificial lighting for plants,” by Professor Shaohua Li, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China