Video: Urban farming in Tokyo, Japan

With the next evolution of Mouser Electronics’ Empowering Innovative Together series, Mouser and Grant Imahara team up with the creative minds at WIRED Brand Lab to take a look at the modern city. Sponsored this year by technology partners Analog Devices, Intel, Microchip and Molex, they’re traveling the world to see and learn from the innovators and progressive companies creating a more livable future for our cities. They’re asking insightful questions: How can technology make our hectic lives better, and what solutions will it provide to the everyday problems today’s ever-growing cities face? Across the globe, there are many innovators hard at work already employing technology to create smarter cities that are more efficient, less polluted and more sustainable.

In the third episode of the 5-part video series, Grant heads to Tokyo, Japan to speak with engineers at a company called Mirai. Mirai is investigating how urban farming could enhance food production for ever growing populations in smart cities. Almost three-quarters of the landmass in Japan is mountainous. This leaves only a relatively small area for the entire population to live, work and grow food. As the population increases, the strain on food production expands exponentially.

That is where Mirai comes in. They have converted a former Sony semiconductor factory into the world’s largest indoor farm. It ships out 10,000 heads of lettuce per day. By building these farms up instead of out Mirai has found one solution to the problem of space for farms in Japan.

Read more at Electronics360