Space and Urban Farming: Growing Life Beyond Earth, Innovating for Our Planet

Significant know-how has already been developed by academia and industry in the field of controlled environment agriculture, soilless cultivation systems, and space farming technologies. The round table aims to highlight the current state of the art in research and technological development for food production in extreme, isolated, and resource-constrained environments, together with the related innovation and investment opportunities for terrestrial applications both in space and on Earth.
The round table will focus on the prospects and challenges of advanced cultivation systems designed to ensure food autonomy, resource efficiency, and psycho-physical well-being in remote and confined environments, The event will include a focus on the experiences developed at Concordia Station in Antarctica, recognised by ESA as one of the closest terrestrial analogues to long-duration human missions in isolated environments.
Technologies such as hydroponics, aeroponics, vertical farming, and fully controlled environment agriculture are increasingly demonstrating their strategic value for producing fresh food while minimising water, nutrient, energy, and land consumption. These systems have important applications for climate-resilient agriculture, urban and peri-urban farming, remote infrastructures, and future exploration scenarios.
Despite major advances in research and industrial development, transforming these technologies into autonomous, scalable, and highly reliable systems for long-duration operations in isolated environments remains a significant challenge. In this context, Concordia Station represents a unique international testbed for validating closed-loop cultivation systems, resource recovery strategies, crew well-being approaches, and sustainable food production technologies under extreme environmental conditions.
The round table will explore how soilless cultivation, biofortified crops, circular resource-management technologies, and controlled environment agriculture can contribute both to supporting human life in space habitats and isolated environment and to generating valuable innovations for sustainable agriculture on Earth.
The session will feature a live connection with Concordia Station in Antarctica, offering a real-time perspective from one of the world’s most extreme and isolated research environments.

Programme

Moderator
Dr Lorenzo Pinna, Journalist, Writer and Science Communicator, longtime RAI Writer for Quark and Superquark

Dr Claudia Brunori
Director, Department for Sustainability, Circularity and Climate Change Adaptation of Production and Territorial Systems (SSPT), ENEA

Col. Walter Villadei
Colonel, Italian Air Force, Professional Astronaut and Space Engineer

Dr Michele Balsamo
Head of Research and Development, Kayser Italia

Dr Gabriele Carugati
Glaciologist and Atmospheric Chemist, University of Insubria, Station Leader, Concordia Station, PNRA

Dr Erika Rea
Astrophysicist, CNR, Winterover, Concordia Station, PNRA

Dr Sarah Gaier
ESA Biomedical Research M.D., Winterover, Concordia Station, IPEV-PNRA

Dr Luca Nardi
Researcher, ENEA; 4.0 Agriculture Laboratory, Sustainable Agri-Food Systems Division (SSPT-AGROS-AGRI4.0)

Dr Silvia Massa
Senior Researcher, ENEA, Head of the 4.0 Agriculture Laboratory, Sustainable Agri-Food Systems Division (SSPT-AGROS-AGRI4.0)

Dr Luigi Galimberti
Executive President of the Italian Institute of Research & Development

Dr Marco Antonio Chamon
President, Brazilian Space Agency (AEB)