Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The possibility of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) to produce resource-efficient crops near customers is gaining attention as import dependency, climate uncertainty, and urbanisation change Nordic food systems. However, the adaptability and sustainability of CEA's business model are just as important to its viability as technological performance. This thesis analyses and compares how CEA companies in Sweden and Denmark implement their business models using the Business Model Canvas (BMC) to examine how they create, deliver, and capture value while balancing economic viability with environmental and social sustainability. The way that five Swedish and Danish CEA companies, Nordic Harvest, Agtira, CPH Farmhouse, Bladverkstaden, and Swegreen transfer controlled-environment technology into sustainable value is analysed in this thesis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with founders and senior executives to gain primary data using a multiple-case study design that was directed by the Business Model Canvas. These interviews were triangulated with secondary data from company records and literature reviews. The results identified three revenue logics via qualitative coding and cross-case synthesis: high-volume wholesale, farming-as-a-service, and craft-scale niche supply. All these revenue logics were endorsed by distinctive value-creation and delivery structures. Although all firms provide year-round, pesticide-free produce to the local market and corroborate SDGs 2 (Zero Hunger) and 13 (Climate Action), they vary in terms of depth of social engagement, capital intensity, and energy trade-offs. Agroecologically, the five cases individually share complementary strengths: locality, circularity, biodiversity, energy symbiosis and resource-use efficiency. . This indicates that vertical farming in Sweden and Denmark can advance toward fully regenerative urban food systems by progressively incorporating these principles. The study concludes that when business model elements like key resources, value proposition, and customer relationships are strategically aligned, CEA companies in Sweden and Denmark can enhance sustainability and profitability. The future of CEA will be shaped by strategically integrated business models in addition to technological innovation, ensuring sustainability, profitability, and resilience in urban food systems.