Japanese manufacturer Sharp is well known for producing TVs, smartphones, printers, and a whole range of electronic components. But what you may not know is that the company is attempting to revolutionize the production of fruit and vegetables by creating a facility that can grow them pretty much anywhere in the world. Since July, Sharp has been growing strawberries in a new facility located in Dubai. What’s special about this facility is the fact it is hermetically sealed and its contents is never exposed to real sunlight or the environment outside. Instead, artificial lighting and Sharp’s Plasmacluster air filtration technology are used to grow fresh strawberries in a managed environment. Why is this important? Certain fruit and vegetables are in high demand around the world but can’t always be grown naturally in the locations where the demand exists. That means they get imported, which both ups the cost of producing/purchasing them and can result in a percentage of the goods spoiling. Sharp figured out it would be much easier and cheaper to grow the goods locally even if the environment wasn’t suitable for doing so. By creating this growing facility, the environmental factors are removed. As long as a power and water supply exist, the sealed growing facility will produce freshly grown food. With the system now proven, Sharp aims to commercialize these plant growing facilities for deployment around the world. The focus will remain on strawberry production for the time being, but there’s nothing to stop other fruit and vegetables also being grown in the same way.