![\"FRANCE-SWISS-US-SCIENCE-CLIMATE-PLANTS-LUXURY-RETAIL\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782834552_79_0x0.jpg\")
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Interstellar Lab CEO Barbara Belvisi (C), Jerome Bruhat (R), CEO of natural raw materials producer Robertet Group, and Robertet’s raw materials division head Julien Maubert (L), pose on September 25, 2023 in Ivry-sur-Seine, near Paris, in a Biopod, a greenhouse inspired by space research carried out by French-US start-up Interstellar Lab. (Photo by BERTRAND GUAY \/ AFP) (Photo by BERTRAND GUAY\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Inside a L\u2019Or\u00e9al factory, high-value botanical ingredients for fragrances and cosmetics no longer depend on distant weather, vulnerable global logistics or multi-month demand forecasts. L\u2019Or\u00e9al is deploying AI-controlled, closed-loop \u201cBioPods\u201d developed and operated by Interstellar Lab. (Disclosure: I am an investor in Interstellar Lab.)<\/p>\n
Interstellar grows high-value plants on-site under precise conditions, producing ingredients the beauty giant requires, where and when it needs them. As demand increases, the company installs more pods.<\/p>\n
Inside Interstellar Lab’s Model 1 BioPod at the company’s European headquarters and R&D lab in Ivry-Sur-Seine just outside Paris.<\/p>\n
Interstellar Lab<\/p>\n
Founder Barbara Belvisi says BioPods grew from Interstellar\u2019s work with NASA: \u201cWe wanted to figure out how to grow food on Mars. That remains our long-term mission. Meanwhile, we\u2019ve built a great business here on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Call this Edge Scaling: deploying small, complete, AI-enabled operating nodes at precise points of demand. In the AI Age\u2014where monitoring, interpretation, even decisions, can be made nearly anywhere\u2014the new question for strategic scaling of manufacturing becomes:<\/p>\n
What is the Minimum Complete System we can deploy profitably at the point of demand?<\/p>\n
In the AI Age, companies can win by placing intelligent, networked, complete operating systems closer to customers, continuously improving each node and the network\u2019s overall performance.<\/p>\n
Scale Ain\u2019t What It Used To Be<\/p>\n
For over two centuries, the dominant manufacturing growth playbook was to build big factories, standardize output and distribute across distance. Leaders were required to forecast demand months or years in advance, raise capital to build massive facilities and hope the market would absorb the capacity.<\/p>\n
Industrial Age scaling harbors a systemic risk: it forces leaders to make irreversible, capital-intensive bets ahead of verified demand. If the forecast is wrong, owners are left with underperforming assets, overcapacity and sometimes insolvency. Pandemic bottlenecks, wars, climate shocks and geopolitical tension exposed the fragility of global supply chains.<\/p>\n
Digital technologies reward a different logic. By pushing intelligence, agility and production closer to the edge\u2014a multi-decade trend called Proximity<\/a>\u2014companies can scale more in synch with verified demand.<\/p>\n REFASHIOND Ventures Co-Founder & Managing Partner Lisa Morales-Hellebo speaks at the Rethinking Materials Innovation and Investment Summit, in London, April 2026.<\/p>\n REFASIOND VENTURES<\/p>\n Lisa Morales-Hellebo<\/a>, founder of venture firm REFASHIOND Ventures<\/a>, observes, \u201cWe\u2019ve been betting on Edge Scaling before you named it.\u201d With over 70 manufacturing and supply chain-focused companies in their portfolio, she reasons, \u201cCompanies winning in the AI Age are deploying smarter, smaller productive systems exactly where customers require the output. The benefits are profound: less waste, lower logistics costs, faster iteration, greater resilience, and the ability to serve customers in ways unreachable by centralized production.”<\/p>\n The Minimum Complete System<\/p>\n Edge Scaling begins with the Minimum Complete System, or MCS: the smallest operating unit that can deliver profitable, high-quality customer outcomes.<\/p>\n An MCS is not a pilot version of a future larger facility. It is a complete node of a scalable network, containing the technology, data architecture, processes, safety and quality standards and inputs required to serve demand. With a proven MCS, scaling becomes less speculative. The company can install new nodes where customers have signaled need.<\/p>\n Consider Haddy, an advanced manufacturing company using AI-driven, robotic microfactories to produce large-format objects like boat hulls, architectural elements, concrete molds and furniture via additive and subtractive manufacturing. At its flagship 30,000 square-foot facility in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, founder Jay Rogers and the Haddy team<\/a> have proven their microfactory model. Opened in 2025, the facility is already operating near capacity. (Disclosure: I am an investor in Haddy.)<\/p>\n Industrial scale robots at Haddy’s factory in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. Each robot is capable of using additive and subtractive manufacturing tools to create highly customized, precise parts and products from polymers and composite materials. Haddy’s expert robotics operators partner with the robots to expand their capabilities.<\/p>\n HADDY<\/p>\n Nine industrial scale robots with both additive (3D printing) and subtractive manufacturing tools work with a team of highly-skilled production technicians–great new jobs in St. Pete. AI constantly experiments in response to each new customer requirement, expanding what\u2019s possible. When robot-technician teams learn what works–and what doesn\u2019t–the system instantly sends the insights to Haddy\u2019s entire fleet. <\/p>\n Haddy\u2019s second microfactory is under development in Los Angeles in partnership with Disney, which has contracted for 50% of the new plant\u2019s capacity. Three more microfactories are in development stage across the US and overseas.<\/p>\n Because each microfactory shares identical digital architecture, design files can move instantly between facilities closer to end-use locations, reducing freight costs, transit times and carbon emissions. As Rogers explains, \u201cEach microfactory is within an eight-hour range of tens of millions of consumers. We produce what our customers require for their customers: wherever, whenever, in whatever volume.\u201d<\/p>\n Jay Rogers, founder and CEO of Haddy, in conversation with Rob Wolcott in 2025 at the company’s St. Petersburg, Florida microfactory.<\/p>\n HADDYOne Scaling Logic, Many Sectors<\/p>\n The strategic logic applies across sectors. <\/p>\n