Two companies at the same campus.
An unlikely place for the future of agriculture.

Seven Steps To Heaven and CERIN89 are sister companies, both located in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, on the former Philips industrial complex – a site historically associated with technological breakthroughs and applied physics.

This is the campus where Philips built its factories and where the renowned Philips Physics Laboratory was founded in 1914. The Philips Physics Laboratory became one of Europe’s most influential industrial research institutes.

In 1923, Albert Einstein visited the laboratory and delivered a lecture during his stay in the Netherlands. The location has long been a place where science and technology intersected to shape the future.

Today, that same environment hosts the future of controlled environment agriculture. Seven Steps To Heaven is housed on the top two floors of the former Philips coal-fired power plant – an industrial monument rising 28 meters above ground level. CERIN89 is located on the top floor of a former factory building, 24 meters above the ground.

These are places where one would not expect agriculture to take shape. No fields. No greenhouses. No rural surroundings. Instead: concrete, steel, history – in the middle of the city. And yet, this is precisely where the next generation of food production is being designed. Agriculture, relocated to the skyline of a high-tech city.

What’s in a name

CERIN89 is the Controlled Environment Research Institute with the year 1989 marking the foundation of the Plant Balance Model.

Many ask about the origin of the name “Seven Steps To Heaven.”
It is a tribute to Miles Davis and his 1963 composition Seven Steps To Heaven. The piece was created during a pivotal moment in jazz history, when Davis was redefining musical language and pushing boundaries.

The title reflects progression – step by step toward a higher level of refinement. It represents evolution, discipline, experimentation, and the courage to depart from convention. That philosophy resonates deeply with our work.

Innovation rarely emerges where it is expected.