When I was doing consulting, we did an innovation project with {{HUGE_RETAILER}} and {{MAJOR_RESEARCH_UNIVERSITY}}, researching the retailer's desire to do micr

When I was doing consulting, we did an innovation project with {{HUGE_RETAILER}} and {{MAJOR_RESEARCH_UNIVERSITY}}, researching the retailer's desire to do micro-vertical farming, which the university had put a bunch of research into and had a bunch of IP around. Only took a couple of weeks of reading the relevant dissertations and papers to figure out that the economics didn't, wouldn't, and couldn't make sense, even if the retailer could get a premium price on "just picked" produce (high-end mushrooms were the only place that cost, output, and price-per-pound made any sense). Absolutely shocked, not at all surprised that a bunch of VCs put funding into the concept.