EIT Food Conference in partnership with Anuga HORIZON: Innovations from the niche - with startups to success

Healthy food and sustainable production: success stories from industry and start-ups

EIT Food: The world's largest agri-food ecosystem drives innovation and entrepreneurship - conference program for Anuga HORIZON

Innovation in the agri-food sector is worth more than €200 billion in Europe, yet less than 4% of all start-ups in the EU innovate in the agri-food sector. This figure needs to change quickly and radically if we are all to meet the United Nations goals of feeding a growing population in the next decade. A targeted and collaborative sector-wide approach is an absolute must.

As a creation of the European Union, EIT Food is uniquely positioned to bring entrepreneurs together with Europe's leading agri-food companies, universities, and research institutions. Start-ups need funding and collaborations to scale up, companies need agility and innovation to stay relevant, and investors need companies and teams with high revenue potential to make a global impact.

To this end, EIT Food is building a powerful ecosystem that enables training programs, world-class networks, high-impact pilots, and a community to support entrepreneurs at all stages of their development. EIT Food invests in projects, individuals and organizations that share our goals to create positive and sustainable change quickly and at scale. We bring together stakeholders from across the food system to drive change through collective learning, problem solving and invention.

To get a glimpse of the world's largest innovation hub, EIT Food showcases award-winning start-ups from its programs that have found their path to success with new ideas from the niche: in collaboration with the food industry and the help of our network.  What are the "learnings" for the industry? What opportunities does the food industry have to network with the right start-ups? What do the young founders and what does science have to say about it?

Our conference program aims to provide answers, impulses, and approaches to new cooperations so that innovations in the food sector can happen faster and more sustainably. 

Four lectures and a concluding panel discussion on 10.10. in the Anuga HORIZON conference program entitled: "Innovation: from niche to success with start-ups" invite you to join us: 

10:30 am      The Innovator's Toolbox: How Customer Insights Lead to Food Innovations
                    Prof. Carsten Demming, DHBW Heilbronn
                    Joachim Haag, isi GmbH

10:45 am      Together out of the niche: our 3 success factors of Crafting Future
 Lennart Heyner, co-founder of Crafting Future
 Jan Patzer, co-founder and CEO of Crafting Future

11:00 am      Mushlabs - Harnessing Biotechnology to build a more resilient food system
                    Dr. Mazen Rizk, founder of mushlab on the project with Bitburger

11:15 am      EIT Food accelerates innovation for a sustainable food system
                    Dr. Georg Schirrmacher, Director EIT Food Region West     

11:30 am      Panel discussion with all speakers on new pragmatic approaches and "learnings" from
 the area of conflict between industry and start-ups as well as insights into the possibilities of using   the Europe-wide network of EIT Food, moderated by Frank Horlbeck, Head of Communications EIT   Food Central

12:00 noon    meet the experts

EIT Food is the largest innovation network in Europe on the topic of food, nutrition, and agriculture. EIT Food is funded by the EU and aims to make the food and agriculture sector more transparent and sustainable.

"At EIT Food, we strongly believe in the transformative potential of young companies. We look forward to supporting start-ups with quick access to agri-food businesses. Especially in the cooperation between innovative start-ups and established companies as well as with the networking of all actors that focus on transformation in the food sector, we see a key to positive change and overcoming current challenges in the agri-food industry. In doing so, we bring together everyone from large-scale industry to SMEs, from universities to associations, with the innovators successfully and quickly. So that consumers finally get more sustainable products on their tables," says Dr Georg Schirrmacher, Director Region West of EIT Food.

"In a time of disruptive change that is having a lasting impact on the global market, together with the exhibiting companies and leading institutions as well as experts, we offer the opportunity for an intensive exchange of ideas and solutions at Anuga. Our aim is to provide a holistic and international overview of approaches for a sustainable food system", says Jan Philipp Hartmann, Director of Anuga.