Valley After Hours at Nestlé’s R+D Accelerator brings SFNV partners together to connect and collaborate

Last week, we held our second Valley After Hours event at The Accelerator, powered by Nestlé Research & Development. The energising session provided the perfect opportunity for Valley partners to network, connect and explore synergies.

This edition invited partners to explore how multinational companies can get inspired by the agility, passion and energy of startups, while established companies have the knowledge, expertise and capabilities to help startups’ ideas take flight.

Stefan Palzer, Nestlé’s CTO, Head of Innovation, Technology and R&D, & Executive Vice President and the Valley’s Steering Committee Vice President, kicked off the event by sharing his reflections on the challenges that our food systems are currently facing and his take on possible solutions: “No single company can find solutions to complex challenges like climate change. We need collaboration, creativity, fresh perspectives. And most importantly: we need to work as an ecosystem.”

Once Mar Serra, Nestlé Research Accelerator Lead, and Susana Reber, Nestlé Research Startup Lead, had introduced The Accelerator and their startup programme, four startups took to the stage to pitch their ideas: 

• Embion Technologies – providing a platform industrial biomass processing technology for nutrition, pharma, cosmetics applications and more
• Terra Preta – capturing carbon and improving soil health by transforming agricultural waste into biochar
• UBEES – a global leader in beekeeping applied to regenerative agriculture
• Bloom Biorenewables – transforming natural materials found in biomass to create the first true alternative to petroleum

The event drew to a close with a delicious plant-based networking apero that showcased some of Nestlé R&D’s innovations. Thank you to the Nestlé Research and Development team for hosting such an engaging and energising event! 

Never miss a Swiss food innovation morsel.

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