Fruitful closes pre-seed round to develop software that helps vertical farms speak plant

Nov 1, 2022 | Ecosystem news, Headline, Member news, Press-releases

Fruitful closes pre-seed round to develop software that helps vertical farms speak plant

Fruitful Farming team photo

Valley member Fruitful Farming AG, a Swiss startup developing optimization software for greenhouses and vertical farms, has secured CHF 500,000 in its pre-seed round. The team now plans to accelerate the development and distribution of its AI-based decision-making solution.

The future of farming

Studies show that crop production will need to increase by 70% to sustainably feed a global population of ten billion by 2050. Greenhouses and vertical farms will undoubtedly play a key role in shaping the future of farming.

But particularly in the context of rising energy prices, farm owners need to be mindful of how they invest resources to ensure that their operations are both financially and environmentally sustainable. As small variations in a growth environment can have a significant impact on outputs, growers must find ways to reduce their operational expenses while maintaining or increasing the quality of their produce.

Network-driven, AI-powered decision making

Fruitful Farming AG’s software democratizes access to AI-based decision making. It allows clients to focus on operations without having to hire a team of in-house data scientists. Their models facilitate the growing process by shortening learning cycles and makes tailored recommendations to save time and resources, while improving crop quality. Clients also become part of a broader network of farms, allowing them to learn and apply best practices quicker than isolated in-house analytics teams.

The team currently offers two key products. The Fruitful Monitor provides a cloud-based growth monitoring system that facilitates production and allows clients to scale with no or limited additional labor costs. The Fruitful Optimizer allows clients to receive active intelligence and dynamic growth recipes based on live analytics.

Their technology – developed by founders Thomas Kleiven, Giulia Schneider, Mihai Grigore, and Patrick Albrecht – uses computer vision to capture the plant biorhythm and then connects it with data points from the growth environment.

Co-Founder and CEO, Patrick Albrecht explains how Fruitful optimizes growing conditions by closing the feedback loop.

Next steps

This pre-seed funding will allow the team to accelerate the development and distribution of their solution. They’re now actively looking to connect with growers and vertical farm owners across Switzerland and Europe.

Patrick Albrecht, Co-founder and CEO, said: “Controlled environment agriculture will play a huge role in the future of farming. We’re thrilled to have secured investment to continue to develop our solution that offers modern farmers a growth control system that supports their data-driven decision making – for better quality produce with fewer resources.”

Find out more in our feature article or visit the Fruitful Farming website

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Givaudan teams up with Berkeley to publish new research on the future of alternative proteins

Oct 6, 2022 | Ecosystem news, Headline, Member news, Press-releases

Givaudan teams up with Berkeley to publish new research on the future of alternative proteins

Givaudan has launched its latest white paper entitled ‘The Protein Horizon: the landscape of alternative protein technologies enabling future food experiences,’ its fourth collaboration with the University of Berkeley, California. This paper provides cutting-edge information on current, emerging and future technologies for manufacturers producing meat and fish alternatives.

Innovating to meet rising demand

No longer considered niche, the growth of plant-based alternatives has been fuelled by rising consumer desire for food products that are healthier and have less impact on the planet. Constant innovation and new technologies are central to meeting growing demand both in terms of volume and in relation to the product characteristics that consumers want to purchase.

The research takes a future perspective, highlighting the benefits of emerging 3D printing technology, the ‘near future’ techniques of cultured meat, and Mycelium biomass fermentation producing fungi-derived protein. It also looks further over the horizon to lab scale technologies such as shear cell, which is set to attract significant investment. Recognizing that no single technology is a ‘silver bullet’, the report notes that collaboration between companies and organisations is essential to making progress in this space.

A market poised for rapid growth

Commenting on the research, Sudhir Joshi, Product Development Programme Coach at the University of California, Berkeley said: “The rise of meat alternatives is significant. The market is poised for rapid growth. While the existing technologies offer a major opportunity for innovation, the main challenges in this sector remain cost and scale.”

“This new white paper provides a comprehensive review of current and upcoming technologies. It also offers insights into adoption, market potential, challenges and the opportunities for future development.”

Flavio Garofalo, Givaudan’s Global Director, Culinary & Plant Attitude said: “Givaudan’s passion for creating outstanding future food experiences is at the heart of our ongoing collaboration and research with University of California, Berkeley. We have an insatiable appetite for knowledge and understanding that ultimately leads to innovative breakthroughs.

In order to create delicious new products, companies need to be agile, efficient, and innovative. Flavio continues: “Only by working together can we build the ecosystems necessary to develop the meat and fish alternative proteins of tomorrow. Our ongoing research with Berkeley is a great example of the kind of collaboration that will allow us to imagine the future of alternative proteins. 

Collaborating to explore new technologies

In addition to this research partnership, Givaudan is also actively exploring some of the latest technologies in this space in collaboration with Bühler and Migros, with whom it has formed the Cultured Hub, in Kemptthal, Switzerland, focussing on cultured meat, cultured fish and seafood, and precision fermentation.

The Hub is part of Givaudan’s network of alternative protein innovation centres across four continents that includes MISTA in California, the Protein Innovation Centre in Singapore, the Protein Hub in Zurich, and soon, the Tropical Food Innovation Lab in Brazil.

Download the Protein Horizon white paper here or watch Givaudan’s webinar with a panel of industry experts from consumer insights to venture capital who discuss future technologies for alternative proteins. 

About Givaudan

Givaudan is a global leader in Fragrance & Beauty and Taste & Wellbeing. Together with their customers, the company delivers food experiences, crafts inspired fragrances, and develops beauty and wellbeing solutions that make people look and feel good. With a heritage that stretches back over 250 years, the Givaudan team is committed to driving long-term, purpose-led growth by improving people’s health and happiness and increasing our positive impact on nature. This is Givaudan. Human by nature. Discover more at www.givaudan.com.

About Taste & Wellbeing

Powered by innovation and creativity, Givaudan Taste & Wellbeing aims to shape the future of food by becoming the co-creation partner of choice to its customers. Built on its global leadership position in flavours and taste, the Company goes beyond to create food experiences that do good and feel good, for body, mind and planet. With an expanded portfolio of products across flavours, taste, functional and nutritional solutions and a deep knowledge of the food ecosystem, Givaudan’s passion is to collaborate with customers and partners to develop game-changing innovations in food and beverage. This is Givaudan. Human by nature. Discover more at https://www.givaudan.com/taste-wellbeing

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EHL President Carole Ackermann joins the SFNV Steering Committee

Oct 3, 2022 | Ecosystem news, Headline, Member news, Press-releases

EHL President Carole Ackermann joins the SFNV Steering Committee

As President of the EHL Foundation and Holding and CEO & Co-Founder Diamondscull – a company that invests in tech startups – Carole will bring unique insight into the fields of innovation, investment and academia. We recently took the opportunity to sit down with her to talk about the climate crisis, the role of the next generation and why we need to collaborate to shape the future of food.

In your opinion, what has Switzerland got to offer as a food innovation nation?
Profound research, excellent innovative food companies, great chefs to create menus, and intelligent people who don’t only care about our planet but are actually willing to take action to protect it.
Where do you see the biggest opportunities for impact?

No industry, company, institution, or country can tackle the challenges facing our food systems alone. To achieve the goals we’ve set ourselves by 2050 and secure a sustainable future, we need to play together. 

What are the most significant challenges that need to be overcome? 

For me, the key question is: “How can we reshape the way we live to protect the planet that we all call home?” Industry stakeholders, decision-makers, and opinion leaders need to join forces as a matter of urgency to develop concrete plans to move things forward. And, of course, substantial investments on a global scale will also be needed to make these changes happen.

How will we produce, buy and eat food in the future?

The direction we need to head in is clear. We all need to consider how to reduce the ecological footprint of our diets and rethink how and what we eat. I have justified hope that technology will help us find smart ways to nourish Earth’s growing population. But of course, we can’t forget that the very fact that the global population is growing is, in itself, contributing to the climate crisis. 

What role do academic institutions and their industry partners play in shaping the future of food? 

They can launch explorative, interdisciplinary research projects to develop new nutrition, packaging, farming, or waste management solutions. At EHL, as a university of applied science, we anticipate changing consumer demands and industry needs and develop innovative concepts for the hospitality industry.

How can we help young people and budding entreprensurs to develop the mindset and skills needed to reshape our food systems?

By supporting them and trusting them to try new things and experiment. Our new EHL campus, for example, was designed to be a safe space where students can think the unthinkable, speak the unspeakable, and question the obvious. 

Could you tell us a bit more about one of your favourite student-led projects?

Two students from the EHL Swiss School of Tourism and Hospitality developed an ambitious sustainability-focused concept called LeftLovers that was used at the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz. Working together with the resort’s F&B Director, they set up a pop-up restaurant that served new, creative meals made from ingredients that could no longer be used in the hotel’s main restaurant. Wasting food is a total no-go for me, so I really loved this idea. 

And of course, I’m always excited to hear about the latest developments in EHL’s Innovation Village, which brings together a broad range of companies to share knowledge and ideas about the future of food and hospitality industries.

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Food waste in Switzerland: 5 questions for Claudio Beretta

Sep 26, 2022 | Ecosystem news, Headline

Food waste in Switzerland: 5 questions for Claudio Beretta

Today, around one third of all food produced for human consumption is thrown away. That’s about 2.8 million tons per year for the whole of Switzerland, and contributes to emissions and climate change. Claudio Beretta, scientific assistant for sustainability and food waste prevention in food systems at the Zurich University of the Applied Sciences, has made it his career’s work to tackle this very issue. To mark the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste 2022 (29 September) we sat down with him to chat about Switzerland’s role in tackling food waste.

How is Switzerland doing when it comes to the issue of food waste?

A lot better than it used to be! Over the past decade public information and awareness around food waste has improved dramatically. People understand the topic much more now and know that a lot can be achieved with relatively small changes. But there’s still this startling statistic: for every person in Switzerland, 300 kilograms of food that would be perfectly safe to consume is thrown away every year. There’s a lot more being implemented at the national level, too, like the Federal Government’s plan to halve food waste by 2030 compared to 2017’s baseline.

What are the main challenges to making progress in this field?

Nobody can solve this issue alone. The retail trade can’t due to business constraints and high consumer expectations. Households also bear some responsibility. Consumers want to come into the shop just before it closes and find their favorite type of bread or pastry, or whatever it is, on the shelf. This puts retail stores under pressure to offer as diverse a range as possible – and that is only possible by overproducing.  If households didn’t buy more than they needed and were not tempted by advertising, then the retail trade as it is today would operate entirely differently – and far, far less would be wasted. 

Then there’s consumer perception of what’s ‘safe’ to eat, although this is in flux. With some products, there’s the risk of foodborne diseases like salmonella and listeria, which is why they have a ‘Use by’ date on them. But for a lot of foods, the ‘Best before’ label doesn’t mean much at all and these products are still fine to eat if they smell and taste alright. But convincing consumers to trust their senses here isn’t as easy as you’d think.  

What are the key opportunities in your opinion – and what are you working on at the moment?

Breads and baked goods are the most wasted foods, hands down. These are followed by fresh fruit and vegetables – especially potatoes. So there are opportunities for retailers and companies in these categories to help tackle food waste and sign up to initiatives that help redistribute food and reduce food losses. 

The law and question of liability is still a bit vague around distributing food past its sell-by or best before date, so more clarity is needed here. Retailers are reluctant to give away foods that are technically safe to consume, but that are past their best-before date. Part of my work at the moment is revising the guidelines to make them much clearer – which should remove some of the ambiguity and make companies more likely to get involved. If retailers decided to start selling products past their best-before date combined with an effective communication campaign, I believe that this would really help consumers to understand that these products are still safe and empower them to trust their senses.

Tell us about a few Swiss initiatives that are working in this space.

Foodwaste.ch has a great list of Swiss food waste initiatives on their website. There are so many great projects – it’s difficult to choose just a few! All of them make a hugely valuable contribution to the ambitious goal of halving food waste by 2030. I love initiatives that tackle the root cause of the problem. Foodoo, for example, collects vegetables that can’t be sold through standard retail channels and produces products like bouillon and ketchup that are usually imported. They also often organize Factory Events that help to raise consumer awareness, which doubles their impact. 

Schweizer Tafel also provides a solution-based concept based on food donations. Surplus food is collected from major distributors and distributed to social institutions such as soup kitchens and women’s shelters. Smaller shops are currently less likely to be involved. But there are now various ways for retail outlets of all sizes to offer food for pick-up if it would otherwise go to waste, like the foodsharing Switzerland network and the app Too Good To Go. The only limitation for these solutions is the number of consumers who participate. I’d love to see more people discovering how easy it is to save food from retail and restaurants and how much money they can save while making a contribution to tackling the climate crisis.

So what can we do to combat waste?

As consumers, we can simply use our senses. It sounds so simple, but we are often slaves to dates. Best-before dates are a guide, not the gospel – smell it, check the food for any signs of mould, taste a little if it looks alright. Also, shop less and more consciously. Plan your meals in advance and check the fridge before you go shopping. 

You can also use your voice as a consumer to drive change and reshape our food systems. Give feedback, purchase from the businesses that are making commitments in this space and show that tackling waste matters. 

About Claudio Beretta

Claudio Beretta is the scientific assistant for sustainability and food waste prevention in food systems at ZHAW. His expertise and research interests include sustainability in food value chains, quantification, environmental assessment, and reduction of food losses. He completed his PhD on the Environmental Impact of Food Losses and the Reduction Potential in Food Value Chains in 2018 at ETH Zürich. Claudio is also President of foodwaste.ch.

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Why an ETHZ researcher founded a startup to tackle waste in the olive oil industry

Sep 22, 2022 | Headline, Talent

Why an ETHZ researcher founded a startup to tackle waste in the olive oil industry

Claudio Reinhard set out to write his Master’s Thesis on soil regeneration in Tunisia. But after discovering a huge untapped opportunity in the olive oil industry, Claudio has transformed his findings into an award-winning collaborative research project and founded a startup to bring the developed solution to market. Now he’s looking for partners to scale his impact. 

Tell us a bit about yourself

Hello, I’m Claudio – a mechanical engineer and ETH Zurich Project Lead who’s passionate about circular economy and entrepreneurship.

What’s the story behind your research?

I’ve always been interested in the concept of biorefineries and biochar and soil health in particular. Back in 2015 I’d planned to write my Master’s Thesis on how to use biochar in soils in Tunisia. While searching for a suitable source of biomass, I came across the topic of olive side streams. 

I was surprised to discover that olive oil production is responsible for a huge amount of agricultural by-products. Only 20% of the olive fruit harvested is transformed into extra virgin olive oil. The remaining 80% pile up as massive amounts of a side stream known as olive pomace. If released uncontrolled to the environment, olive pomace can cause serious damage to soil and water bodies due to its phytotoxic and antimicrobial properties. 

Nowadays, olive pomace is mostly used for the extraction of residual low-quality oil (pomace oil) before the remaining biomass is burnt. But this is a huge loss of value. Olive pomace is very rich in valuable, natural substances, called antioxidants. Olive antioxidants are known for their tremendous health benefits and strong antioxidant potential. I recognized that there was a huge opportunity to transform this abundant and low-cost by-product into a wide range of value-added products. 

Eager to build upon the promising results of my Masters thesis, I teamed up with Prof. Laura Nyström from Laboratory of Food Biochemistry at ETH Zürich, to initiate the EIT Food project Phenoliva, which kicked off in October 2019.

Tell us a bit more about the Phenoliva project

The Phenoliva project is an EIT Food innovation project. It brings together partners from the food industry, research and academia to develop and implement an integrated waste management concept for the olive oil industry. 

Using a novel process, the project partners extract olive antioxidants from olive pomace, and process the resulting extract into an innovative antioxidant that can be used as a valuable natural additive in food and cosmetics. The process is circular and all by-products are recycled.

We were thrilled to win the EIT Food Impact Prize in the circular economy category last year and to be nominated for this year’s EIT Awards. This recognition keeps us motivated and moving forward!

So how are you taking the results of your project forward?

In 2021 Laura Nyström and I decided to found a company to commercialize our findings. Over the last few months I’ve teamed up with Enrico Tenaglia, a biomolecular scientist, and Samuel Bühlmann, a business and marketing specialist, to develop and implement a go-to market strategy. 

So far this year, we’ve been selected to take part in the Startlife accelerator in Wageningen and have travelled to Africa as part of the SASBI program to explore the potential of sidestream valorisation in the coffee industry. We have also made it into the MassChallenge Switzerland 2022 Accelerator as one of the top 100 start-ups in their Sustainable Food Solutions track. We’re very excited about what’s coming in the next few months! 

What are your next steps?

We’re now starting discussions with industry partners so that we can develop a network of potential customers. We’ll be initially focusing on the cosmetics industry – a sector that has already shown significant interest in our ingredients.

We’re also working alongside local partners to set up a production site in Andalusia to produce antioxidant extracts from olive pomace. This should be up and running in 2023.

How can other ecosystem actors get involved in your work?

Actors from the cosmetics, food, supplements or feed and pet food sector are very welcome to reach out to us to discuss how our product could be used in their product lines. 

In the last few months, we’ve received some requests from agribusinesses that are interested in applying our upcycling process to their own harvest and production waste. We’re now working closely with an almond farm in Portugal in order to help them transform thousands of tons of almond husks and shells into added-value products. If any businesses are interested in exploring how they could valorize their harvest or production waste, I’d love to connect. 

You can also tune in and watch me pitch the project at the EIT Awards semi-finals on September 29. If you like what you hear, you can vote for us from September 29 to October 11.

What advice do you have for other researchers who would like to transform their findings into practical projects or businesses?

Find advocates who believe in the potential of your project. Prof. Laura Nyström has been a supporter from the beginning and remains actively involved in Gaia Tech as an advisor. Her support and encouragement has made a huge difference! 

Find out more on the Gaia Tech website. 

About the Phenoliva project

The Phenoliva project is an EIT Food innovation project funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union. Funded with over €2M, the project started in October 2019 and ends at the end of 2022. The interdisciplinary Phenoliva consortium consists of eight partners from academia, applied research and food industry. Gaia Tech was founded to bring the project results to the market.

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How this end-to-end innovation platform is helping to close the data gap on nutrition status in children and adolescents in Switzerland.

Sep 21, 2022 | Ecosystem news, Headline, Member Highlight, Member news

How this end-to-end innovation platform is helping to close the data gap on nutrition status in children and adolescents in Switzerland.

With Serge Rezzi at the helm, the former Swiss Vitamin Institute has transformed into the Swiss Nutrition and Health foundation – a foundation of public utility owning an end-to-end innovation platform in the field of nutrients and health. We sat down with Serge to talk about science, collaboration and an unprecedented national study that his team helped kick off this year.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m Serge Rezzi, CEO of the Swiss Nutrition and Health Foundation. But ultimately I am a scientist passionate about nutrient chemistry and biology – nothing more, nothing less.

Pitch your company in 20 seconds.

We’re a one-stop shop for nutrient analytics dedicated to food and nutrition research. We’re most well known for testing nutrients in food products providing world-renowned independent certification programs. But I like to say we are scientists specialized in tracking the nutrient journey from foods to human cells, bridging chemistry to biochemistry and nutritional status. We’re also a medical analysis laboratory for nutrient status and support innovation through translational research projects.

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

Nutrients are key to maintaining physiological functions and we get them from the food we eat every day of our lives. Nutrition is so vital to maintaining health. So when I get up in the morning, I think: what good can I do to evidence the role of nutrients on health today? How can I have an impact on raising public awareness about the importance of nutrition? And how can I support companies to develop innovative and nutritious products?

What does a typical day at work look like for you? 

Well, it always starts with a good coffee! I connect with my team, always trying to lead with empathy, positive energy and sense of humor. Then maybe I’ll have a meeting with partners about an R&D project or certification. Or perhaps I’ll update my board members on our progress and assess how our strategy is bringing us closer to achieving our mission. I also make sure I leave plenty of time to continuously study nutrient biochemistry, identify potential opportunities for innovation in nutrition status assessment and nutritional biomarkers, especially to develop science-based concepts for precision nutrition. I also strive to contribute to scientific publications as I see peer review as a hallmark of scientific quality. I am also teaching at EPFL and in several other education programs.

Which projects are you and your team currently working on? 

This year we kicked off a very exciting new project. Together with unisanté and other partners, we won the tender from the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) to perform the menuCH-Kids, an unprecedented national survey to assess dietary habits and nutritional status of children and adolescents (6-17 years) in Switzerland. This unique project represents a stepping stone to assess reference ranges of nutritional status biomarkers in Switzerland. 

We also started working on a new project on biomass valorization with the Canton of Fribourg as part of its agrifood strategy. We are tracking nutrient-rich co-products to enable their upcycling into high value nutritional ingredients. We’re aiming to validate new proof of concepts with novel prototypes by the end of the year.

And that’s not all. We’re also working on an EU funded H2020 project that aims to develop a precision nutrition platform for the youngest members of our population and we’re contributing to a project around vitamin D bioavailability. There’s never a dull day in the Swiss Nutrition and Health Foundation office!

Tell us about how you work with others in the ecosystem to innovate 

We’re lucky to collaborate with lots of great partners and fellow SFNV members, including Cluster Food & Nutrition and EPFL. 

Our slogan is “anchoring trust through science” and this provides the basis for our collaborations. We start by focusing on our expertise in nutrient analytics and biochemistry, then we partner with other organizations to bring in complementary skills as required on a per project basis. 

Thanks to our strong network of academic, startups and industry partners, we can mobilize resources and skills to tackle a broad range of topics in agro-food-nutrition research pretty quickly.

How can SFNV members get involved in your work? 

We can partner with startups that are looking for specific scientific expertise through a number of Innosuisse or other funding programs. We’re always eager to further strengthen our network and to support the development of science-based and healthy nutritional solutions. So if you see parallels with our work, please do get in touch. 

Precision nutrition is a key area that you explore through your work. Which key opportunities do you see here?

We believe that any type of precision nutrition should be based on solid science that begins with reliable nutrition status diagnostics. There is a lot of market-driven opportunism trying to position new services and product offerings with science gaps or shortcuts about biomarkers or their measurement technologies.  

We see a great opportunity to invest in understanding the biochemical/physiological fundamentals that underpin the dynamics of nutrition status biomarkers in cells and circulating biofluids. There is still work to be done on validating translation of these biomarkers on minimally invasive measurement technologies. At the same time, it’s important to develop next generation biomarkers that will be able to capture the complex molecular interactions between nutrients, host and microbiome.  

We also need to initiate a paradigm shift about nutritional biomarkers. We need to develop them to provide more insight into long term metabolic consequences on health as opposed to using them to indicate an immediate nutrition deficiency.   

Tell us something we didn’t know about your foundation

The Swiss Nutrition and Health foundation has been collaborating with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on the standardization of a folate status (vitamin B9 status) for many years now. Despite the advent of modern analytics, we’re still interested in using fairly old techniques using specific microorganisms to quantify bioavailable forms of vitamins, as these microbiological assays remain highly valuable in many cases. This collaboration is now being extended to vitamin B12 diagnostics. The foundation laboratory is also developing a platform for the in vitro measurement of the protein digestibility aiming to quantify protein nutritional quality.

Connect with Serge Rezzi on LinkedIn and visit the Swiss Nutrition and Health foundation website for more information.

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