Ecotrophelia Switzerland 2026 brought together some of the country’s most promising student innovators, as multidisciplinary teams from Swiss universities presented sustainable, market-ready food products to an expert jury of industry and academic leaders.

Part of a wider European initiative, the competition challenges students to translate scientific knowledge into commercially viable solutions, combining creativity, technical expertise and entrepreneurial thinking. This year’s edition once again highlighted the strength of Switzerland’s talent pipeline in food innovation.

“Ecotrophelia is a unique platform where students can apply their knowledge to real-world challenges in the food system,” said Sandra Galle, Professor of Food Technology and Biotechnology at HES-SO, School of Engineering in Sion. “It not only fosters innovation, but also helps build the skills and confidence needed to bring new ideas to market.”

This year’s finalists

Three teams were selected to compete in this year’s final, each showcasing a different approach to sustainable food innovation:

• Team Appy developed an apple juice drink with functional apple pomace pearls.
• Team Sorgood created a fermented beverage based on sorghum for a more resilient food system.
• Team TAMs developed a high-fiber  Provençale snack made of low-glycemic index ingredients and by-products.

Sorgood is crowded the national winner

The jury awarded first place to Sorgood, recognising the product’s innovation, sustainability impact, and market potential. 

The winning team stood out with an innovative plant-based beverage made from sorghum, a resilient and underutilised climate-smart crop. Their solution highlights how traditional grains can inspire sustainable, nutritious alternatives in the plant-based beverage category. 

An industry perspective

This year’s national competition was made possible thanks to the generous support of Valley partners Helbling Technik, Nestlé, Bühler Group and Givaudan.

Reflecting on the competition, Lorenz Klauser, Senior Vice President and Partner at Helbling Technik, noted: “Ecotrophelia shows how innovation starts with people. Sharing our experience in bringing products to life and our broad technical expertise with these talented teams has been truly rewarding. It highlights how young talent can drive real change in the food system.”

From the jury’s perspective, Robert Mitchell, Head of Food Science at Bühler, added: “It’s impressive how quickly students developed solid concepts. Competitions like Ecotrophelia help prepare the next generation to tackle real-world challenges in scaling affordable, nutritious food. Congratulations to all the teams.”

At Nestlé R&D, the importance of nurturing entrepreneurial talent was front of mind. As Maria Eugenia Barcos, Nestlé Research Startup Program Lead, put it: "At Nestlé R&D, we believe that supporting young talents with an entrepreneurial spirit is essential to accelerating the transformation of sustainable food systems. It’s been impressive to see how the students naturally take into account the importance of collaboration, sustainability and market readiness."

Highlighting the role of sensory experience and creativity in food innovation, Matthias Schultz, Research Director at Givaudan International SA, said: “Watching the young talents at Ecotrophelia bring their bold ideas to life was truly inspiring. Their entrepreneurial drive and creativity turned ideas into tangible food experiences , a vision that resonates deeply with Givaudan's purpose of creating happier, healthier lives with love for nature. ”

What comes next

The journey continues beyond the competition. In the coming months, participating teams will continue to be supported by industry partners, including Nestlé, Helbling Technik, Bühler and Givaudan, helping them further refine their concepts and explore pathways to market.

The winning team will go on to represent Switzerland at Ecotrophelia Europe, one of Europe’s leading student competitions in food innovation, taking place at SIAL Paris later this year.

Find out more about HES-SO's Bachelor of Life Sciences here.

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Planetary SA (“planetary” or the “Company”), the Swiss-based full-stack fermentation company building the industrial backbone of the bioeconomy, today announced a ~USD 20 million (CHF 16 million) Series A equity financing round, supplemented by ~USD 7.5m (CHF 6 million) in credit, bringing total funding to approximately ~USD 40 million (CHF 32 million).

The round was led by Radikal Capital and Oetker Ventures, with participation from, amongst others, Royal Cosun (as previously announced), arc investors, Green Generation Fund and AgriFoodTech Venture Alliance, as well as existing investors Astanor Ventures and XAnge. This diverse syndicate (bringing together carbohydrates producers, food corporates, venture capital funds, and family offices) reflects broad confidence in planetary’s full-stack approach and support for its global ingredient commercial rollout and technology licensing strategy.

The strong interest in the round underscores a clear market shift: category leaders controlling the full value chain from process development and industrial infrastructure to product launch are emerging as the winners of the new food revolution.

On the closing this round, David Brandes, CEO and co-founder of planetary added: “Raising capital outside AI and defense now requires far more focus and resilience than it did just a few years ago. Yet, recent geopolitical turmoil and commodity volatility only strengthen the case for a sovereign, circular, and high-quality food system: stay the course and hold the line, nothing worth building comes easy.”

planetary operates a proprietary full-stack platform spanning bioprocess design, scale-up and industrial manufacturing via its WIPO GREEN listed BioBlocks™ system, enabling partners to bring fermentation-based food ingredients to market efficiently.

At the core of its IP-rich strategy sits the global licensing of its technology to agro-industrial players, particularly sugar companies, enabling the conversion of low-value side streams into high-value proteins, fibers and enzymes, unlocking a new circular bioeconomy.

The company has demonstrated strong commercial traction. Following the nationwide launch of its mycoprotein filet with ALDI Suisse at price parity, the company is now rolling out additional launches across Europe under its B2B brand Libre® across alternative meat and dairy, meat hybrid products, fiber-rich products and protein fortification applications.

planetary is also expanding its sugar-to-protein upcycling technology globally, including initiatives to enable ultra-low-cost mycoprotein production below $1/kg through partnerships with agro-industrial players in sucrose-rich and protein-deficient geographies, such as India.

With industrial-scale production already operational in Aarberg, Switzerland and a growing pipeline of licensing partnerships, planetary is positioning itself as a central technology layer for the fermentation economy.

The company welcomes discussions with engineers, commercial leaders and product innovators interested in joining a category-defining company, as well as with customers seeking to co-develop the next-generation food products. planetary will selectively engage with mission-aligned investors interested in participating in a second closing of the round, planned for later this summer.

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