Inspiring the next generation of food scientists – A look back at the Young EFFoST Day 2021 in Lausanne.

🎤 “People stay for culture – not purpose!” 

This morning, we had the chance to exchange with over 160+ PhD and master students at the Young EFFoST Day in Lausanne during an insightful panel where food professionals shared insights on what made their career path fulfilling.

Alongside fellow food professionals, our MD Christina Senn-Jakobsen had the opportunity to share some thoughts about her journey and what makes her job truly inspiring: fostering collaboration to transform our food system.

One key advice that stood-out on the panel came from Lukas Böni, co-founder at Planted : “No matter how great your purpose is, people will stay-on for your company’s culture”.

At the #SFNV, we couldn’t agree more! To enable change, it starts with setting up the right culture for collaboration and innovation to happen.

And today, whatever career path you might choose – corporate, academia or entrepreneurial – we all agreed tat you will be part of transforming our food system for the better.

Participants on the panel included:

Michelle Grant, Klara Haas, Christina Senn-Jakobsen, Alexander Mathys, Célie Rulliere, Lukas Böni, Alex Blanchard.

About Young EFFoST Day
The fourth edition of Young EFFoST Day is an exciting opportunity for students and young food scientists from academia, industry, and start-ups to expand their professional network! The day consists of interactive activities including inspiring talks and networking. Register here.

The Young EFFoST will be held the morning before the official start of the 35th EFFoST International Conference. It will take place at the SwissTech Convention Center in Lausanne, Switzerland on Monday 1 November 2021.

The day will start with an inspiring talk on the social and environmental implications of food value and the role we can all play. Representatives from industry, academia and non-profit organizations will then give insights into their personal career paths and share their key learnings. Throughout the day, talks will alternate with time for discussion and exchanges to make the Young EFFoST Day a unique opportunity to build your network and connect with more experienced food professionals before we move on to the conference together.

On Sunday 31 October, Young EFFoST Day 2021 will kick off with an informal get-together at the Bar Lacustre. This is a great chance to meet other Young EFFoST Day attendees while enjoying a selection of artisanal and international beers and fine spirits in one of the most popular bars in Central Lausanne.

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Last week, members of our Executive Committee gathered in Fribourg to explore what the future Swiss Food & Nutrition Innovation ecosystem could look like; and build the backbone of the SFNV strategy.

DAY I – Exploring the future of the Swiss Food Innovation Ecosystem

We started this year’s retreat with an insightful tour of AgriCo: an innovation campus focusing on the future of bioeconomy and agrifood currently in development in the State of Fribourg. Following a presentation from our host Jerry Krattiger and the Cluster Food & Nutrition, our group had the opportunity to meet with entrepreneurs currently working on site: Beevt, Maison Amarella, Alver, Bloom Biorenewables and Low impact foods.

Following a short presentation from FoodHack, we reminded ourselves of our “why” and the pressing sustainability and health challenges in our global food system. We took this time to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of our ecosystem, and identify opportunities ahead of us to make a difference as a country.

 DAY II – Building the backbone of the SFNV strategy for the years to come.

On the second day, members of our Committee were put to work: from strategic alignment, to onboarding strategy, developing long-term support for startups or attracting food tech investment to Switzerland, everyone chipped-in ideas based on their area of expertise. 

Attendees included Jerry Krattiger from the State of Fribourg, Raphaël Conz from the State of Vaud, Jerome Barra from Firmenich, Aurelien Demaurex from EcoRobotix, Christian Schwab from EPFL, Alexandre Bastos from Givaudan, Ivonne Blossfeld from ETH, Camille Bossel from FoodHack and the SFNV team: Christina, Yasemin and Maelle. 

 Thank you Jerry Krattiger for hosting us; and to everyone else who took part in such an inspiring session.

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FoodHack just announced the 40 FoodTech startups participating in its first ever Demo Day. The selected cohort is a glimpse into some of the most promising segments of FoodTech today.

The Batch 

• 177 companies from 29 countries applied to pitch at FoodHack’s Demo Day.
• The top 40 were selected by a panel of 19 independent analysts and top FoodTech VCs based on market opportunity, traction, team and impact.
• The batch represents a diverse group, with startups hailing from 16 different countries, 35% female-led teams, and covering a wide array of high impact sectors across FoodTech, Biotech and AgriTech
• Company stage: 7 pre-seed, 27 Seed, 6 Series A
• All selected startups are on a mission, from supporting sustainability and fixing broken food systems, to promoting health and increasing efficiency through tech.

FoodHack’s co-founder and CEO Arman Anaturk commented on the Demo Day:
“ 2020 was the year FoodTech made the mainstream, but 2021 is the year we start to see what sectors in FoodTech are here to stay. After a thorough selection process, we’re excited to announce the final batch of selected companies which we feel represents the current state of FoodTech in 2021. “

This comes at a time when AgriFoodTech funding is set to reach an all-time high, with 34.5% growth YOY in 2020 and more expected in 2021 (Agfunder 2021 report). 

FoodHack’s Demo Days

‍FoodHack’s plan is to make these Demo Days a twice-a-year regular event, with the next dates already set for mid March 2022. “Our long term goal is to make these events the YC of FoodTech, synonymous with high quality startups. A successful Demo Day for us would be that post-event, a number of pitching startups will have closed funding from the attending investors, or collaborate with a fellow startup in the batch” said Arman Anatürk. 

The very first FoodHack Demo Day takes place October 6th through a virtual pitch competition. Whilst applications for startups have closed, accredited investors and VCs in FoodTech are welcome to apply to attend before the deadline of September 25th. 

Audience: They will join an audience of 200+ active investors in FoodTech, including London-based AgriFood Fund, Astanor, Stockholm’s EQT Ventures (which just led the record-breaking $50m investment into alt-dairy startup Formo) and Delivery Hero’s recently-launched venture arm, DX Ventures. 

Top 40 Startups pitching :

View the full list here

4 Swiss Startups selected :

B’ZEOS (🇨🇭 Switzerland)

B’ZEOS is a start-up offering sustainable/renewable, home compostable, marine degradable, bio-digestible and non-chemically modified packaging solutions made from seaweed extracts. Combating plastic pollution and helping companies to decarbonise industries.

Embion (🇨🇭 Switzerland)

Embion commercializes the next generation in biomass processing technology to meet the planet’s demand in nutrition, materials and energy supply. Embion’s aim is to become the technology leader for producing natural, sustainable and high functionality products.

KITRO SA (🇨🇭 Switzerland)

With artificial intelligence as the foundation, KITRO offers an automated food waste data collection and analysis solution for the food service industry.

Pick8ship (🇨🇭 Switzerland)

Pick8ship shelf-less robot fulfillment and delivery – revolutionary logistics system for fast urban e-commerce – game changer regarding efficiency and sustainability – flexibly scalable, ready in days not years.

View the full list here

This event is supported by the Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley

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