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Meet Charlotte, the Valley’s Innovation Impact Lead.
“I love mapping out any challenge, analysing it and using creativity and strategy to fuel problem-solving, especially concerning the food system.” Tell us a bit about yourself. I was born in France but grew up abroad, and I became passionate about food after...
Meet Hanna, the Valley’s Facility Sharing Co-Lead.
“Giving consumers tasty options will motivate them to shift towards healthier and more plant-based diets.”Tell us a bit about yourself. I'm a food scientist by trade, and I am passionate about innovation in food science. I did my PhD in France on a project linked to...
Alwin Kopse shares how the Federal Office for Agriculture is driving food system transformation
Alwin Kopse is Head of the International Affairs and Food Systems Unit at the Federal Office for Agriculture - and also happens to be a big believer in the power of multi-stakeholder collaboration. We sat down with Alwin to talk about why Switzerland is already seen...
Meet Laís, the Valley’s Impact Project Lead on Precision Nutrition.
“As a nutrition scientist, I cannot turn a blind eye to the food system's impact on the environment.”Tell us a bit about yourself. I was born and raised in Brazil, in the state of Minas Gerais, which is known for its excellent cuisine. Accordingly, my family is full...
Meet Kyllian, the Valley’s Operational & Administrative Intern.
“I am constantly seeking innovative ways to apply my skills to drive positive change.”Tell us a bit about yourself. I am currently pursuing a degree in Hospitality and Business at EHL Hospitality Business School. I’d say I have an entrepreneurial mindset that I've...
A woman’s place is in the (Swiss) food innovation ecosystem
A woman’s place is in the kitchen? Today, it’s most definitely in the food innovation ecosystem! But if you’ve just recently qualified or you’re considering a career change, it can be hard to know how to get started. So for International Women’s Day, we've...
PowerAPI announces appointment of Coca Cola HBC executive Maté Varga as Chief Strategy Officer
Swiss based commerce infrastructure platform PowerAPI has announced the appointment of Mate Carga as its new Chief Strategy Officer. In his previous role, Maté served as Digital & Technology Platform Director, and has a noteworthy career of 20 years across...
Meet the two sisters who turned to entrepreneurship to tackle our food system challenges
Growing up, sisters Nadia and Sophie Hanessian didn’t know they would end up founding and jointly running a smart food startup. But they did already share a common outlook on the world – one based on sustainability, social justice and a commitment to tackling key...
Swiss startup Mirai Foods produces first cultivated tender steak
In a significant breakthrough for cultivated premium beef steaks, Swiss startup Mirai Foods has announced a technological leap forward in its cultivation of thick tender steaks. The Zurich-based company has developed what it calls “Fibration Technology” that allows...
Two new partnerships expand CleanGreens’ presence in the European and Middle Eastern markets
Founded in 2013, CleanGreens spent its first six years designing, developing and polishing its aeroponic growing system at the company’s headquarters in Molondin, Canton de Vaud, Switzerland. 2019 saw the installation of their first commercial system in France - and...
5 questions for Professor Véronique Michaud
Prof. Véronique Michaud heads up the Laboratory for Processing of Advanced Composites (LPAC) and is the Associate Dean of Engineering for Education at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. The team has recently been exploring use of novel...
Two industry leaders join YASAI’s Board as the team prepares to scale
Valley partner YASAI, a Swiss vertical farming start-up, has welcomed two industry leaders to its Board of Directors - Lorenz Wyss, CEO of the Bell Food Group, and Theo Stolze, former shareholder of the Stolze Group. The company now plans to draw on Mr. Wyss’s retail...
Insolight secures CHF 4.85 million to accelerate their commercial roll-out.
Two new investors will join Insolight on their journey to scale up the deployment of insolagrin, their innovative agrivoltaic solution. The team will now set-up large-scale installations in Switzerland and France before expanding internationally and increasing the...
ADM receives Business Sustainability Award for work to expand regenerative agriculture
ADM has won the Environmental Initiatives category of the 2022 SEAL Business Sustainability Awards for expanding its regenerative agriculture programs. Granted by a judging panel of renowned environmental and energy industry experts, the award recognizes programs or...
Stefan Palzer on working together to find viable solutions for sustainable and affordable nutrition
Stefan Palzer, Nestlé’s CTO, Head of Innovation, Technology and R&D, & Executive Vice President and the Valley’s Steering Committee Vice President is passionate about science, technology, and the role that innovation plays in making diets tastier, more...
Planted invests in scaling the Swiss alt protein supply chain following key Federal Council decision
Swiss FoodTech startup Planted, known for its clean-label meat made from alternative proteins, is rounding out 2022 with a landmark shift in the way it acquires its raw materials: the company is now procuring its protein-rich yellow peas from within Switzerland. This...
The Beelong Eco-score lands in Coop
Lausanne company Beelong has made it easier than ever for shoppers to make informed and environmentally sound decisions about the foods they buy. Their system, run by 15 staff members, has already analysed more than 150,000 food products and categorised them based on...
New meat alternative made from brewer’s grains will be produced in Switzerland
Circular Food Solutions Switzerland AG and the Doppelleu Boxer AG brewery will turn a brewing industry byproduct into next generation meat alternatives using Swiss raw materials. With a total investment of over five million Swiss francs, the Chopfab brewery site is...
Meet Chris, the Valley’s ecosystem architect
“Connections create energy. Without energy, nothing moves, grows or transforms.”Tell us a bit about yourself. Hi! I’m a curious marketeer with a passion for food, innovation, technology and sustainability. I’ve worked in and around food for over 20 years and been...
How Haelixa is using DNA markers to power transparency across the food supply chain
The seeds of sustainability startup Haelixa were first sown when its co-founders Gediminas Mikutas and Michela Puddu, connected over their shared passion for making the value chain more open and accountable. From fabrics to food, Haelixa is committed to ensuring...
PowerAPI raises $5.5 million in seed funding round
Valley Partner PowerAPI, a tech-enabled hospitality startup, has raised $5.5 million (CHF 5.25 million) in a seed round led by Prediction Capital. The team is now building its most sought-after feature, ‘Intelligence’, which will push smart notifications &...
Meet Marta, the Valley’s sustainable diets and proteins pro.
"I’m fascinated by the question of how we can leverage our food systems to make them more future-proof."Tell us a bit about yourself. Trained as an economist with a PhD in geography, I’ve been working on food systems for over 14 years, as a researcher, lecturer and...
Meet Suki, the Valley’s Event Guru
"I choose my work based on the value it can bring to the world"Tell us a bit about yourself. I’ve been working in the events and communications industry for over 20 years. I started my career delivering campaigns and events globally for large corporations. But as time...
Mirai Foods collaborates with Rügenwalder Mühle to develop a hybrid product
Mirai Foods, the Swiss cultivated meat startup from Zurich, has partnered with Rügenwalder Mühle, the sustainability pioneer and meat alternatives market leader in Germany, to develop a hybrid product. Rügenwalder Mühle plans to build on their positioning as an...
Fruitful closes pre-seed round to develop software that helps vertical farms speak plant
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...
Meet Maëlle, the Valley’s Swiss army knife
"Travelling to new countries and discovering new cultures opened my eyes to all the amazing tastes out there."Tell us a bit about yourself. I’m the French girl of the Valley! Born in Brittany, I moved to Switzerland to study for my Bachelor degree at EHL - Hospitality...
Meet Christina, the Valley’s Chief Connector
“The way our food systems work today is coming up to its expiry date. We urgently need to do things differently.”Tell us a bit about yourself. I grew up in Denmark as part of a family with roots in agriculture and food production. This connection with where our food...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Switzerland’s got talent: Meet Prof. Ardemis Boghossian from EPFL’s Nanobiotechnology lab
Nanobiotechnology and food science - what's the connection? Prof. Ardemis Boghossian and her team at EPFL have brought these two fields together to develop intelligent packaging technologies that tackle food waste while keeping consumers safe.How does your work shape...
How a climate-friendly sandwich is giving consumers a taste of our culinary future
Food2050’s Christian Kramer is using his unique sustainability system to raise awareness of the environmental impact of our meals. But he’s not stopping there. He’s also using what he’s learnt to develop 1.5 degree recipes. Shroomy is his first innovation - a...
Nestlé explores emerging technologies for animal-free dairy proteins
Nestlé has announced that it is exploring emerging technologies for the development of animal-free dairy protein-based products. Its novel product - developed by Nestlé R&D teams in Switzerland - will be piloted in the US market later this year as a...
Ice cream innovation from Geneva-based startup Konoï
Genevan company Konoï creates fresh frozen ice cream treats made from Cannabis sativa seeds. Their innovative process aims to reintroduce hemp - the "Royal Seed" - into Swiss diets. Konoi's products are more than "just" ice cream. In addition to their gourmet flavors,...
Cultivated Biosciences raises $1.5M pre-seed to tackle fats and mouthfeel
Cultivated Biosciences, an innovative ingredient company founded by Swiss entrepreneurs Tomas Turner and Dimitri Zogg, has just raised a $1.5M pre-seed round. The funding will enable the growing team to further optimize its production processes, research food...
Meet Laura, the Valley’s Comms Lead.
"The Valley's mission reflects everything I'm passionate about - food, health, sustainability and collaboration."Tell us a bit about yourself. As a child, I spent my holidays glued to my dad's old typewriter, writing stories about how to save the world. Later, I...
Planted Closes Series B Financing Round of CHF 70 Million
Swiss Foodtech startup Planted, known for its clean-label biostructured meat, successfully closed its series B financing round of CHF 70 million. The round was led by L Catterton, the largest global consumer-focused private equity firm. Planted will use the funds to...
Unilever’s Swiss production site will become a new hub for scaling up nutrition innovation
The “Knorri” factory in Thayngen will be transformed into a unique innovation campus that will promote collaboration between startups and established companies, universities, investors, and innovation facilitators - helping new agrifood technologies to scale up and...
Nestlé launches new Youth Entrepreneurship Platform
As part of its Global Youth Initiative, Nestlé recently launched the Nestlé Youth Entrepreneurship Platform (YEP), a new digital platform for young innovators and entrepreneurs who want to learn new knowledge and skills, test an idea or grow their businesses, in areas...
Time to grow: YASAI’s crowd-invested funding round gets off to a strong start.
Growing up as a company is normally meant metaphorically, as startups move from young entrants to more mature businesses. But for YASAI, growing up also has a literal meaning. The Swiss agtech startup is redesigning the way food systems work by integrating vertical...
MIRAI FOODS and Shiok Meats enter into a strategic partnership agreement
MIRAI FOODS - a Swiss company at the forefront of cultivated meat production - has entered into a strategic partnership agreement to develop cultivated beef production in Singapore and accelerate regulatory approval. MIRAI FOODS has entered into a partnership...
ALDI SUISSE becomes the first Swiss retailer to join Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley
ALDI SUISSE is the first Swiss retailer to become a member of the Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley. By taking this step, ALDI strengthens its commitment to innovating to drive a more sustainable food system.A new partnership for even more sustainable innovation ALDI...
This Swiss startup’s AI-powered solution is leveraging data to improve how we farm.
Patrick Albrecht will be the first to tell you that he doesn’t have green fingers. But his team’s AI-driven software uses thousands of data points to optimize growth conditions - saving time and reducing the energy and resources needed to produce great quality...
CleanGreens Solutions is gearing up to bring their mobile irrigation robot to new markets
Having grown up on a farm, Bernhard Baumgartner, Commercial Director at aeroponic growing system manufacturer CleanGreens Solutions, grew up surrounded by plants. Now he’s helping colleagues across the globe - from Europe to the Middle East - grow a feast of leafy...
Switzerland’s got talent: Meet Prof. Josie Hughes from CREATE Lab at EPFL
Robotics and AI offer huge potential to drive innovation, from agriculture to sustainable consumption. EPFL’s CREATE Lab is eager to collaborate with industry partners to change how we design and use robots. We caught up with Prof. Josie Hughes to find out more about...
Why SFNV’s President Martin Vetterli is quietly confident about the future of food
Martin Vetterli was unanimously voted in for another term as SFNV President at SFNV's General Assembly in May. We sat down with Martin to talk science, vegetables and why he is quietly confident about the future of food.What does sustainable food mean to you...
Meet Kash, the Valley’s Head of Innovation Infrastructure and Global Engagement
"I love making ideas happen by bringing creativity and strategy together."Tell us a bit about yourself. I was born and raised in the beautiful city of Krakow in Poland. I’ve been living and working in Switzerland for over 15 years now - the Alps are my personal heaven...
How two lifelong friends are redesigning the beekeeper economy
When Alex and Giangio started making honey in their spare time, they had no idea it would eventually lead to them founding a bee-focused startup. Inspired by nature, PrimalBee® is disrupting a product that has barely seen innovation in 170 years: the beehive. Now...