On 18-19 May, the world’s brightest minds in agrifoodtech will come together to share insights, unveil new solutions to industry challenges, discover game-changing partnerships and investment opportunities, and connect around the shared aim of building a sustainable food ecosystem that benefits all.
Transforming the world’s food systems
Today, more than ever before, there is a pressing need to radically transform the global food chain. Despite producing some 11 billion tonnes of food each year and forming the cornerstone of many of the world’s economies, current agrifood systems are unsuccessful in keeping as much as one tenth of the planet’s population free from hunger, data from the FOA shows.
Capital investment in food and agriculture is surging exponentially as innovation paves the way to sustainable future food ecosystems. Yet, to what extent are these investments paying off? What more must be done in the coming years to meet the SDGs by 2030?
Providing answers to the industry’s most pressing questions and exploring its greatest challenges and opportunities, the seventh edition of the Summit will centre around The Transformation of Global Food Systems.
“This year’s theme centers around the question that’s burning on everyone’s mind: how do we transform the global food system? What needs to change to maintain and expand food security in the face of mounting threats, from Covid and the Ukraine war to cratering crop yields and ever gloomier climate predictions? What needs to change to stop F&A itself from undermining the environment and public health?” said Adam Anders, managing partner at Anterra Capital and co-founder of F&A Next.
“It’s essential that the F&A community comes together to discuss these pressing problems and find ways to help solve them, together”.
Topics include the role of impact investors, the need for regenerative farming, the future of proteins, food and ag innovation in emerging markets, and changing consumer preferences.
The speaker line-up consists of prominent business leaders and game-changers, including Peter Bakker, president & CEO of World Business Council for Sustainable Development; Tony Fadell, father of Ipod and now agrifoodtech investor; Berry Marttin, managing board Rabobank; Shashank Kumar, co-founder & CEO of DeHaat; and more.
The Next Heroes in Food & Agtech will also see the industry’s most promising food and agtech startups showcase their pioneering new solutions, live on stage.
F&A Next at Wageningen: Where opportunities meet
Drawing an international audience ranging from startups and scaleups to investors and dominant corporates, F&A Next is set to be a hub for collaboration, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Bringing together the movers and shakers of the agrifoodtech space, the Summit creates opportunities for a range of stakeholders from across the industry. Whether it is capital from innovation hungry investors, novel technologies from forward-thinking entrepreneurs, or guidance from powerful corporates you are seeking, F&A Next is a melting pot of opportunity.
“The co-founders and partners of F&A Next believe that innovation is key to sustainably feed future generations, and that partnerships are needed to make it happen. Entrepreneurs are needed for their drive, investors for their belief and corporates for their mass impact. That is why we actively bring these parties together,” said Jan Meiling, managing director of StartLife.
From classroom to boardroom
One of four event partners, attendees can also take a tour around Wageningen Campus in which some of the latest research developments and innovations within its ecosystem will be brought to light.
With a significant focus on agrifoodtech innovation, students, researchers, and residents at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) are attempting to solve challenges in the global food system by developing data-driven and high-tech solutions to make food production, farming and horticulture more efficient, resilient, and sustainable.
“F&A Next is our main event on entrepreneurship and innovation. Startups provide a tremendous focus and drive to bring solutions to societal challenges into realisation, yet need partners, clients, and investors to do so,” Sebastiaan Berendse, corporate director value creation at WUR said.
“With our fellow F&A Next co-founders and partners, we bring them all together. By doing so, the event crystalizes WUR’s three core tasks (education, research, and value creation) into one purpose – finding the answers together for the global challenges in the food system. We invite the world’s brightest minds in agrifoodtech to join us”.
