Discover the Summit Agenda

Hosted By:

Speaker: 
Matias Muchnick, Founder and CEO, NOTCO

• What does it take to transition from a company focused on R&D to a profit-making food company?
• What can we learn from companies that have already ‘graduated’ in this space? What mistakes did they make that companies starting out can learn from?
• When is the right time to start marketing the company and its offering? What role does storytelling play, and how do founders ensure they are creating meaningful change?
• Equally, when is the right time to bring on talent and what expertise should companies look for in each stage of the scale-up journey?
• What are the most important metrics to measure and shout about as you go-to-market? What consumer research is important and how should companies determine their initial sales channels?

Session Chair:
Stephen Chambers, General Partner, INDIEBIO NY / SOSV

Speakers:
Karuna Rawal, CMO, NATURE’S FYND
Lisa Dyson, Founder and CEO, AIR PROTEIN
Arturo Elizondo, CEO, THE EVERY COMPANY
Jitendra Sagili, Chief R&D and Food Technology Officer, GREEN LEAF FOODS

Speaker:
Michael Leonard, CTO, MOTIF FOODWORKS

Hosted By:

• Are we looking at alternative proteins through the right lens? Should protein be seen as a national security issue and what can we learn from China’s approach to its 14th Five-Year Plan?
• What exciting partnerships have been forged between alternative protein companies and food corporations? How can mission-driven start-ups work with meat and dairy companies, not against them?
• What does it take to convince senior management and policymakers alike to embrace emerging proteins? What can we learn from what has already taken place in the space, such as the rebranding of meat players to protein companies?
• Do we expect the public sector to price in the negative externalities of food production? How is this affecting the adoption and demand of new foods?
• How important is public funding in driving awareness and innovation in this space?

Session Chair:
Bruce Friedrich, Founder and CEO, GOOD FOOD INSTITUTE

Speakers:
Matt Spence, Managing Director, GUGGENHEIM PARTNERS
Jingxin Zheng, Regional Vice President, Americas, SINGAPORE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOARD 

• What are the main challenges cultured meat developers are experiencing, and where can partnerships play a pivotal role in solving these?
• How does the market expect to compete with the artificially low prices of traditional meat and poultry?
• From the perspectives of established corporates, how does the supply chain need to evolve in order to support the integration of cultured proteins?
• How can CPG companies lead the transition from animal products to cultured meat, much like they did with organic?
• Do we expect 2022 to bring more mergers and acquisitions in this space?

Session Chair:
Nicole Gotink, Entrepreneur In Residence, DSM

Speakers:
Lou Cooperhouse, President and CEO, BLUENALU
Tony Moses, Product Innovation Director, CRB GROUP
Timothy Olsen, Head of Cultured Meat, MERCK KGAA, DARMSTADT, GERMANY
Susanne Wiegel, Head of Alternative Protein Program, NUTRECO
Guy Michrowski, Co-Founder and CEO, PROFUSE TECHNOLOGY

Speaker:
Ranjana Sundaresan, Lead Research Analyst, SPOONSHOT

A pitch session where you get to decide the outcome! Six start-ups have one minute to pitch their solutions. The audience then votes for three start-ups to go through to the final later today.

Start-Ups:
Chris Bryson, Founder and CEO, NEW SCHOOL FOODS
Nikita Michelsen, CEO & Co-Founder, PEARLITA FOODS
Dhinakar Kompala, Founder and CEO, SUDHIN BIOPHARMA
Daphna Heffetz, Co-Founder and CEO, WANDA FISH TECHNOLOGIES
Tim Wildin, CEO, VERTAGE
Monica Bhatia, Founder and CEO, CELLA FARMS

Hosted By:

• What are the main challenges currently associated with fermentation scale-up? Why is growth in manufacturing facilities not keeping up with demand?
• What progress has been made in reducing the costs of downstream processing?
• What tools do companies have at their fingertips to predict what a scaled process looks like, before investing significant amounts of money and time into something that doesn’t work?
• Has there been any new infrastructure innovation that does not follow the conventional steel tank setup? What running systems are proving effective for this industry?
• What are the considerations for companies looking to build a bespoke facility? Is a better to partner with a company that already has pre-existing infrastructure, or outsource to a contract manufacturer?
• What scale-up partnerships have been particularly successful and what can we learn from them?

Session Chair:
Mark Warner, Founder, WARNER ADVISORS

Speakers:
Julian Melchiorri, CEO and Founder, ARBOREA
Neal Jakel, Managing Director, FLUID QUIP TECHNOLOGIES
David Brandes, Co-Founder and CEO, PLANETARY
Laura Katz, Founder and CEO, HELAINA
Crystal Bleecher, Bioprocessing Technical Specialist, MERRICK & COMPANY

Speakers:
Sneha Srikrishnan, Senior Director Fungal Technology, GINKGO BIOWORKS
Sushmita Venkatraman, Director of Marketing, GINKGO BIOWORKS

Thimus showcases the power of its EEG technology, allowing attendees to see its electrical brain activity and gain an in-depth understanding into the behavior and motivations that drive your eating habits.

Host:
Mario Ubiali, Founder and CEO, THIMUS

The three start-up finalists, voted for by the audience earlier today, have 5 minutes to pitch their solutions to a panel of judges followed by questions. One start-up will be crowned winner and awarded the opportunity to be involved at our next Future Food-Tech summit.

Sharks:
Costa Yiannoulis, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, SYNTHESIS CAPITAL
Hadar Sutovsky, VP External Innovation, ICL GROUP

Speaker:
Rahul Shinde, Global Director of Front-End-Innovation, GIVAUDAN

Thimus showcases the power of its EEG technology, allowing attendees to see its electrical brain activity and gain an in-depth understanding into the behavior and motivations that drive your eating habits.

Host:
Mario Ubiali, Founder and CEO, THIMUS

Network with industry colleagues AND enjoy a Kahoot quiz hosted by Tastewise on the main stage. Test your knowledge of alternative protein trends – you could win a new pair of Airpods max!

This presentation will share exclusive investment data, insights into where capital has been allocated
in alternative proteins over the last year and the emerging technologies capturing investor interest.

Speakers:
Morgan LeConey, Head of Food & Beverage Coverage, NOMURA GREENTECH
David Verbitsky, Head of AgTech & Sustainable Food, NOMURA GREENTECH

If you had one dollar, where would you invest it? An interactive debate between experts and live attendees around whether advances in novel foods will make plant-based irrelevant.

Session Chair:
Chloe Sorvino, Staff Writer, FORBES

Speakers:
Keith Seiz, Ingredient Marketing, CALIFORNIA WALNUT COMMISSION
David Kestenbaum, General Partner and Head of the New Venture Fund, ZX VENTURES
Niyati Gupta, Founder and CEO, FORK & GOOD
Žiga Vraničar, COO, NARAYAN FOODS

Brevel showcases plant-based cheeses made with its high-nutrition micro-algae produced with its patent-pending process.

Host:
Yonatan Golan, Co-Founder and CEO, BREVEL

Moolec Science showcases its platform that expresses animal proteins by growing genetically engineered crops containing bovine and porcine proteins, and how this new technology can improve all aspects of meat alternatives.  

Speaker:
Gaston Paladini, Founder and CEO, MOOLEC SCIENCE

• What products do we expect to see on the shelves in 2050? Which categories are currently being neglected and what are the challenges that need to be solved to get there?
• Does it look like the traditional food industry, very centralized with a few dominant players, or will the industry follow a different structure? When do we expect to see consolidation in the market?
• How are companies catering to different cuisines around the world? Which regions do we expect to experience strong growth and where do we need to deploy more capital?
• As a lot of talent is still lacking in the sector, how do companies envisage attracting workers to build this protein future? Will manufacturers rely on automation to plug the gap?

Session Chair:
Elysabeth Alfano, CEO, VEGTECH INVEST

Speakers:
Aylon Steinhart, CEO, ECLIPSE FOODS
Matt Gibson, Co-Founder and CEO, NEW CULTURE
Miller Tran, VP of Research and Development, TRITON ALGAE INNOVATIONS
Lalana Thiranusornkij, Head of Innovation and New Product Development, CPF FOODS
Thomas Couteaudier, Chief Strategy Officer, LOUIS DREYFUS COMPANY

Brevel showcases plant-based cheeses made with its high-nutrition micro-algae produced with its patent-pending process.

Host:
Yonatan Golan, Co-Founder and CEO, BREVEL

The Rethink Events team will recap the day’s adventures and look ahead to what’s planned for Day Two. We’re also delighted to introduce Eyal Malis, CEO of TNUVA to welcome delegates to the Networking Cocktail Hour after the summit.

Networking Cocktail Hour Hosted By:

• Why is Canada’s ecosystem growing so quickly?
• How are innovative start-ups in plant-based food and ingredients developing the next generation of products?
• How does their integrated ecosystem from farmer to ingredient processor to food manufacture result in accelerated innovation
• What is their government doing to support the growth of plant-based foods and de-risking investment?

Session Chair:
Bill Greuel, CEO, PROTEIN INDUSTRIES CANADA

Speakers:
Jasmine Byrne, President, BIG MOUNTAIN FOODS
Chris Bryson, Founder and CEO, NEW SCHOOL FOODS
Blair Bullus, President, WAMAME FOODS
Blair Knippel, CFO, T BASE 4 INVESTMENTS

Hosted By:

This session will focus on how major suppliers such as ADM are supporting the next generation of food and beverage leaders through dual corporate innovation platforms.

Speaker:
Allyson Fish, President, Global Plant and Alternative Proteins, ADM

• How is technology allowing us to rethink the way we produce and formulate products?
• How does bottom-up formulation compare to a top-down approach? From cost to nutrition efficiency, what benefits do each of these methods bring to the table?
• What is the most efficient way of making protein? Does designing ingredients from scratch help minimise a product’s overall sustainability metrics, vs the extraction techniques we use today?
• How will this new formulation process generate more collaboration and how will companies’ dependence on each other shift the way business collaborations are perceived and modelled?
• What isolates and speciality ingredients are most in demand? What areas are most in-need of investment and innovation?

Session Chair:
Taryn Goodman Gallery, Managing Director, CULTIVIAN SANDBOX

Speakers:
Jason Rosenberg, Head of Business Development, REMILK
Brian Loeb, Co-Head, CONTI
Susanna Palatucci, Global Head of Health & Wellness, TATE & LYLE
Bruce Bennett, President of Ingredients, BENSON HILL

Bee-io serves different cultivated honeys in energy bars, taffy candies, chocolate pralines and honey cookies.

Host:
Ofir Dvash, CEO, BEE-IO

Hosted by plenary speakers and others, these are small breakout groups brainstorming solutions to some of the industry’s most pressing challenges.

• The Future of Food is Female
  Host: Jennifer Stojkovic, Founder and CEO, VEGAN WOMEN SUMMIT
• The Hybridization of Alternative Protein Products
  Host: Bruce Friedrich, Founder and CEO, GOOD FOOD INSTITUTE
• Claims, Labeling, and Marketing for Environmental Benefit
  Host: Ann Begley, Partner, WILEY
• New Opportunities and Challenges for Novel Protein Authorization
  Host: Justyna Pałasińska, Head of Food Team, PEN & TEC CONSULTING
• Key Infrastructure Considerations for Scaling Future Food Technologies
  Host: David Ziskind, Director of Engineering, BLACK & VEATCH
• Deep Diving into the Alternative Protein Consumer
  Host: Joanne Kennedy, Senior Business Development Manager, MOTIF FOODWORKS
• Unsustainable Confusion: The Need to Declutter Sustainability
  Host: Ranjana Sundaresan, Lead Research Analyst, SPOONSHOT
• Finding the Sweet Spot: Developing Science-Based, Consumer-Focused Solutions
  Co-Hosts: Jim Carr, Director Global Ingredient Technologies and Sophia Pai, VP Applications and Tech Service, TATE & LYLE
• Developing Consumer Preferred Products in Alternative Dairy
  Host: Jessa Friedrich, Digital Marketing Manager, EDLONG
• Using Biotechnology to Create Optimum Human Nutrition
  Host: Jean Louwrens, Co-Founder and CEO, DE NOVO DAIRY
• Combining Humans and Automation to Accelerate Development
  Host: Doug Rich, Head of Commercial, AUTOMATA
• Bringing New Concepts to Reality Through Partnerships
  Host: Steve Matzke, Senior Manager, Pioneering Innovation, CP KELCO
• The Network Effect: Building the Infrastructure for the Next Gen of Protein Leaders
  Host: Rafaella Fontes, Venture Capital Fellow, SUPPLY CHANGE FUND
• Creating an Effective Innovation Ecosystem
  Host: Bill Greuel, CEO, PROTEIN INDUSTRIES CANADA
• Start-Up, Corporate Partnership Models – R&D & Commercialization Models
  Host: Shay Cohen, Chief Innovation & Corporate Ventures Officer and Pnina Sverdlov, Chief R&D Officer, TNUVA GROUP
• Key Challenges in Plant-Based Innovation
  Host: Kristal Golan, Head of New Protein Solutions, BAYWA
• How to Build Brand Resonance in a Crowded Alternative Protein Space Host: Irina Gerry, CMO, CHANGE FOODS
• Achieving Affordability and Accessibility of Plant-Based Foods
  Host: Jitendra Sagili, Chief R&D and Food Technology Officer, GREENLEAF FOODS
• How to Market Your Brand for Impact
  Host: Marc Diaz, Chief Commercialization Officer, TERVIVA 
• Accelerating Innovation with External Collaboration
  Co-Hosts: Jane Staniforth and Kerry Tanner, RSSL
• Current Challenges to Scaling Cultured Meat
  Niyati Gupta, Founder and CEO, FORK & GOOD

• The Art of Developing Vegan Cheese
  Host: Matt Yurgec, Business Scientist and Manager, Dairy Applications, INGREDION
• Partnerships to Scale Cultured Meat Production
  Host: Susanne Wiegel, Head of Alternative Protein Program, NUTRECO
• Trends and Developments in QSR 
  Co-Hosts: Zack Bishti, CEO and Co-Founder and Tommaso Chiabra, Chairman and Co-Founder, NEAT FOOD  
• Design Criteria for a Precision Fermentation Facility
  Host: Joachim Schulze, CTO, PLANETARY
• Extending the Shelf-Life of Products, Naturally
  Co-Hosts: Ravi Sheth, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, and Kendall Dabaghi, Co-Founder and CEO, KINGDOM SUPERCULTURES
• Key Learnings to Make Your Company Stand Out
  Host: Nate Crosser, Investor, BLUE HORIZON

Bee-io serves its different cultivated honeys in energy bars, taffy candies, chocolate pralines and honey cookies.

Host:
Ofir Dvash, CEO, BEE-IO

Speakers:
Taly Nechushtan, CEO, INNOVOPRO
Michael Natale, Global Leader of Plant Based Proteins Platform, INGREDION

Host:
Nick Hazell, Founder and CEO, V2FOOD

• How has the acceleration of innovation in the food sector impacted regulators? What are the benefits and challenges that this growth has brought with it?
• What key differences are there when applying to different region’s regulators?
• Are regulators able to tell us when they expect cultured meat to be approved? Are we one year away, five or ten? Which region will be next?
• What advice would regulators give to start-ups looking to work with novel foods? How can we make the process as streamlined as possible as more applications are submitted?

Session Chair:
Bob Hibbert, Senior Counsel, WILEY

Speakers:
Deepti Kulkarni, Partner, SIDLEY AUSTIN
Jeremiah Fasano, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Food Additive Safety, FDA
Philip Bronstein, Assistant Administrator, Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA
Eric Schulze, VP of Product and Regulation, UPSIDE FOODS
Tony Pavel, Head, Global Food Law, PERFECT DAY

Hosted By:

• Are we using the right sources of protein today and are we planting the right seeds for better future sources?
• How important are farming practices to the overall sustainability rating of a crop? How does this compare to other areas of the supply chain, like transportation?
• What benefits does sourcing locally offer over importing from abroad? Are there new sources out there that have more flexibility in local sourcing?
• Are we using the right varieties of pea or soy today?  Could other varieties deliver on high protein content or better taste and what will it take to implement these into mainstream agriculture?
• How will the future landscape of protein sources look like? Will we see a wider variety, or will the incumbents be overtaken by the challengers we see emerging today?
• How will climate changes and extreme weather events affect our ability to source protein in an effective way? Are we prepared for the next decades of climate and political changes in terms of our nutrition?

Session Chair:
Mike Ward, Partner, MORRISON FOERSTER

Speakers:
Maxime Saffon, Plant Protein Ingredient Advisor, NESTLE
Chris Theal,  President and CEO, PHYTO ORGANIX
Yonatan Golan, Co-Founder and CEO, BREVEL
Nicole Atchison, CEO, PURIS HOLDINGS

Speaker:
Nurit Argov, CSO, WILK

Speakers:
Mario Ubiali, Founder and CEO, THIMUS
Jose Guerrero, Founder and R&D, ANIMA PROJECT

• As we move past burgers and nuggets, which companies will become the next unicorns?
• What areas are currently under invested? What companies are investors keeping an eye on, and what areas are they still struggling to see long-term viability?
• With tech stocks and public companies such as Beyond and Oatly seeing a correction, what does this mean for the broader market? Will we see a slowdown of IPOs and is this a result of companies overpromising on what they can deliver as they fight for eyeballs?
• Will we see the private sector valuations also correct, as we are seeing in public markets?
• How are different funding models fairing regionally? Is Europe, given a tighter view on capital allocation, seeing as many success cases as other regions?
• Are investors too fixated on consumer-facing brands, and is there a need to incentivize investment into the picks and shovels?

Session Chair:
Sharyn Murray, Senior Investor Engagement Specialist, GOOD FOOD INSTITUTE 

Speakers:
Manuel Waenke, Director, Ventures, FOOTPRINT COALITION 
Rosie Wardle, Co-Founder and Partner, SYNTHESIS CAPITAL
Sagar Bhadra, US Investment Director, TEMASEK
Kathryn Weinmann, Vice President, NORWEST VENTURE PARTNERS

• How are brands using storytelling to make novel foods more relatable to the consumer?
• As we introduce new products into the market, like seafood, what can we learn from the progress made with burgers? What are the similarities, and what are the differences between what resonates with consumers?
• What are the latest consumer studies saying around the impact of language on consumer behavior? What progress has been made in creating universal terminology for foods made through precision fermentation or cell culturing?

Speaker:
Chris Bryant, Honorary Research Associate, UNIVERSITY OF BATH

• What new ingredients and processes are allowing companies to create products that better simulate the sensory experience of their animal counterparts, especially whole muscle products?
• How is hybridization playing a role in improving products? How are companies thinking about leveraging technologies like precision fermentation when designing new products?
• Can we continue to grow the plant-based category without extrusion technology? What progress has been made in tackling texture through ingredients, not mechanics?
• What role are upcycled or carbon negative ingredients playing in new products? How important are additional sustainability claims over functionality?
• When it comes to creating bulk protein, what are the benefits to using biomass fermentation over crops like soy and pea? For these companies, how do you build IP that is defensible?

Session Chair:
Megan Poinski, Senior Reporter, FOOD DIVE

Speakers:
Felipe Vidigal, R&D Processing and Digital Innovation Manager, UNILEVER
Tarun Anumol, Director, Global Environment & Food Applied Markets, AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES
Nick Hazell, Founder and CEO, V2FOOD
MJ Kinney, Plant-Based Protein Expert, XPRIZE