AGENDA/ PROGRAMME

October 26

19h30 – 22h30

Community dinner in Lisbon for all EIT Food Venture Summit participants
Meet and greet our pan-European community of leading start-up founders, corporate partners, and investors at a delicious dinner on the banks of the Tagus River in the ever-changing city of Lisbon

October 27

Stage

8h30 – 8h50

Venture Summit opens its doors

Registration and Coffee

8h50 – 9h10

Welcome to the 5th EIT Food Venture Summit

Andy Zynga

CEO EIT Food

9h10 – 9h30

Opening Keynote

How food tech innovation will contribute to a sustainable European ecosystem.

Manon Sarah Littek

Founding Partner at Green Generation Fund

9h30 – 11h00: Enjoy a European tour of the agri-food tech
start-up scene!

What are the main challenges faced by EU regions to successfully transform their food systems? What are their strengths and weaknesses to achieve this transformation through innovation? Who are the main players and (future) unicorns in these regions? What’s going on in:

Nordics-Baltics

Challenging times require outstanding solutions
Panel moderated by:
Marja-Liisa Meurice, EIT Food North-East Director with:

Johan Jörgensen

Founder and partner Sweden Foodtech

Mirva Lampinnen

Co-creation Manager at VTT and EIT FAN Hub Helsinki representative

Kristina Šermukšnytė Alešiūnienė

Director at Agrifood Lithuania DIH

Stella Spanou

Innovation Advisor at Aarhus University, Denmark

SOUTH

The appeal of the southern creative and entrepreneurial spirit
Panel moderated by:
Begoña Perez-Villareal, EIT Food South Director, with:

Gonçalo Amorim

Vice-chairman of the board Food 4 Sustainability and CEO BGI, Portugal

Amaia Egia

New Business Development Manager at Mondragon Business Development Centre, Spain

Peter Krüger

Founder and chairman of Agrifood-tech Italia

BENELUX/ France

The Growing Dynamic in France and the Benelux.
Panel moderated by Martine Van Veelen, EIT Food West Director, with:

Marie Breysse

Innovation Manager at ShakeUp Factory, France

Philippe Vanrie

European Affairs Manager at Wagralim Food Cluster, Belgium

Loet Rammelsberg

Program Director at StartLife, the Netherlands

DACH region

Shaping the regional agrifood ecosystem in the heart of Europe.
Panel led by Marie Ammann, Business Creation Manager at EIT Food CLC Central, with:

Katelijne Bekers

Co-founder and CEO at MicroHarvest

Jean-Gabriel Tarnaud

Venture Manager at Doehler Ventures

Robin Simsa

CEO at Revo Foods

North-western Islands

Panel moderated by Jayne Brookman, EIT Food Northwest Director, with:

Rebecca Lewis

New Business & Proposals Manager at Agri-EPI Centre

Simon Baty

Knowledge Transfer Manager (AgriFood) at Innovate UK KTN

Justine Vanhalst

Project Manager at Matís

11h00 – 11h30

Coffee break

11h30 – 12h00

Winning together – How to make start-up-corporate collaboration work (incl. Corporate Venturing Award Ceremony)

What works already well when it comes to start-up / corporate collaborations, where is need for improvement? In this session we aim to identify together with selected experts from our EIT Food community best practices of start-up / corporate collaboration models.

Interactive session moderated by Marie Brueser, Corporate Venture Manager at EIT Food.

Panellists:

Dragana Vukasinovic

Founder and CEO at Fauna Smart Technologies

Simon Maechling

Innovation Manager at Bayer Crop Science

In the second half of the session, we will present the first ever EIT Food Corporate Venturing Award to recognize the outstanding commitment and achievements of selected corporate partners.

12h00 – 12h25

Seed Investing in Tumultuous Times

Raising seed capital during the current rapidly changing market conditions is critical. At the same time, the climate and food system urgency to scale new technologies and business models has never been greater. This panel will discuss why raising the right investment from the right investors is critical, and how to go about this challenge.

Panel hosted by FoodSparks® by PeakBridge and moderated by Thomas Van Den Boezem, Principal Associate.

Panellists:

Eugen Kaprov

Associate at European Circular Bioeconomy Fund

Sebastian Jeschko

Co-founder at Kern Tec GmbH

Ninna Granucci

CEO and co-founder at Green Spot Technologies

12h25 – 13h25

Lunch break

13h25 – 13h50

Impact investing in the Agri-Food tech

What is behind the rise of impact investing in the agri-food sector? How do impact investors differ from “traditional VCs”? Are impact investors willing to sacrifice returns? How do you think like an impact investor to raise money? How do you measure impact performance and why is it important for start-ups raising funds?

Panel moderated by Martijn Blom, Manager for Benelux & Impact Funds Initiative Coordinator (EVPA – European Venture Philanthropy Association)

Panellists:

Eric Buckens

Director ABN AMRO Social Impact Fund

Guillaume Boury

Investment associate at Telos Impact

13h50 – 14h10

Start-up success story – Phytolon: Disruptive Solutions to Ancient Problems, Offered by Modern Biotechnology

Phytolon provides an ultimate solution to natural food coloring, soon to be adopted by leaders in the global food industry. Halim Jubran will speak about the path that Phytolon took to promote and scale its offering of natural food ingredients from fermentation.
Halim Jubran, Co-Founder CEO Phytolon

14h10 – 14h20

Introduction to the EIT Food mission framework

Andrew Carlin

Director of Strategic Programmes at EIT Food

14h20 – 14h35

Introduction to Impact Start-up Competition

Sharon Cittone

Co-founder Edible Planet Ventures

14h35 – 15h15

Mission: Healthier Lives through Food

How to increase health adjusted life years (HALYS) through food and what role technology plays? How to increase the availability of food products with improved nutritional profile to consumers, with reduced levels of salt, sugar, or trans and saturated fats?

  • Panel discussion around mission: Healthier Lives through Food
  • Start-up pitches: how is your start-up creating impact at scale?
  • Audience vote + Award-giving ceremony

15h15 – 15h45

Coffee break

15h45 – 16h25

Mission: A Net-Zero Food System

How to reduce CO2 and other significant environmental impacts in the food system?
How to increase the number of products on the market that use food waste, side-streams, alternative or new ingredients and improve environmental impact outcomes?

  • Panel discussion around mission: A Net-Zero Food System
  • Start-up pitches: how is your start-up creating impact at scale?
  • Audience vote + Award-giving ceremony

16h25 – 17h05

Mission: A Fully Transparent, Resilient and Fair Food System

How to reduce the cost burden attached to food insecurity and food safety issues?
How to increase Societal Return on Investment due to the adoption of technology improving transparency, traceability, or security across the food system?

  • Panel discussion around mission: A Fully Transparent, Resilient and Fair Food System
  • Start-up pitches: how is your start-up creating impact at scale?
  • Audience vote + Award-giving ceremony

17h05 – 17h15

Closing words

Benoit Buntinx

Director of Business Creation EIT Food

17h15 – 18h30

Cocktail

Marketplace

9h00 – 18h00

Discover a selection of +40 start-ups across our 6 focus areas (sustainable aquaculture, sustainable agriculture, protein diversification, circular food systems, targeted nutrition and digital food traceability), try their prototype, test their product, discuss a possible pilot project or evaluate an investment opportunity

Move to the Start-up Village place

Matchmaking Start-up/Corporate – Start-up/Investor

9h00 – 18h00

Prepare for meetings in advance with the EIT Food portfolio booklet that will be shared with all registered participants and reserve a time slot for a quick or slow 1-on-1 meeting using our dedicated app. EIT Food team can help you to identify your targets! Take advantage of an adjacent room for quiet discussions and initiate promising collaborations.