2026 Agenda

What happens when you put large language models directly into the hands of food system thinkers?  

In this fast‑paced mini hackathon, teams will choose a real pressure point in the food system – from R&D and formulation to supply chains, sustainability, marketing or consumer experience – and design AI prompts or lightweight agents that actually work. The goal isn’t code perfection. It’s practical impact.  

• How are companies moving from improving single factories to managing decisions across the whole supply chain as labour gets tighter and automation increases? Where do AI, scale, and collaboration now give a real edge?
• How can automation and AI improve consistency and safety in complex production—especially with changing ingredients, frequent changeovers, allergens, and contamination risks? What role do vision systems and AI quality checks play?
• How are manufacturers increasing automation without adding risk? Where is human judgement still essential, and how can better checks and governance support wider adoption?

• How are changing intake patterns and portion economics redefining what food is expected to do, and how do those shifts alter performance expectations for nutrition?   

• What does nutrient‑first design actually mean in practice across R&D, formulation and sourcing, rather than as a positioning claim?   

• Where are legacy portfolio structures, products, formats and ingredient systems, breaking down under GLP‑1 adoption and increasing scrutiny of ultra‑processed foods?   

• Which outcomes are companies now actively prioritising in product design, such as satiety, muscle preservation and metabolic resilience — and how consistently are these priorities being applied?  

• After two days exploring the forces reshaping food innovation, from execution and reformulation to nutrition, regulation and capital, what actually needs to change for progress to happen at scale?  

• What shifted your perspective most over the course of the summit, and why?  

• Where is progress still being blocked by systems and processes, rather than technology itself?  

• What is the single decision food companies most urgently need to revisit next? 

• How are GLP‑1 usage and wellness expectations translating into real changes in purchasing, usage and repeat behaviour, not just stated intent?  

• Which functional categories are genuinely gaining momentum at shelf and in foodservice, and which are driven more by narrative than behaviour?  

• How do retailers and operators assess whether a new product has staying power after initial trial, and where do most functional products fall short?  

• What separates functional products that earn lasting shelf space from those that stall after initial trial?  

• Which consumer and market signals still reliably predict scale success—and which should brands stop over‑indexing on?  

A fast-forward to 2046, exploring how food is made, moved, personalised and experienced — and how robotics, AI, biology and data intersect with culture and human behaviour to shape a system that serves people and planet.

• As eating patterns change and functionality takes precedence, where should food and ingredient companies truly focus to support healthspan and everyday wellness?   

• What level of scientific and human data is now required to earn credibility with regulators, retailers and consumers?   

• Where is the convergence of food, supplements and health creating real opportunity—and where is it creating confusion or over‑reach?   

• How can brands communicate scientifically backed functionality in a way that is compliant, credible and commercially effective?  

• With the long-term direction in mind, what practical choices are companies making today and how do those decisions shape the food system that follows?
• In a climate marked by disruption, trade re-routing and sustained cost pressure, how are sourcing, manufacturing and partnership models evolving to balance resilience with efficiency?
• As expectations tighten and ROI comes under closer scrutiny, how are innovation and R&D priorities being reset and which technologies, categories or bets are moving forward, or quietly falling away?
• What does collaboration really look like in this environment, how are partnerships being used to share risk, unlock capacity and build resilience at scale?

Over drinks our teams take to the stage to pitch their idea to the crowd.  

Who has the GOAT snack and the cleverest prompt? We’ll let democracy decide as the crowd crowns its winners.  

Join us in the main arena for networking drinks and continue the day’s conversations in a relaxed setting. Unwind with crafted non- and low- alcoholic cocktails powered by botanicals, novel ingredients, and flavour innovations.  

What happens when a consumer’s trust shifts from brands and regulators to a smartphone scan? In this fireside conversation, we unpack the rise of health‑scoring apps like Yuka, and what their growing influence means for European food manufacturers. As front‑of‑pack labels, ingredient lists and nutrient profiles are increasingly interpreted – and judged – by third‑party algorithms, the rules of reputation, reformulation and risk are changing fast.  

NEW! As scrutiny rises from investors and CPGs, this session puts commercial readiness under the spotlight. Series A+ innovators move beyond vision to demonstrate how their businesses perform against real-world constraints - cost, procurement, regulation and manufacturability. Through business model pitches and live Q&A, this fast-paced session uncovers the proof points that determine traction: validated demand, viable pricing, regulatory readiness, and credible routes to scale. A practical test of which foodtech businesses are built for today’s operating reality. 

• As nutrition increasingly intersects with health, wellbeing and long‑term productivity, this session explores how responsibilities and incentives are beginning to shift across the food, health and insurance ecosystems.  

• How nutrition is being considered in risk, prevention and cost management today, where incentives are starting to align, and what types of evidence or collaboration could help food play a more meaningful role in supporting better health outcomes over time. 

• Cocoa supply shocks have driven rapid scaling of alternatives, showing how quickly innovation can move when it matters. With similar risks emerging in other commodities, how are companies de-risking ingredient supply?  

• Which ingredient categories are seeing real demand today, and how are CPGs signalling credible pull-through to suppliers?  

• How are procurement teams prioritising which ingredients and platforms to back, and what secures long-term sourcing commitments?  

• When does diversification reduce risk, versus narrowing suppliers to protect manufacturability and consistency? 

• Cocoa supply shocks have driven rapid scaling of alternatives, showing how quickly innovation can move when it matters. With similar risks emerging in other commodities, how are companies de-risking ingredient supply?
• Which ingredient categories are seeing real demand today, and how are CPGs signalling credible pull-through to suppliers?
• How are procurement teams prioritising which ingredients and platforms to back, and what secures long-term sourcing commitments?
• When does diversification reduce risk, versus narrowing suppliers to protect manufacturability and consistency?

Chefs and innovators showcase how novel ingredients deliver on taste, texture and functionality in real dishes. 

Chefs and innovators showcase how novel ingredients deliver on taste, texture and functionality in real dishes.

Live demonstration of how robotics is already being deployed on food production lines to deliver consistency, control and trust grounded in operational reality. 

• How are wearable-derived signals -such as sleep quality, glucose response, satiety, stress, and energy – being monitored across different consumer categories, and how is this data aggregated, contextualised and combined with public health datasets to identify dietary deficiencies and validate food health claims beyond correlation? 

• How are these aggregated physiological and behavioural insights enabling the development of personalised food and nutrition solutions that are both scientifically credible and commercially scalable? 

• How can wearables act as a bridge between science, product development, and the consumer to enable transparency, trust, and close engagement while safeguarding privacy? What does responsible use of wearable data look like in practice?

Join us for one of the most interactive sessions of the programme. Each networking roundtable discussion group is hosted by a senior decision maker, offering you a valuable opportunity to connect, network, and discuss ideas with existing and new business partners on shared areas of interest.

Snacking is where food innovation moves fastest – driven by mood, moment and immediate reward. In this time‑limited Snackathon, cross‑functional teams will come together to rapidly ideate the next generation of snack concepts, using creative collaboration rather than code. The brief: pick a snacking opportunity and build a compelling NPD idea that responds to how, why and when people snack today.  

Why we mustn’t forget food’s role as an emotional anchor.

• How are EU initiatives shaping where and how European biomanufacturing capacity gets built? Which regions are emerging as production hubs, and how do differences in infrastructure, incentives, and ecosystem maturity translate into reliability and cost competitiveness?
• From CapEx intensity and ROI timelines to customer adoption, what are the dominant barriers facing Europe’s precision fermentation economy? Why do so many platforms prove technically viable yet commercially fragile, and how can innovative financing, procurement, and regulatory structures drive scale?
• What will it take for Europe to remain a reliable, competitive location for ingredient production as Asia drives growth and shortens time-to-scale?

• Food innovation has never been more ambitious – or more expensive. As food innovation moves from momentum‑driven growth to execution‑led discipline, what does real investment discipline look like as capital becomes more selective? 

• How is financing food innovation evolving and what does this mean for startups trying to move beyond proof of concept. How can venture capital, non‑dilutive funding, and project finance being combined to support scale? 

Meet innovators creating the future of food.

• What role does the bioeconomy play in Europe’s near- and long-term food future? How are EU biomanufacturing initiatives such as the EU Biotech Act influencing innovation, scale‑up, and regional competitiveness? 

• How are biomanufacturing platforms and alternative ingredients being assessed as tools for resilience rather than novelty? From precision fermentation to cell‑based technologies, which manufacturing platforms show near- and long-term potential?  

• In food applications, what defines “high‑value” bio‑based innovation today? Which ingredient functionalities are delivering clear performance advantages - and where are discovery efforts translating into commercial outcomes?  

• How are public-private partnerships, co‑investment models, and shared infrastructure building innovation and manufacturing capacity across Europe?  

• How do approaches in regions like the Middle East and Singapore compare, and where are they moving faster on funding, infrastructure, and scale-up? 

In this rapid‑fire session, CPGs and start‑ups take the stage in pairs to unpack real relationships that made it beyond pilots, proofs‑of‑concept and polite interest. Each fireside walks through a partnership that crossed the hardest line of all: from experimentation to commitment.  These conversations get into the specifics – what tipped the balance, where friction nearly killed the deal, and how questions of performance, pricing, risk and organisational fit were resolved in practice.   

• As sugar reduction and UPF scrutiny continue while new bio-based ingredients become available, how are brands reformulating products without compromising taste, texture, or affordability?  

• Where is predictive modelling genuinely accelerating reformulation decisions and cycles - and where do gaps in data, tooling, or cross‑team alignment still force slow, trial‑and‑error testing? 

• Where do existing manufacturing and automation constraints most commonly block ingredient substitution or reformulation at scale? How has recipe development changed as formulation teams work backwards from manufacturing constraints?  

• What do CPGs now expect from ingredient partners in terms of integration logic, tolerances, and manufacturability? 

• How are brands balancing scientific evidence with consumer perception, algorithmic scoring and reputation risk as products are judged faster than they can be reformulated?
• Where are data, modelling and digital formulation tools genuinely accelerating reformulation — and where do gaps still force slow, trial-and-error approaches?
• How are teams navigating the hardest trade-offs between nutrition, taste, texture, shelf-life and affordability?
• To what extent do manufacturing and automation constraints limit ingredient substitution at scale — and how has development shifted as teams design backwards from plant realities?
• What does meaningful collaboration now look like between CPGs, ingredient partners, technology providers and regulators to deliver reformulation that is credible, scalable and commercially viable?

How do you design food that people actually want to eat, repeatedly? What’s the missing metric?

• As reformulation and alternative ingredients move centre stage, when does regulation act as an enabler and when does it become a limiting factor? How do EFSA and FSA frameworks shape which ingredients and technologies make the leap from pilot to product?
• How do regulatory timelines, evidence requirements and classification decisions influence commercial viability and investment confidence?
• Where do processing capacity, manufacturing requirements and cost structures add friction – and what practical changes could help improve throughput without compromising safety?
• What needs to align across regulators, corporates and innovators to support consistent innovation, smoother commercialisation and large-scale ingredient adoption across Europe?