Food4Future @ AnugaFoodTec

The global population is currently around 8 billion. The figure should reach almost 10 billion by 2050. The majority of people will live in cities. And everyone wants to eat. The "Earth Overshoot Day" comes earlier every year. This development will further intensify the current challenges in the food system.

Even today, food production is responsible for around 1/3 of all greenhouse gas emissions. This effect will intensify with a growing global population. In addition to this, an ever increasing number of people live in urban areas. Production and consumption have become decoupled, and global supply chains are becoming increasingly fragile. Add to this challenges like food waste, packaging trash and social exploitation.

Although there is theoretically enough food today for everyone in the world, it is not equally available to all people. On the one hand, around 800 million people suffer from hunger. Another billion people suffer from vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

At the same time, many people have a surplus of food. A total of 2.1 billion people are overweight, especially in the industrial countries. A significant quantity of food is also thrown away there.

All of these different tasks can only be mastered with the help of innovative technological approaches. It is necessary to break out of the existing structures in order to set out on new paths. The need for inspiration, cooperation and expertise is increasing constantly, and new actors and business areas are establishing themselves on the market.

Thanks to an increasing convergence of technologies, we will see an increasing number of innovative, sustainable and pioneering concepts in the coming years. Whether the so-called "Internet of Food", meaning the closer, data-based networking of the entire value creation chain, Cultivated Food, Personalised Nutrition, Vertical Farming, or Functional Food, all of these concepts have a revolutionary potential.

With this format, we wish to discuss the possibilities for a sustainable transformation of the food system, bring together established providers with the new generation of "FoodTech" companies and point out innovations for the future.