Virtual Members' Innovations & General Assembly 2020

On October 6, 2020, Federal Councilor Guy Parmelin honored us with an inspiring speech on the future of food systems under the motto 3 D: Demand, Delight and Danger. He also visited the virtual booths of exemplary innovations from our circle of members.
The General Assembly was also under the future star. We warmly welcome 2 new board members: Karola Krell Zbinden, FoodLex and Christoph Denkel, BFH HAFL. We bid farewell to Martin Hodler, who has accompanied Swiss Food Research as a visionary on the board since 2013, in gratitude for the time spent together.
The General Assembly also unanimously affirms the "Charta for the Development of a Holistic and Sustainable Future-oriented Agro-Food System" as a declaration of intent and orientation for the transformation of the food system.

Watch the video of BR Guy Parmelin and the charter.

India- Agri-Food Bootcamp 2021

Is your idea, your start-up ready for a quantum leap into the Indian market? Would you like to achieve more leverage on sustainibility through greater reach? swissnex, Innosuisse and Swiss Food Research offer an intensive start-up program to explore exciting opportunities within the fast-growing sector of the Indian agri-food industry. Start-ups can test and work out the potential and suitability in this market with a tailored boot camp.

More information on November 05, 2020 at the online Q&A Webinar.

UN FOOD SYSTEMS SUMMIT 2021 - Pre Summit

In 2021, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, calls for a Summit on Food Systems to raise global awareness and guide commitments and actions that will change food systems to not only eliminate hunger, but also reduce food-related diseases and heal the planet.

Switzerland, as a member of the UN, is preparing this summit at different levels and with different partners. The Permanent Representation of Switzerland to the FAO is launching the BITES OF TRANSFOODMATION initiative in 2020. This initiative brings together motivated innovators and will culminate in an exhibition and a series of discussions in Rome on 24 October 2020. Swiss Food Research will be present there and invites its members to attend.

BioThesis

BioThesis is a research award of the Association of German Organic Food Manufacturers (AöL). The prize is awarded for a thesis in 2019 at a higher education institution in the German-speaking area. The thesis must have an ecological or sustainable orientation along the entire food value chain. Subjects can be production, processing and marketing in the organic food sector or its environmental and social compatibility. The award is endowed with 10,000 euros, the best bachelor's thesis with 2,000 euros and the best master's thesis with 3,000 euros. The award ceremony for the doctoral thesis takes place every year in Nuremberg at the world's leading trade fair for organic food - BIOFACH. The deadline for applications is 16 October 2020.

Next Generation of Swiss Food Ecosystems

In partnership with the Cluster Food&Nutrition cluster, Swiss Food Research has been awarded the lead in Innosuisse's NTN Innobooster "Next Generation of Swiss Food Ecosystems" for the period 2021-2024.

In an Open Innovation process, innovative ideas are designed, tested and validated through agile and collaborative methods in the areas of

• smart nutrition
• biomass valorization
• resource efficiency
• Circular Economy.
• sustainable packaging.

The NTN - Innovation Booster provides selected innovation teams with direct funds for this purpose.

Save the Date! Kickoff event with presentation of the funding portfolio is on 24 November 2020.

Save the Date: Reunions of the innovation groups

After a long, involuntary break, the dates for the meetings of the innovation groups are now defined. The respective steering groups have used the reunion-free time to put together an exciting and inspiring programme.

• Aquaculture, Tuesday, 27 October 2020
• Bioconversion, Thursday, 29 October 2020
• Digitalization, Wednesday, 18 November 2020
• Proteins4Future, Wednesday, 25 November 2020

Consult the events and the pages of the respective innovation groups to find out about the location and the program, as well as to get to the registration form.

EUREKA-Global Stars

With Eureka, Swiss companies can carry out projects internationally and develop innovative solutions across borders. The Innosuisse criteria for innovation projects apply.

Currently, tenders are open with Singapore and India. Topics could be:

• Vertical Farming
• Agro-Biotechnology
• Cellular meat and dairy
• alternative proteins.

Application deadlines:

• Call Singapore 15 October 2020
• Call India 30 November 2020

Partnership with AVINA STIFTUNG

Swiss Food Research is proud to count on a partnership with the renowned AVINA STIFTUNG for the years 2020-2023. Under the chairmanship of Dr. Viktoria Schmidheiny, the Avina Foundation today focuses on the topic of sustainably produced, healthy nutrition. In accordance with the guiding principle "Foundation for the Food of tomorrow", the foundation aims to stimulate change by providing a platform for pioneers and promoting pioneering projects.

AVINA STIFTUNG supports Swiss Food Research in its mission to network specialists, researchers and doers and to act as a catalyst for innovative solutions. AVINA STIFTUNG and Swiss Food Research jointly promote innovation with the aim of establishing healthy and sustainable food as a new standard.

Success Stories 2019

Since 2014, Swiss Food Research has evaluated 104 projects with experts and funded 57 projects with a total of CHF 507,500.
70% of the projects funded by Swiss Food Research received follow-up funding from Innosuisse.
In 2019, too, there were successful projects with ZHAW and NTB BUCHS, for example.

Member of EIT Food

EIT Food is a European Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC), which was set up to transform our food ecosystem. By connecting consumers with businesses, start-ups, researchers and students from around Europe, EIT Food supports innovative and economically sustainable initiatives which improve our health, our access to quality food, and our environment. With the Swiss Food Research accession its members have access to the spoken grants.