Speaker bio TBC.
Speaker bio TBC
He graduated from Faculty of Agronomy of Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague in 2000. Since then, he has been working at the Ministry of Agriculture: begins his professional career as a desk officer, and then becomes a Head of International Trade Agreements Unit and later, a Head of Unit for Trade Policy. After a long-time period of serving as a Director of the Food Department, he became an accountable Deputy Minister for the Section of Food and Agriculture in 2019. Since January 2022 he has been responsible for the Section of Food.
He has countless experience in the high-level international activities in the field of food and agriculture as he e.g. chaired multiple councils, committees or forums. What’s more, he acted as Vice-Chairman of the specialized international commodity organization ICO Executive Committee and then as
Chairman of another international commodity organization ICCO (elected by all the members of the organization as the EU nominee).
During 2021, he also acted as the national coordinator of the UN High Level Summit on the sustainable development of food systems.
Jindřich Fialka is also active in lecturing and educational activities especially for small farmers and food producers.
He speaks fluent English, French, Slovak and Russian.
According to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, realising the full mitigation potential from the food system requires change at all stages from producer to consumer and waste management. The IPCC states that emerging food technologies such as cellular fermentation, cultured meat, plant-based alternatives to animal-based food products, and controlled environment agriculture, can bring substantial reduction in direct GHG emissions from food production. EU policymakers and agrifood stakeholders will need to make decisions about funding, investment, roll-out plans and policy incentives which will define the transition to a more sustainable and climate friendly food system. Developing such transition pathways requires a thorough understanding of how the carbon footprint of the agrifood sector is distributed across regions and value-chains.
Better known as Brusselsgeek, Jennifer has been a journalist in print, radio and television for nearly 20 years, the last 8+ specialising in EU policy in the tech sector.
She has worked across a wide range of media, from editing a national daily paper in Malta, to reporting on European affairs for Middle Eastern television, and has a wealth of experience in navigating the political quagmire of the EU. As well as an address book packed with insider sources and contacts in Brussels, Jennifer is skilled at translating EU policy-speak into understandable English.
Regularly listed as one of the top digital influencers in the EU bubble, Jennifer is a member of the Expert Council of the Good Technology Collective, is on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Data Protection and Privacy, is on the also a GLG expert Council Member providing advice on EU Policy, and was named by Onalytica as one of the world’s Top 100 Influencers on Data Security 2016. She was also listed by Politico as one of the Top 20 Women Shaping Brussels in 2017.
She has written for some of the biggest names in media, including ArsTechnica, Computerweekly, TheNextWeb, Macworld, PCworld, and The Register. She regularly features as an expert on BBC radio, SkyNews and others, and hosts Brussels’ must-watch weekly roundup show TOTW for Euractiv.
Biography to follow shortly.
Biography to follow shortly.
Biography to follow shortly.
Alan Belward works at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in Italy where he is Acting Director and head of the Food Security Unit in the Directorate for Sustainable Resources. Alan has served on numerous international science panels including the Global Climate Observing System, the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 Mission Advisory Group and the NASA and USGS’ Landsat Science Team. He has a BSc in Plant Biology from Newcastle University, as well as MPhil and PhD degrees from Cranfield University’s School of Agriculture Food and Environment and is a Fellow of the UK’s Royal Society of Biology.
Matt joined Unilever in 1992 and has held global and regional senior roles across Unilever’s divisions. Prior to his current role Matt was EVP for Global Ice Cream for six years.
In this role, Matt has navigated the ice cream business through the COVID pandemic, particularly challenging given the size of our Out of Home business. He has delivered strong growth for the global ice cream business by pursuing a strategy of premiumisation and channel shift. He strengthened both Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s whilst increasing the contribution from the more profitable Out of Home channel pre-Covid and pivoting to digital commerce during the pandemic. The quick commerce IceCreamNOW channel exemplifies how Matt uses innovation as a key driver for growth.
Prior to the Global role, Matt led the European Ice Cream business from 2013 to 2015, simplifying and streamlining the business, restoring Out of Home growth and making the strategic shift to accelerate Magnum and B&J’s. From 2011 to 2013 Matt was pushing the business towards the growth tailwinds and really learning how to get the most from our people and plans in his role as VP Marketing for Europe Foods and Ice Cream.
From 2003 to 2011 Matt held a number of roles in the UK/I Home and Personal Care businesses focusing on winning market share for the Deodorants and Laundry business.
Matt is British. He is married and has three daughters. In his spare time he is a keen cyclist and enjoys cooking.
In cooperation with FoodDrinkEurope
Cooperation among food industry players, as well as between industry, farmers and other stakeholders, is key to develop and deploy innovative solutions to increase the sustainability and resilience of the agrifood sector and achieve the EU’s climate objectives. The Code of Conduct, one of the first deliverables of the Farm to Fork Strategy, encourages food system stakeholders to voluntarily commit to improve their sustainability performance and it fosters collaboration allowing food businesses to share best practices, learn from one another, and blaze a trail for smaller actors. The Code also recognizes the importance of partnership to strengthen supply chain relations and identify synergies and opportunities for collaboration in R&I, capacity building, training, skill development and uptake of digital solutions and modern technologies.
Better known as Brusselsgeek, Jennifer has been a journalist in print, radio and television for nearly 20 years, the last 8+ specialising in EU policy in the tech sector.
She has worked across a wide range of media, from editing a national daily paper in Malta, to reporting on European affairs for Middle Eastern television, and has a wealth of experience in navigating the political quagmire of the EU. As well as an address book packed with insider sources and contacts in Brussels, Jennifer is skilled at translating EU policy-speak into understandable English.
Regularly listed as one of the top digital influencers in the EU bubble, Jennifer is a member of the Expert Council of the Good Technology Collective, is on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Data Protection and Privacy, is on the also a GLG expert Council Member providing advice on EU Policy, and was named by Onalytica as one of the world’s Top 100 Influencers on Data Security 2016. She was also listed by Politico as one of the Top 20 Women Shaping Brussels in 2017.
She has written for some of the biggest names in media, including ArsTechnica, Computerweekly, TheNextWeb, Macworld, PCworld, and The Register. She regularly features as an expert on BBC radio, SkyNews and others, and hosts Brussels’ must-watch weekly roundup show TOTW for Euractiv.
Michiel de Ruiter is the chairperson of EIT Food’s Supervisory Board since February 2022.
His fascination with food began during his studies at the Agricultural University of Wageningen. After his early professional life working with McKinsey in Amsterdam, Sao Paulo and Brussels, he worked in various companies as CEO in Switzerland and in The Netherlands, in the field of early life nutrition and food ingredients.
Since September 2020, he has been active in various supervisory and advisory role, including in the food industry. Following his strong belief that companies have a major role to play in preserving this planet for future generations, he also became active in advising boards on sustainability.
Dirk Jacobs is Director General of FoodDrinkEurope, the organisation of the European food and drink industry, one of Europe’s largest manufacturing sectors in terms of turnover, employment and value added.
Mr Jacobs is a member of various EU platforms and regularly engages in global multilateral bodies such as the United Nations, WTO, FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius, OECD and FAO. He is Chair of a multi-stakeholder Task Force which led the development of an EU Code of Conduct for Responsible Food Business and Marketing Practices, the first deliverable of the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy.
Mr Jacobs has long-standing professional experience covering various roles in international and EU public/political affairs and strategic communications. Previously, he served as FoodDrinkEurope’s Deputy Director General and headed its department for consumer information, nutrition and health.
Mr Jacobs, a Dutch national, holds a Master of Science (MSc) in International Business Administration at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, studied international economics in Milan, Italy, and has obtained a post-graduate MBA degree in European Business studies in Brussels, Belgium.
Biography to follow shortly.
The EU has declared 2022 the European Year of Youth, recognising young people’s role in building a better, more sustainable future. With its commitment to inclusive food system innovation, EIT Food is working to ensure that youth have a spot at the table, shaping the future of food by educating young talents to think entrepreneurially and solve food system challenges. Greater participation of younger generations in innovation can accelerate the EU’s ambitions to transform food systems. This session will bring on stage two of the best teams, formed by students aged 16-19 years old, who have taken part in the 2022 edition of ‘Skills for the Future‘. This cross-KIC project, realised in collaboration with Junior Achievement Europe, aims to mainstream the teaching of entrepreneurial skills in high schools, prepare students to become future change-makers and promote the adoption of new teaching and learning methodologies. Students confronted with challenges focusing on Food Waste, Agriculture 4.0 and Healthy Nutrition, are involved in innovation camps and tasked with creating innovative solutions and mini-enterprises. Two teams will pitch their business ideas to the audience and issue a call to action to further develop the solutions.
Dr. Mario Roccaro has joined the EIT Food in April 2018 as Programme Manager Education in charge of developing educational offerings including the Professional Development actions for postgraduates and professionals of the Agri-Food sector. Previously, Dr. M. Roccaro was engaged at the European Commission DG EAC as policy officer in charge of designing and implementing the HORIZON 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. After receiving his first degree in Food and Science Technology from the University of Milan (IT) he worked for several food industries in Italy before pursuing further education. He received a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Edinburgh (UK). Subsequently, he worked as plant scientist at the Max Planck Institute Cologne (DE) performing basic and applied science.
Antoaneta Angelova-Krasteva has been Director for Innovation, Digital Education & International Cooperation at DG EAC since 2016. Her main activities are education, academic & business cooperation, research & innovation. She joined the Commission in 2008 and has covered a variety of subjects. She is a graduate in political science of Sofia University, with European studies from Germany and the UK.
Biography to follow shortly.
After the plenary sessions, attendees will break out into 5 parallel sessions. These sessions are meant to provide an opportunity for interaction, brainstorming and collaboration between participants who will be expected to play an active role. For each breakout session EIT Food will provide a concept note to brief participants and guide the conversation.
The recent Commission’s proposals on corporate sustainability due diligence and deforestation free supply chains are increasing pressure on industries to identify, report and tackle negative externalities from EU production and consumption, which may include human rights issues, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, pollution or ecosystem degradation. Innovation and digital technology can help companies increase traceability and transparency in their supply chains and take action to address potential hotspots. But technology alone is not enough.
How can these practices become mainstream to create a new level playing field where competition does not hamper, but rather promotes the respect of fundamental sustainability requirements?
In this workshop, a panel of 15-20 citizens will engage in solution-oriented conversations with policy-makers, industries, innovators and civil society organizations. Stepping out of their bubble, participants will discuss what is needed from government, industry and consumers to elevate the standards of our production and supply chains.
This workshop is hosted by FoodUnfolded®, a global food information platform established by EIT Food, providing science-based insights about the origins of our food, the broader food system and the latest food and agricultural innovations.
Maxine Roper is CoFounder of Connecting Food, a French FoodTech scaleup. After 20 years in the food industry Maxine founded Connecting Food with Stefano Volpi, to enable industry players to trace and measure compliancy and sustainability of their food products in real time. Maxine is British and lives in Paris with her French husband and 3 children.
Youth find careers in the agrifood sector insufficiently appealing. However, an injection of new talent throughout the value chain will be necessary to drive the transformation of the EU’s food system. Firstly, the ageing EU primary sector requires a generational renewal. Only 11% of farm managers in the EU are under the age of 40. Meanwhile, the food industry also faces an uphill battle in attracting qualified talent. On top of this, as highlighted by the 2018 EU Bioeconomy Strategy, new skills will need to form a new generation of professionals able to address the systemic and cross-cutting nature of new bioeconomy approaches. Finally, it is also necessary to equip a future generation of STEM professionals with both the technical knowledge and the entrepreneurial skills to develop innovative solutions and take them to the marketplace.
This workshop will explore the role of education as a powerful tool in attracting new talent to food careers and contribute to ending skilled labour shortages across these four areas, as well as helping students understand the multitude of opportunities that have arisen in this increasingly dynamic sector.
The workshop will start with a roundtable debate with few opening speakers. After the break, participants will join different breakout groups to zoom in on how education can contribute to attracting talent into specific segments of the food system.
Founder of Climate Smart Elephant communication and education agency. Climate and sustainability communication expert and psychologist, translating the global climate context to local level in diverse topics, from small scale actions to communication campaigns and education materials. Her main focus is urban transformation and learning material development for various stakeholders from schools to municipalities.
Firm believer in the EU and globe-trotter with an experience of +10 years in communication in small and big organisations (EC, UNESCO). Miriam Sastre has worked as Communication Manager at EIT Food for Southern Europe since 2018. Her expertise is focused on building a strong communication that promotes and strengthens the innovation ecosystem across Southern Europe, delivering meaningful impact for both people and the planet. She is a graduate in Advertising and Public Relations from the University of the Basque Country, and has a Master of Arts with major on Communication for development from the university of Malmö.
Bent is a Professor of Urban Food Systems Transformation at University of Copenhagen. His research is on local community and city/region based green food systems interventions based on citizens and young peoples engagement. Particularly interested in developing better real-time methods based on digital signals and open data as part of the Smart City agenda. Since 2015 he has been working with Big Data for food in the EU Richfields project and is a member of the board in the international Food, Nutrition & Health Research Infrastructure and member of the Danish National Node. Founder of FoodData4 Good and PI of the Donate Your Food Data and the Smart Urban & Regional Fooddata (SURF) projects.
Biography to follow shortly.
Carl leads LEAF’s ambitious, industry leading, education and public engagement strategy that is enabling schools to enrich their curriculum and increase public understanding of our modern farming industry and the importance of the agricultural industry. Carl is ensuring that the agricultural industry listens to the voice of young people in shaping how we work with our future generation; being at the forefront of promoting an understanding of the Agricultural industry by teenagers, a long-overlooked audience. He has overseen key areas of development for the industry, including pioneering teenage research; this ultimately led to the National Competition in Food, Farming and Natural
Environment being set up in 2018, with over one-third of young people who have attended the National Competition going on to enter the land-based sector – something unfamiliar to them before this experience. Additionally, working with 16-18 year olds he developed Farming Fortnight, a two-week celebration of farming within schools during June, which sits either side of LEAF Open Farm Sunday. To date over 3.5 million people have now taken part in Farming Fortnight since its inception in 2019. Carl continues to engage with Government on the role that educational access and support for the farming industry has to play in ensuring greater societal engagement and highlighting the agricultural industry. As of 2021 Carl has over seen a rapid growth rate of LEAF Education, with a five-fold increase in the number of young people worked with and on developing far deeper and more meaningful engagement opportunities through partnerships with supermarkets and other industry professionals; this includes wider international partnerships and cooperation. Prior to LEAF, Carl was an Assistant Principal at a central Birmingham school and completed his Master of Education degree at the University of Cambridge in 2014. Carl was made a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts in 2018 in light of his commitment to sustainability and creating opportunities for greater engagement between communities, farming and the countryside.
There is growing recognition that combining novel and traditional protein sources is key to ensuring food security and addressing climate change concerns. The European Commission’s flagship Farm to Fork Strategy and Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan acknowledge the importance of increasing the availability and source of alternative proteins. Moreover, the Ukraine crisis has increased the urgency of tackling EU dependence on feed imports and promote a shift towards more plant-based diets, while ensuring a more resilient and autonomous food system.
Meanwhile, the alternative proteins market is quickly evolving. Industries and investors are already looking into their untapped potential. According to Boston Consulting Group and Blue Horizon, alternative proteins could claim as much as 22% of the overall protein market by 2035.
However, this transformation encompasses the whole supply chain, from agriculture and aquaculture to the industry and consumers. It is therefore important to understand its implications for all stakeholders in the agrifood sector and adopt strategies to shape the pathway to protein diversification, minimizing potential trade-offs and making sure it is a just and fair process.
This workshop will discuss the potential strategies and initiatives required to guide the transition to protein diversification. After a series of opening presentations, participants will work in breakout groups on four key questions.
Climate change and nature loss significantly stress our agricultural systems, with reduced precipitation and soil degradation leading to declining yields. At the same time, the latest IPCC report emphasises the importance of agriculture as a carbon sink, further highlighting the potential for carbon farming and regenerative agriculture practices to have a positively impact on GHG emissions. Achieving the EU objectives of a climate-neutral land sector by 2035 (and climate-positive thereafter) and of 100% healthy European soils by 2050 will require upscaling the transformation of European agriculture through the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices and solutions. While the toolbox of solutions may vary according to crop, region and farm size, in all cases it will be essential to support and work with farmers in the transition.
According to a recent report by the EU Carbon+ Farming Coalition, Transforming Food Systems with Farmers: A Pathway for the EU, supporting farmers to take climate-smart actions, could reduce the EU’s agricultural GHG emissions by an estimated 6% (approximately equivalent to the carbon absorbed by 1.1 billion trees in a year), restore soil health of over 14% of its total agricultural land, and add between €1.9bn and €9.3 billion annually to farmers’ incomes. However, the transition to climate-smart agricultural practices requires us to both understand and address the barriers that farmers, and the wider agrifood sector, face in making this a reality.
During this session, we will bring farmers and policymakers together to discuss the challenges identified by the report and explore how collaboration with agrifood stakeholders from across the value chain could accelerate the uptake of climate-smart agriculture in Europe.
Biography to follow shortly.
Biography to follow shortly.
By creating bridges between different backgrounds, cutting across disciplines, and building on participation at all levels, the New European Bauhaus (NEB) inspires a movement to transform societies along three values: sustainability, esthetics and inclusion. It brings together citizens, experts, businesses and institutions to reimagine sustainable living in Europe. New initiatives are flourishing to enhance urban regeneration in less favoured areas and improve the connection between cities and their rural territories, foster circular economy actions to ensure more efficient management of sources, co-design green spaces and natured-based-solutions through public-private partnerships and social participation. The values driving the NEB can inspire new approaches also to the transformation of food systems and to the relationship between cities and their peri-urban environments.
In 2021, EIT Food launched a new programme, funded by the EU, dedicated to the NEB in partnership with other EIT KICs as part of the broader NEB initiatives promoted by the European Commission. This collaboration is bringing a renewed focus on the importance of upholding social inclusion, while working on new solutions to meet the EU’s environmental and climate ambitions. In this session, EIT Food will present some of the citizen engagement projects funded under its NEB programme.
Key questions:
Biography to follow shortly.
Biography to follow shortly.
The recent Commission’s proposals on corporate sustainability due diligence and deforestation free supply chains are increasing pressure on industries to identify, report and tackle negative externalities from EU production and consumption, which may include human rights issues, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, pollution or ecosystem degradation. Innovation and digital technology can help companies increase traceability and transparency in their supply chains and take action to address potential hotspots. But technology alone is not enough.
How can these practices become mainstream to create a new level playing field where competition does not hamper, but rather promotes the respect of fundamental sustainability requirements?
In this workshop, a panel of 15-20 citizens will engage in solution-oriented conversations with policy-makers, industries, innovators and civil society organizations. Stepping out of their bubble, participants will discuss what is needed from government, industry and consumers to elevate the standards of our production and supply chains.
This workshop is hosted by FoodUnfolded®, a global food information platform established by EIT Food, providing science-based insights about the origins of our food, the broader food system and the latest food and agricultural innovations.
Maxine Roper is CoFounder of Connecting Food, a French FoodTech scaleup. After 20 years in the food industry Maxine founded Connecting Food with Stefano Volpi, to enable industry players to trace and measure compliancy and sustainability of their food products in real time. Maxine is British and lives in Paris with her French husband and 3 children.
Youth find careers in the agrifood sector insufficiently appealing. However, an injection of new talent throughout the value chain will be necessary to drive the transformation of the EU’s food system. Firstly, the ageing EU primary sector requires a generational renewal. Only 11% of farm managers in the EU are under the age of 40. Meanwhile, the food industry also faces an uphill battle in attracting qualified talent. On top of this, as highlighted by the 2018 EU Bioeconomy Strategy, new skills will need to form a new generation of professionals able to address the systemic and cross-cutting nature of new bioeconomy approaches. Finally, it is also necessary to equip a future generation of STEM professionals with both the technical knowledge and the entrepreneurial skills to develop innovative solutions and take them to the marketplace.
This workshop will explore the role of education as a powerful tool in attracting new talent to food careers and contribute to ending skilled labour shortages across these four areas, as well as helping students understand the multitude of opportunities that have arisen in this increasingly dynamic sector.
The workshop will start with a roundtable debate with few opening speakers. After the break, participants will join different breakout groups to zoom in on how education can contribute to attracting talent into specific segments of the food system.
Founder of Climate Smart Elephant communication and education agency. Climate and sustainability communication expert and psychologist, translating the global climate context to local level in diverse topics, from small scale actions to communication campaigns and education materials. Her main focus is urban transformation and learning material development for various stakeholders from schools to municipalities.
Firm believer in the EU and globe-trotter with an experience of +10 years in communication in small and big organisations (EC, UNESCO). Miriam Sastre has worked as Communication Manager at EIT Food for Southern Europe since 2018. Her expertise is focused on building a strong communication that promotes and strengthens the innovation ecosystem across Southern Europe, delivering meaningful impact for both people and the planet. She is a graduate in Advertising and Public Relations from the University of the Basque Country, and has a Master of Arts with major on Communication for development from the university of Malmö.
Bent is a Professor of Urban Food Systems Transformation at University of Copenhagen. His research is on local community and city/region based green food systems interventions based on citizens and young peoples engagement. Particularly interested in developing better real-time methods based on digital signals and open data as part of the Smart City agenda. Since 2015 he has been working with Big Data for food in the EU Richfields project and is a member of the board in the international Food, Nutrition & Health Research Infrastructure and member of the Danish National Node. Founder of FoodData4 Good and PI of the Donate Your Food Data and the Smart Urban & Regional Fooddata (SURF) projects.
Biography to follow shortly.
Carl leads LEAF’s ambitious, industry leading, education and public engagement strategy that is enabling schools to enrich their curriculum and increase public understanding of our modern farming industry and the importance of the agricultural industry. Carl is ensuring that the agricultural industry listens to the voice of young people in shaping how we work with our future generation; being at the forefront of promoting an understanding of the Agricultural industry by teenagers, a long-overlooked audience. He has overseen key areas of development for the industry, including pioneering teenage research; this ultimately led to the National Competition in Food, Farming and Natural
Environment being set up in 2018, with over one-third of young people who have attended the National Competition going on to enter the land-based sector – something unfamiliar to them before this experience. Additionally, working with 16-18 year olds he developed Farming Fortnight, a two-week celebration of farming within schools during June, which sits either side of LEAF Open Farm Sunday. To date over 3.5 million people have now taken part in Farming Fortnight since its inception in 2019. Carl continues to engage with Government on the role that educational access and support for the farming industry has to play in ensuring greater societal engagement and highlighting the agricultural industry. As of 2021 Carl has over seen a rapid growth rate of LEAF Education, with a five-fold increase in the number of young people worked with and on developing far deeper and more meaningful engagement opportunities through partnerships with supermarkets and other industry professionals; this includes wider international partnerships and cooperation. Prior to LEAF, Carl was an Assistant Principal at a central Birmingham school and completed his Master of Education degree at the University of Cambridge in 2014. Carl was made a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts in 2018 in light of his commitment to sustainability and creating opportunities for greater engagement between communities, farming and the countryside.
There is growing recognition that combining novel and traditional protein sources is key to ensuring food security and addressing climate change concerns. The European Commission’s flagship Farm to Fork Strategy and Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan acknowledge the importance of increasing the availability and source of alternative proteins. Moreover, the Ukraine crisis has increased the urgency of tackling EU dependence on feed imports and promote a shift towards more plant-based diets, while ensuring a more resilient and autonomous food system.
Meanwhile, the alternative proteins market is quickly evolving. Industries and investors are already looking into their untapped potential. According to Boston Consulting Group and Blue Horizon, alternative proteins could claim as much as 22% of the overall protein market by 2035.
However, this transformation encompasses the whole supply chain, from agriculture and aquaculture to the industry and consumers. It is therefore important to understand its implications for all stakeholders in the agrifood sector and adopt strategies to shape the pathway to protein diversification, minimizing potential trade-offs and making sure it is a just and fair process.
This workshop will discuss the potential strategies and initiatives required to guide the transition to protein diversification. After a series of opening presentations, participants will work in breakout groups on four key questions.
Regenerative agriculture could constitute one of the key solutions to many of the societal and economic challenges that our food systems face and contribute to achieving the targets of the EU’s Soil and Biodiversity Strategies. A set of practices, previously applied by Indigenous peoples and farmers on the fringe of organic farming, is now at the forefront of agronomic and environmental investigation. In response to consumer and investor demand for healthier and more sustainably produced food, policymakers and agrifood businesses are exploring ways to apply more sustainable farming practices on a large scale.
But can regenerative agriculture deliver on its promise to restore our ecosystems and produce healthier food while also allowing farmers to benefit from the food and ecosystem services they provide to society?
EIT Food’s Regenerative Agriculture Revolution project is collecting data and conducting research to answer this question, measuring the benefits that regenerative agriculture has on soil health, nutrition and farmer profitability. In this breakout session, a panel of experts will present the results of the research and discuss pathways to upscale and mainstream regenerative practices in the EU.
Philip Fernandez is currently Agriculture Project Manager at EIT Food South where he is working on an ambitious project to help European farmers transition to regenerative agriculture and raise awareness among consumers about the environmental and health benefits of sustainably produced food. Though Philip has worked in diverse fields, as a lawyer, a banker, and a conference interpreter, the recurring theme in his professional career has always been business creation. Prior to joining EIT Food, he founded and then managed a company that exported organic produce from Spain to Northern Europe and which later developed into the largest organic food home delivery service in Madrid.
As climate change threatens food systems around the world with intertwined sustainability challenges, algae could be a great solution to sustainably feed the growing global population and simultaneously contribute to a decarbonisation of the food system. Importantly, algae can provide a source of sustainable animal feed and nutraceuticals, and can be grown independent of arable land, hence reducing the pressure on land use, but also enable production closer to the site of consumption. Its ecosystem service potential as a tool for carbon sequestration is also of high relevance in reaching the targeted 2030 climate goals.
However, only very few of the available micro and macro algae species are currently intensively cultivated. The industry must fill the existing knowledge and technology gaps to profitably scale up algae cultivation and processing, and need to win the support of consumers. Algae based products need to appeal to their taste and be appreciated also for their nutritional and environmental benefits.
The session will therefore seek to address two main questions:
Biography to follow shortly.
Felix Leinemann is Head of Unit for Blue Economy Sectors, Aquaculture and Maritime Spatial Planning in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. He and his team promote a sustainable blue economy for the benefit of humankind and the oceans.
Mr Leinemann has worked for the European Commission since 2003 in various fields including fisheries and maritime policy, shipping, aviation and urban transport, as well as the EU’s global navigation satellite system Galileo. From 2012 to 2014 he worked as Transport Counselor in the EU Delegation in Washington, DC. Mr Leinemann holds a PhD from the University of Freiburg, Germany, following law studies in Germany and Italy.
Employed by EATiP since 2017, David assumed the role of Secretary General at the beginning of 2021 and is responsible for the day-to-day management and strategic coordination of this European wide multi stakeholder aquaculture ETP.
David has worked within the aquaculture industry since 2005, spending a decade as the Chief Executive of a UK producers association covering all aspects of industry representation and promotion. Through this role he became active in European aquaculture, working with FEAP (Federation of European Aquaculture Producers) where he followed a number of EU FP6 & FP7 projects in addition to participating in meetings of the European Commission ACFA Working Group 2 the precursor to the current Aquaculture Advisory Council. Among other roles, David served for 9 years as a director of the Scottish Aquaculture Research Forum, acted as Director & Company Secretary for an independent industry led quality standard/certification scheme for the UK trout farming industry, worked on the steering committee of the WWF Aquaculture Dialogues (Rainbow Trout) and subsequently the Technical Advisory Group of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC TAG) and served as an industry representative on the management committee of the Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling (UK).
He currently sits on numerous EU framework project advisory boards including the BlueBio CoFund in addition to representing EATiP within the EC Aquaculture Advisory Committee and EU Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR-Fish) Committee.
He is a graduate of the University of St. Andrews (MA Hons), UK, 1998.
For further information on EATiP please see www.eatip.eu
Sofia is heading up the Public Engagement Team at EIT Food. Within this context, Sofia is the founder of FoodUnfolded® (www.foodunfolded), EIT Food’s public facing community engaged in dialogue around the origins and future of our food. EIT Food’s work on understanding consumer barriers and drivers in relation to food chain topics and innovations, also falls within Sofia’s remit. Before joining EIT Food, Sofia worked in various science communication and public outreach positions in research performing, funding and science information organisations across Europe. She has a BSc in Biological Sciences from King’s College London and a MSc in Science Communication from Imperial College London.
Vitor Verdelho Vieira is mentor of several companies that he co-founded with partners in different sectors. He started his first microalgae biotech company Necton, SA – www.necton.pt in March 1989, which is now an European leader in the production and sale of traditional sea salt and fleur de sel, as well as the production of microalgae for aquaculture and cosmetics. He is also co-founder and board member of A4F – Algae for Future, SA – www.a4f.pt an international reference company in the sector of macro and microalgae technologies and bioengineering.
He is at present the General Manager of EABA the European Algae Biomass Association, https://eaba-association.org with headquarters in Florence, Italy. EABA represents the sector in Europe and has a wide range of activities for the promotion of the sector. During the years 2019, 2020 and 2011 he organized and managed 22 specific workshops and webinars in topics related with microalgae and seaweed.
He is presently visiting professor in Católica Porto Business School and School of Arts in Catholic University in Porto, Portugal. He is the author with Susana Costa e Silva of the 3 volumes high impact Book: The Business Case Roadmap: https://www.amazon.com/business-case-roadmap.
Between 2000 and 2015 he has been involved in the management of SpinLogic, the entrepreneurship programme and business Incubator from the College of Biotechnology in the Catholic University in Porto, where he followed and supported more than 200 startup projects.
His business experience is wide and ranges from engineering consulting and real estate to biotechnology and medical devices. In the different companies where he has been involved, he was often connected with the innovation and business development. He designed, promoted and participated in more than 60 research and development projects along the last 30 years, since the EU FP4 and interacted with more than 200 different organizations in Europe. He is author and co-author of more than 50 publications in a wide range of topics.
He has a background in Physics from the Porto University Sciences Faculty. He established his biotech and management knowledge through a comprehensive consulting experience and more than a dozen specialized training courses in Portugal and abroad, in the last 30 years, including the Sloan School of Management. His career objectives are to develop global projects, involving technology and innovation in a ‘knowledge management’ challenging framework.
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