Food Safety

Future of Food Summit: Change, Together

Clear Labs April 22, 2016

On April 13-14, Clear Labs was invited to participate in an Executive Roundtable at the Future of Food Summit, hosted by Generation Investment Management in London. Generation, co-founded by Al Gore and David Blood, is an investment firm focused on sustainability and long-term perspectives.

The event brought together some of the food world’s most innovative thinkers and leaders, featuring a keynote by the Honorable Al Gore and speakers from Mars, the FDA, Revolution Foods, Sysco, and The Food Business School, to name a few.

The roundtable captured the forward-thinking ideas driving change in our global food industry and supply chain today – from emerging trends in food regulation, to synthetic food manufacturing to alternative farming practices.

“If you look at history, innovation doesn’t come just from giving people incentives; it comes from creating environments where their ideas can connect.”

Steve Johnson Author

One talk that was particularly relevant to Clear Labs was a research study by SGS on the relationship between transparency and consumer trust. It explored what consumers consider to mean “sustainable,” and the power of leveraging transparency to build a relationship between brand and consumer.

Another case study explored the “High-Tech Food Chain,” uncovering how technology can disrupt traditional ways of growing, processing, distributing, buying, and preparing food.

Discussions centered around new demands on the supply chain in the era of transparency, the disruptive potential of technology on infrastructure and alternative food categories, and changing business models adapting for demographic and consumer preference trends.

We were in great company, and invigorated by the lively discussion and valuable input from each participant at the Roundtables and speaking events. We were given a seat at the table in more than a figurative way – each person contributed valuable insights to the budding ecosystem of food innovation.

Judged on its individual parts, the summit was a mecca of food innovation. Together, it was a refreshing view of the possibilities of our world and the world of food. Much more than many incredible, stand-alone ideas, the summit demonstrated the ways in which food leaders can to work together to harness all of the emerging trends in food and drive innovation in our global food chain.