AgriFoodTech in Asia Pacific continued to gain momentum and is pegged to attract a record level of venture and growth investment in 2020, despite headwinds from the coronavirus pandemic. While the pandemic highlighted supply chain vulnerabilities and prompted the need to rethink what food resilience means, it also accelerated trends in the region that saw consumers become more concerned with environmental sustainability and healthy lifestyles.
For the past four years Future Food Asia (FFA) has acted as springboard for innovators to blitz scale their businesses, and a catalyst in the sector. The platform has empowered 40+ early stage startups from Asia Pacific by providing them the stage to present their cutting-edge innovations and distributed over US$ 1 million in awards. As the voice of agrifood innovation in Asia Pacific, its annual Conference brings decision makers from leading agriculture and food corporations, influential investors, rising innovators and other key ecosystem players together.
For its 2021 edition Future Food Asia welcomes Cargill as its Title Partner and also to join the Jury, represented by Xiuling Guo, Managing Director, Cargill Global Edible Oil Solutions, Asia and Franck Monmont, Managing Director, Cargill Starches, Sweeteners and Texturizers, Asia. One of the world’s largest agricultural commodity traders and food processors, Cargill believes in the power of partnerships to drive long-lasting, far-reaching impact.
Supported by Singapore Economic Development Board since its inception, Future Food Asia is made possible due to the continued support from its partners:
- A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), Singapore’s lead public research agency, once again associated to the FFA Jury as an expert partner; Dole Asia Holdings, is one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of high-quality packaged and fresh fruit with operations covering more than 70 countries;
- Bühler, the leading global technology supplier to the food processing industry.
It also welcomes among its new partners:
- Thai Wah, the regional leader in plant based food products, a pioneer in Thailand for starch, vermicelli and noodles with a mission to serve the global consumers by creating innovation and sustainability from Farm to Shelf;
- HaoShi Foundation, a non-profit organization, which focus on fostering agrifood startups growth through innovative approaches with international perspective.
The Future Food Asia 2021 Conference will be held in Singapore and multiple satellite cities simultaneously in June 2021 and amplified virtually. Ten finalists selected by the FFA jury will showcase their innovations and compete for the US$ 100,000 grand prize, applications for which are now open at https://futurefoodasia.com/ffa2021/application/.
“Our mission is to nourish the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. The world is in a constant state of change, and we must be in constant search of fresh, new innovations to help the world thrive. We view Asia not only as a strategic region, but also as a place rich in innovations for the future. We are delighted to partner with Future Food Asia on its 2021 Edition to drive innovation in the Agrifood sector. Together, we hope to bring new technologies and new ideas to life, which will eventually benefit customers and consumers not only in Asia, but around the world”, said Marcel Smits, Chairman of Cargill Asia Pacific and Global Head of Corporate Strategy.
“In many respects this 2021 edition is a turning point for FFA. To start with, we are delighted to see regional leaders stepping in and joining global companies in this journey. Also, as the agrifoodtech sector matures, the big promise of sustainability is about to move from a state of ‘theory’ to ‘assessment’. And finally talents from all walks of life start to come to agrifoodtech. All this is conducive to new approaches to building the future of food, and we will share more about it with our community in the coming months“, said Isabelle Decitre, Founder & CEO of ID Capital.
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