Sustainability

Electric cars, home automation, civilian space travel: the innovations of the past few years have been aimed at improving our lives, but they consume enormous amounts of resources to do so. Frugal innovations are quite different. How? We explain in this video – and at the upcoming European Trend Day.

"We can't have infinite growth on a finite planet." With this statement, economic anthropologist Jason Hickel makes an urgent plea for system change in a video. At the GDI Trend Day on March 9 2022, he will describe alternatives to our current economic system.

It has been seven years since Navi Radjou, in an impressive Ted Talk, presented Frugal Innovation as a solution to many of our problems. The author of "Frugal Innovation: How To Do Better With Less" coined the term and has popularised it worldwide. Now that we are in the middle of a climate crisis and a pandemic, his ideas are more relevant than ever, as he will demonstrate at the 18th European Trend Day on 9 March 2022.

Max Premium Burgers was already considered a pioneer in climate and environmental awareness before the coronavirus crisis. After all, the chain’s food has been climate-positive since 2018. At the European Foodservice Summit 2021, CEO Richard Bergfors will show how his family business became a sustainability role model.

Research into creating fish, meat and milk in a test tube is booming. Investors anticipate big profits and are investing enormous sums, but as yet, no products have come to market. Here, and at the upcoming 1st International Food Innovation Conference, we provide an overview of how the cellular agriculture market will develop.

Increasingly precise software is already helping farmers to manage their fields more efficiently and make meat production more sustainable. Dutch agri-food researcher Sjaak Wolfert explains in this interview and at the 1st International Food Innovation Conference on 29 June 2021 the potential offered by smart farming in the future.

"We need to reimagine the way we eat," says GDI Executive Advisor David Bosshart, in an interview in the run-up to the 1st International Food Innovation Conference. Read about his perspective on genetically modified foods and changing consumer behaviour.

With her start-up Reflaunt, Stéphanie Crespin connects luxury brands to the second-hand market using blockchain technology. She recently raised 2.7 million US dollars in funding for her venture. Crespin's ambitious goal is to solve the fashion industry's sustainability problem.

From the digitalisation of our food system to investments in "Clean Meat" – read the most important statements of the speakers at our 1st International Food Innovation Conference.

Classically trained chef Matthew Kenney owns more than 40 restaurants around the world, from Bogotá to Kuwait – all specialising in plant-based cuisine. In his test kitchen, Kenney and his chefs are creating a plant-based future. Learn about his projects here and at the 1st International Food Innovation Conference.