Food Vision 2013 to set global food industry agenda for innovation and growth

“Major shifts in consumer expectations combined with an acceleration in the ‘art of the possible’ in food science and nutrition, mean that food businesses the world over are looking for new ways to foster innovation, anticipate market change and align product development activities with contemporary consumer appetites,”​ says Franck Metzger, executive director of FoodNavigator. 

“By creating a senior-level forum for information exchange and the sharing of experience-based insight, Food Vision will support strategic decision making across the global industry.”​

Food Vision, which will be held annually in Cannes, France, claims a three-fold objective; to bring the international food, drink and nutrition industry together for mutual benefit, to promote and share best practice and innovatory developments, and to foster peer-to-peer debate among business strategists and decision makers. 

“We are less concerned with the bits and bytes of food science,”​ explains Andrew Reed, Managing Director of Events for William Reed Business Media, “and more concerned with its commercial application – how companies will harness developments in food science and technology to design, develop and derive profit from products that capture the current consumer zeitgeist."  ​

Food Vision has already secured a cache of insightful summit contributors, who will lead a series of presentations, roundtable discussions and debates.  They include:

• Jeff Bellairs, senior director of General Mills’ Worldwide Innovation Network, and Patrick Lesueur, Nutrition Research R&D director at Unilever.  Together they will lead an interactive session to share their organisations’ experiences of open innovation processes that are reducing the time, cost and risk associated with new product development.
• Paul Cornillon, senior vice president of R&D at the Arla Foods Strategic Innovation Centre, will describe how a company restructure that has united R&D and marketing staff is powering a holistic, consumer focused approach to new product development in established and emerging markets.
• Michele Perchonok, Advanced Food Technology project scientist for NASA, will look ‘outside of the box’ to derive learnings for the global food industry from the space programme’s development of nutritious, stable foods for missions to the moon and beyond.
• Dr Guy Miller, attending physician at Stanford University Medical Centre and Executive Chairman of Ampere, a Silicon Valley company at the cutting edge of nutrition, will reveal the commercial opportunities inherent in new evidence-based science that will enable the development of vitamins, nutrients and ingredients that deliver incontrovertible health advantages.
• Bridget Brennan, author of the International best seller, ‘Why she buys – The New Strategy for Reaching the World’s Most Powerful Customers’ will outline strategies designed to influence the buying decisions of the world’s women – who typically account for around 80% of consumer spending. 
• Richard Sedley, strategy director of the leading customer experience consultancy, Seren, is an expert in customer persuasion.  His presentation will review the latest developments in psychology that help us understand why people buy and how – through packaging and branding as much as by the product itself –  their decisions can be influenced.

In addition, leading industry commentators from AT Kearney, New Nutrition Business​, Healthy Brand Builders and Leatherhead Food Research will lead discussions on industry trends and challenges, including the impact of soaring commodity prices. More contributors, and a full programme, will be published in due course.

Food Vision will be chaired by futurologist, James Bellini.  Described as a ‘historian of the future’, his work is focused on the economic, social and technology trends that drive the evolution of consumer behaviour. “He will ensure that our agenda stays firmly future focused,”​ says Reed, “and will outline the shifts in the consumer landscape that food business will be forced to traverse over the next five to ten years.” ​

James Bellini is an author, broadcaster and member of the futurology think tank the Hudson Foundation.

Food Vision’s organisers are working in partnership with leading industry service providers to create an annual ‘meeting of minds’ for the global food industry.  The venue for Food Vision 2013 will be the Five Star Martinez Hotel, Cannes, France, where an exclusive Summit Suite will be created, that combines business, networking and residential facilities.  For details of Food Vision 2013 and how you can get involved contact Christina Wood on +44 1293 610368 or email christina.wood @ wrbm.com.