After the success of its inaugural event in March this year, Food Vision will return to Cannes, France in March 2014 with an international portfolio of speakers including thought leaders in innovation and marketing, food scientists at the cutting edge of research, and food business leaders and entrepreneurs.
“More than 130 food industry decision makers from 30 countries attended Food Vision 2013,” said Christina Wood, Vision Events Director.
“We expect to attract an even bigger audience this year, drawn by an interactive programme that combines insightful presentations from industry leaders with the opportunity to network in confidence and at the highest level.”
The programme for 2014 has been informed by feedback and recommendations from the 2013 audience as well as input from the expert editorial teams of FoodNavigator and NutraIngredients, leading publications from William Reed Business Media, the organisers of Food Vision.
Amongst the line-up of speakers and contributors are:
Product & marketing innovation:
Michelle Greenwald, Associate Professor in the Stern School of Business, New York, and CEO of Inventours;
Chris Cornyn, Mentor on US Lifetime TV’s ‘Supermarket Superstars’ and founder of food and drink agency, DINE;
Kevin Klock, CEO of turnaround soft drinks business, TalkingRain, whose SparklingICE brand has grown its revenues from US$10 million to $350 million in three years.
Alternative food sources:
Professor Mark Post, a leading proponent of cultured meat and the creator of the world’s first beef burger made from bovine skeletal muscle stem cells;
Professor Arnold van Huis, world-expert on the use of insects as food and co-founder of the International Insect Centre.
Consumers and how to reach them:
Jenny Westerkamp, Nutritionist, social media expert and author of ‘You Are What You Retweet: 140 social media rules to live by’
Charles Spence, cognitive neuroscientist, Head of Sensory Marketing at J Walter Thomson and of Oxford University’s Crossmodal Research Laboratory.
The advanced Food Vision programme can be viewed at www.foodvisionevent.com
“We’ve created a programme that encourages food businesses to look to the future; a future that will be defined both by consumers’ appetite for responsible innovation and by the pressures placed on food resources by a rapidly growing and increasingly affluent world population,” said Stephen Daniells, PhD, Senior Editor of FoodNavigator USA and Editorial Consultant to Vision Events.
“We will examine and debate the factors that will determine commercial success in a fast changing consumer environment.”
‘Dynamic and interactive’
Food Vision 2014 will be held between 31 March and 2 April in the Five Star Martinez Hotel, Cannes, France, within an exclusive Summit Suite that combines business, networking and residential facilities. It is supported by industry partners including DSM Nutritional Products Europe and Cosucra. Both are returning to Food Vision for a second time following successful partnerships in 2013.
Dr James Bauly, of DSM said: “We hosted several valued clients and partners as our VIP guests at Food Vision in 2013 and also made excellent new contacts that are adding value to our business. We anticipate the same success in 2014.”
Michel Dewael, Cosucra’s Commercial Director, applauded the event’s focus on innovation and its ability to attract the industry’s leaders: “Food Vision is dynamic and interactive with top level delegates looking to the future. The content is balanced and centered on innovation.”
Food Vision continues to embrace a three-fold strategic objective; to bring the international food and drink 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.
“Food Vision looks at food science through the focused lens of commercial interest to identify strategies for profitability and growth,” confirmed Christina Wood.
To view our gallery of the 2013 event, please click here.