The future of food
savills emerging trends
Savills emerging trends 2024
What do you think of when you think about food?
It is a subject that is uniquely personal to us all and yet involves a vast global ecosystem of astonishing complexity. It is a sector that is both ubiquitous and yet relatively overlooked by the real estate community and society more generally. As a business founded on our work in rural communities, food and farming have always been a fundamental part of our knowledge and expertise at Savills. Now, as a global real estate organisation with colleagues in 70 countries, we are exploring this complex system of food production and its relationship with people, place and planet. At a time when addressing the climate and biodiversity crises has become critical, consideration of the food system and its impact is essential. From the soil beneath our feet to the waters inland and around our shores, now is the time for an increasingly urbanised global population to understand the future of food production, consumption and waste. The Food System Economics Commission (FSEC), in their recent report (The Economics of the Food System Transformation), estimates the environmental cost of today’s food systems, including agricultural land use and food production practices, to be US$3 trillion per annum.
Moreover, with scientific understanding expanding around the interconnectivity of food and human health, there is a fast-evolving focus on nutrition and its impact. The EAT-Lancet Commission estimated that unhealthy diets are responsible for 11 million preventable deaths globally per year, more than smoking tobacco. This will have considerable implications for the world of life science as we know it. The FSEC estimates the global health costs due to the food system and measured through its negative effect on labour productivity, to be US$11 trillion per annum. As we have witnessed the evolution of life science hubs around the world, so our attention turns to the need for a new generation of global food ecosystems to deliver innovative solutions. These physical real estate communities will form the basis of ideation, discovery and translation into solutions delivered by the co-location of academia, government and corporates. Crucially, as a global real estate community, when focusing on creating meaningful social impact, the role of food and nutrition cannot be overstated. This publication is a catalyst for future conversations exploring the many important reasons to pay far greater attention to the food system its challenges, solutions and opportunities.
explore
BAck to the top
US$10.5trillion
26%
70%
is the value of global food sector
percentage of GHG attributable to food production
Food production's share of fresh water usage
Steve Lang
Director, Commercial Research
Nicky Wightman
Director, Emerging Trends
Next
Let's get started...
Our Future Food System
the future of food
Explore
Our latest insights
01
Our future food system
The future is here today
02
Following the global money
Opportunities for investment
03
Cutting edge experiences
with Bompas & Parr
11
Returns on regenerative agriculture
A case of 'going back to the future'
10
Food & social value
A taste of what can be achieved
12
From farm to fork
Thoughts from the farm
08
The evolution of a new food community
Mission Kitchen taking the lead
07
The role of the city
Meeting global food challenges locally
09
Marrying food & place
The greatest love story of our time
05
The largest food innovation community
A view from EIT Food
04
The Dutch food landscape
Emerging trends and their implications
06
Biotech meets food science
Revolutionising the future of food
Prev
contents
The Future is here Today
We are at a tipping point, a moment of truth.
As our population swells, our cities expand and our planet warms, we need a food system that can deliver fresh, healthy, climate-friendly, affordable food. Yet we now know, as the UN Global Panel on Agriculture, Food Systems and Nutrition recognised, that the policies, systems, technologies that fed the world in the twentieth century are no longer fit for purpose.
It is a question of when, not if, our food system will change. With the pressures of climate, food (in)security, technological innovation, energy transition, some argue that we are on the cusp of the fastest, deepest and most consequential disruption of agriculture. As with great transformations over the centuries, the seeds of the future are already with us, growing quietly in plain sight, awaiting their moment. Innovations rooted in circularity and place can have the greatest impact.
Innovation and opportunity thrive in periods of change and uncertainty. It is amidst this uncertainty that innovators imagine what if? It is the passion of people who see a different way that is the defining factor. When we are forced to confront our paradigms, to challenge the status quo, we can think and act differently – new ideas and new approaches emerge.
Take the team at Potager. In response to evolving trends in retail parks and environmental concerns, the Berlin-based, start-up team embraced innovation and established its own vertical farm to provide local restaurants and hotels in Berlin to provide them with healthy, locally grown produce. The team is driven by a deep passion to help achieve food security and feed growing populations. As the Potager team shows, having a great idea is sadly not enough – it takes grit, resilience and an abundance of optimism to make an impact. For example, upon starting up, it was discovered that the plants didn’t like Berlin tap water, requiring the installation of a reverse osmosis filter. Going forward, they will close the loop and harvest rainwater to use in the farm’s fertigation system, one step closer to self-sufficiency. If growing a start-up takes grit and optimism, then transforming the food system is another order of collective endeavour. We have the reasons for change, we have the emerging technologies, the biggest barrier to change is… us. We are bound by our mindset, our paradigms, how we see the world. The seeds of the future are already with us. Our collective task is to embrace the change that is required and step forward with purpose – experiment, explore, discover and the answers will emerge.
The future outlook of agriculture at Potager Farm, Berlin
Change and transformation is inevitable
Unique local challenges and opportunities spur ingenuity and the courage to take bold steps. Open minded policy makers and investors alongside outward looking communities provide the fertile conditions needed for such ideas to flourish (the opposite is also true). Take vertical farming, and how it can disrupt and improve current food systems, as an example use case.
Only ten minutes from Dubai downtown you will find a glimpse of the future – the development of Food Tech Valley (FTV). FTV has the ambition to revolutionise the food and agriculture ecosystem, reimagining food production. At the forefront of this is ReFarm, reshaping the future of affordable agriculture. In partnership with Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS), ReFarm is building the world’s first GigaFarm – a 900,000 sq ft facility, integrating regenerative AgTech and waste-to-value technologies, while collaborating and fully integrating the traditional farming community.
This innovative site will bring together six complementary technologies and be capable of recycling thousands of tonnes of food waste and growing billions of crops, seedlings and trees using IGS’s world-leading vertical farm technology. Vitally, the site will support the UAE’s move towards decarbonising food production, replacing 1% of the country’s unsustainable produce imports.
Decarbonising food production in Dubai
Sandy Kennedy
Intelligent Growth Solutions, Commercial Relationships Director
Source: gettyimages
Opportunities for Investors
Given the complex nature of the global food system, with many issues to solve, there is of course a growing interest within the investment community, including venture capitalists. They are looking for opportunities to invest in companies, from start-up to scale-ups, capable of addressing the challenges and reducing complexities for producers and consumers, and all those players in between.
Globally, there is a recognition of the importance and the responsibility of enhancing and ensuring the sustainability of the food system. This is reflected in significant investments being made across all continents, which supports the ecosystem in which the VC-invested companies will be located.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has projected that almost 600 million people will be chronically undernourished in 2030. In addition to creating new choices and solutions to meet customer demand and catering to the growing culture of utilising food to improve health, investment into the food sector is crucial for better global outcomes. To highlight the complexity of food challenges, it should be noted that overnutrition contributes to a higher number of deaths globally than undernutrition.
The global food market is projected to generate US$10.5 tn in 2024 and is expected to grow by a compound annual growth rate of 6.5%. Significant investment into the food sector can be segmented into five key sectors which include Agriculture, Food and Beverage, Containers and Packaging, AgTech and FoodTech. However, it the growth of the ‘tech’ that will create new companies and ignite real estate need in the future. Entrepreneurs and, ultimately, investors are attracted to solving big problems.
However, opportunities for investment are forecasted to grow further across the world as the public and private sectors aim to boost their economies whilst strengthening sustainability in the food chain. The real estate industry will have to respond to deliver the types of physical food/nutrition-related ecosystems and hubs to house the companies that will solve the massive challenges. With many cities having food strategies, there will be an increasing need for the commercial real estate market to deliver these hubs in highly accessible locations, to attract the appropriate talent, and at a scale to enable the co-location of public and private sectors – including government and education.
Over the past decade, aggregate global venture capital (VC) funding has tripled in size, and food-based VC alone has increased by almost 6.5 times. This growth is projected to continue as venture capitalists recognise the quality of investible companies and the critical problems that they are looking to solve, including human and planetary health. To address the climate problems, the investment community will have to look at the food system and find solutions to make it less impactful in environmental terms. So far for 2024, over 7% of global VC volumes have been committed to the food sector. The capital invested into ‘Agriculture’ has gradually increased in share from 13% to 20% of total food investment, illustrating the increased focus on food security and the prioritisation of agricultural solutions.
6.5x
Food-related VC is 6.5 times higher than 10 years ago
Total food-related VC in the past decade
US$350bn
Share of global VC in food in 2024
7%
Global Venture Capital into the food Sector ($US million)
indonesia
4%
france
2%
israel
canada
United States
52%
china
18%
india
8%
united kingdom
6%
Top 10 Countries for VC investment into FoodTech and AgTech
south korea
Germany
With over 878 million acres of farmland area, the United States accounts for over half of global VC investment into FoodTech and AgTech. In 2022, the nation’s food industry accounted for over 5% of its GDP. However, as well as supporting domestic activity, the US Department of Agriculture announced a US$455 million investment plan to strengthen the world’s food security by utilising 375,000 metric tons of US commodities. Activity such as this illustrates how critical foreign direct investment is within the market. Moving east, China needs to feed approximately 20% of the world’s population, yet it is home to less than 10% of all arable land and 6% of global water resources. As a result, continuous investment into food is vital and is a key policy area, with the nation recorded as the highest provider of agricultural foreign direct investment from 2018 to 2022 (US$1.71bn on average annually). China also dominates with the world’s largest e-commerce market which is heavily used for fresh food. China’s fresh food e-commerce market was valued around 564 billion yuan in 2022 (over US $78 billion).
Europe has demonstrated many examples of food research and investment into its communities, where market leaders are aiming to resolve food security concerns whilst benefitting from profitability available in the market. There are real estate schemes that accommodate the food challenge and some have been around for many years. For example, there are food ‘parks’, planned and existing, to cater for an ecosystem of innovative startups, companies and researchers. These include the proposed Berlin Food Campus in Germany and the Agro Food Park in Aarhus, Denmark, which has 85 companies employing over 1,300 people. There are also well-established food R&D ecosystems including Netherland’s Food Valley. However, there is a need for more of these specific ecosystems to deliver the solutions for human and planetary health improvements.
Tara Patel
Savills, Strategic Advisory, EMEA
Overall, the creativity, capability and volume of products has grown as venture capital has been an increasing source of investment to enable food-based discoveries and solutions.
explore Bühler case study
Source: PitchBook Data, INC
Source: Source: PitchBook Data, INC
the dutch food landscape
Alix Cherowbrier
Director Creative Strategy Bompas & Parr
Director Emerging Trends Savills
Alix is a visionary thinker and creative mind, working as the Creative Strategy Director at multi-sensorial pioneers, Bompas & Parr. She is driven by future trends, which she defines by soaking up current culture and consumer behavioural shifts to identify the niche patterns that spark the next big thing.
As Director of Emerging Trends for Savills, Nicky channels her knowledge and curiosity, focusing on ideas which create positive impact. She recently co-hosted the Savills Nature Based Solutions podcast series which explored soil health, water conservation and food production.
Alix, it's so great to have you join us. For those who haven’t come across your work so far, could you tell us a little bit about Bompas & Parr?
Bompas & Parr is a creative studio made up of artists, architects, chefs, designers, marketeers, strategists and technologists. Through consultancy, delivering Location Based Experiences (LBEs) and writing publications such as The Future of Food and Drink and The Future of P-Leisure, the studio challenges the world around us with radical creativity and a thirst for provoking innovation. This year, our Future of P-Leisure publication explores how we can redefine the future of placemaking, by looking at insights and drivers such as worlds of algorithmic sameness, how loneliness and shifts in daily patterns can lead to a birth of new community spaces, subterranean living and even post-apocalyptic pop-ups. Our report ‘Hyper-Placeshaping’, looks at how placemaking should be formed around people, feelings and experience driven need.
Impact is at the heart of the work that I do. What are you seeing that gives us hope for the future?
The last decade or so has been all about convenience and finding shortcuts for everyday tasks (think the arrival of Uber, Slack, Deliveroo). It feels as though we have gotten to a point where consumers have forgotten about finding the joy in mundane tasks, as those tasks are over in seconds, thanks to innovation. For me, the future is about turning convenience on its head and indulging in the rich purity of the mundane – seeking moments for connection, storytelling and magic in the everyday. With London developing multiple new high-rise buildings over the next decade, we see opportunity to redefine usage of spaces, shifting away from immersive spaces that are purely built for content, to spaces that indulge and delight.
You think a lot about creating spaces with a strong sense of identity, how do you think that is done well?
Creating spaces with a strong sense of identity comes down to the detail of the senses – at Bompas & Parr, we take a brief and break it down across the senses, so that we can build up spaces that feel truly multisensory. The identity also comes from building in future thinking on how audiences interact with physical and digital spaces – considering factors such as the internet’s homogenisation of places, the loneliness epidemic and the push and pull between AI and the creative mind.
I have talked a lot about a new language of real estate. I am really interested to see you reference romanticism in your insights, what does that mean to you in the context of food production?
The Romantics emphasised the importance of imagination, moving away from a period that was all about reason and knowledge – so, similar to what we were talking about earlier in terms of a move away from convenience, romanticism in food production is all about celebrating the creation of food, finding intriguing stories and not shying away from decadence. A favourite artist of the studio, William Blake, once said ‘The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom...You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough’. So, for food production this means stepping away from convenience and extrapolating the senses that surround a food to push its possibilities.
It feels like we are at a tipping point of creativity. The ability to create has greatly accelerated with the likes of AI, yet there is a yearning from audiences to slow down. We are at the nexus of change – there is going to be a huge shift over the next few years towards pure enchantment and providing people with spaces for joy and magic. Something that we will explore in our upcoming Future of P-Leisure report is looking at the use of spaces through this lens.
I know you are thinking a lot about gamification too. How do you see the future of gaming and food evolving?
Food and gaming is something that we have been mulling over for a long time at the Bompas & Parr studio – at the beginning of the NFT wave, we explored a project called ‘Crypto Canapes’, where we tasked creatives with designing digital food – there is something really interesting in food within the digital space – something that can’t be tasted with your tongue, but can be tasted with your other senses. The future of food and gaming will see a greater exploration into multi-sensorial food that amplifies the story for players within a game. We are in the middle of writing a new publication on this subject, so expect to see more on this in the next few months.
For someone who spends a lot of time thinking about food, what would make for the best and happiest food experience?
The best food experiences explore three key components: taste, storytelling and sensorial moments that extend beyond the plate. We use these principles to deliver work such as The Epochal Banquet, which was a pioneering culinary experience inspired by space, microbiology, artificial intelligence and hyperintelligence to imagine the future of dining, hosted at Dubai Expo 2020. Our studio kitchen team are also currently working on a holographic chocolate which is a great piece when it comes to storytelling through food and stretching how far we can push what goes on our plates.
The best food experiences explore three key components: taste, storytelling and sensorial moments that extend beyond the plate.
Play With Your Food for Meta
Fruit Weather
World's Lightest Dessert at Taste the Sky
The Guinness Tasting Rooms
Symphony In Blue for Johnnie Walker Blue
with bompas & parr
food innovation community
The Dutch food landscape:
emerging trends & their implications
cutting edge experiences
Charlotte de Mos
Head of Marketing & Business Intelligence, Savills Netherlands
The Netherlands, renowned for its rich agricultural heritage and pioneering spirit, is at the forefront of several emerging food trends. From sustainable farming practices to the rise of plant-based diets, the Dutch food landscape is a dynamic blend of tradition and innovation. This article explores the key trends shaping the future of food in the Netherlands and their implications for the local real estate market. We have identified six key emerging trends in the food space, along with their implications.
Climate change is significantly impacting agricultural practices in the Netherlands. Farmers are facing challenges such as unpredictable weather patterns, increased frequency of extreme weather events, and rising sea levels. To combat these issues, Dutch farmers are adopting resilient agricultural practices, such as the use of drought-resistant crop varieties, improved water management systems, and sustainable land-use strategies. Research institutions and government bodies are working together to develop innovative solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change on agriculture.
Impact of climate change on Dutch agriculture
The Netherlands is at the forefront of implementing a circular economy in food production. Efforts to reduce food waste are evident throughout the supply chain, from production to consumption. Innovations such as food-sharing platforms, upcycling food waste into new products, and biodegradable packaging are becoming mainstream. This holistic approach not only conserves resources but also creates new economic opportunities.
Circular economy in food production
In addition to plant-based proteins, the Netherlands is exploring other alternative protein sources such as insect-based and lab-grown meat. Companies like Protix are leading the charge in producing insect-based proteins for human consumption and animal feed. Research and development in cultured meat is also progressing, with the aim of providing sustainable alternatives to traditional livestock farming.
Alternative proteins
The plant-based movement is gaining significant momentum in the Netherlands. Companies like The Vegetarian Butcher and Beyond Meat are leading the way, providing a variety of plant-based alternatives that cater to both vegetarians and flexitarians. The Dutch government supports this shift through various initiatives aimed at reducing meat consumption and promoting a plant-based diet. This trend is driven by health considerations and a growing awareness of the environmental impact of meat production.
Plant-based revolution
The Netherlands is a global leader in sustainable agriculture, leveraging advanced agritech solutions to boost productivity and reduce environmental impact. Innovations such as precision farming, vertical farming, and greenhouse technology are integral to Dutch agriculture. These methods not only enhance efficiency but also contribute to food security by enabling year-round production. The use of drones, sensors, and AI in farming practices helps optimise resources and minimise waste, making Dutch agriculture a model of sustainability.
Sustainable agriculture and agritech
Dutch educational institutions and research organisations play a crucial role in advancing food technology and sustainable practices. Universities and research centres, such as Wageningen University & Research, are at the forefront of agricultural research, developing new technologies and methods to improve food production and sustainability. These institutions collaborate with industry partners and government agencies to implement research findings and promote best practices within the food sector.
Real estate implications: The proximity to leading research institutions can drive demand for commercial real estate, including office spaces and innovation hubs. Real estate developers can benefit from creating knowledge parks and research facilities that foster collaboration between academia and industry. These developments can attract high-value tenants and drive economic growth. Average rents on science parks in the Netherlands have increased by 61% between 2015 and 2023. By way of comparison, average office rents, excluding science parks, have decreased by 4.2% in the same period. Moreover, rents for life sciences properties were, on average, 3.2% higher between 2018 and 2023 when they were located on a Science Park – compared to similar buildings located elsewhere in the same municipality.
Role of education and research
Real estate implications: The demand for high-tech agricultural facilities is rising, driving the development of modern, tech-enabled farms and greenhouses. Investors are increasingly interested in agritech parks and hubs, which can attract both local and international agritech firms. Real estate developers should consider integrating advanced infrastructure to support these technologies, enhancing property values and attracting long-term tenants.
Real estate implications: The growth of the plant-based sector is creating opportunities for specialised manufacturing facilities and distribution centres. Retail spaces, particularly in urban areas, are also adapting to the increasing demand for plant-based products by incorporating more plant-based food outlets and dedicated sections in supermarkets. Property owners can benefit from this trend by leasing spaces to plant-based food producers and retailers. Beyond Meat, a leading producer of plant-based meat, has opened a production facility in Zoeterwoude in collaboration with local player Zandbergen World’s Finest Meat. The collaboration makes it possible to meet the growing European demand for Beyond Meat products. The innovative Beyond Meat products are produced in this ultramodern production location called The New Plant.
Real estate implications: The alternative protein sector requires specialised laboratory and production facilities. Real estate developers can capitalise on this by creating biotech hubs and innovation parks tailored to the needs of alternative protein companies. These developments can attract significant investment and foster collaboration between research institutions, start-ups, and established firms.
Real estate implications: Climate-resilient agricultural practices require investment in new infrastructure and technology. Real estate investors and developers should focus on properties that support sustainable and resilient farming methods. This includes irrigation systems, flood defences, and energy-efficient buildings, which can enhance the long-term value and sustainability of agricultural properties. Climate change could also benefit some alternative agricultural sectors, like viticulture.
Real estate implications: The circular economy model is influencing the design and operation of food-related facilities. Industrial and commercial spaces are being repurposed for recycling centres, composting sites, and facilities for producing biodegradable packaging. Mixed-use developments incorporating these elements can attract environmentally conscious businesses and consumers, enhancing the appeal and sustainability of the properties. An example is the initiative Zero Waste Zuidas, aiming to have Amsterdam’s Central Business District waste free by 2030.
The Dutch food sector is characterised by its innovation, sustainability, and commitment to health. As these emerging trends continue to evolve, the Netherlands is well-positioned to influence the global food landscape.
By embracing new technologies, sustainable practices, and consumer-driven trends, the Netherlands will continue to lead the way in shaping the future of food. For the real estate market, these trends present numerous opportunities to develop properties that support sustainable food practices, enhance community engagement, and drive economic growth.
Other nations can learn from the Dutch approach by investing in sustainable and resilient agricultural practices, supporting agritech innovations, and fostering collaboration between research institutions and industry. By adopting these strategies, countries can enhance food security, reduce environmental impact, and create vibrant, resilient food systems.
The largest
An interwoven system
Production and delivery of the range of food necessary for a modern/healthy diet is a complex and multifaceted operation. It requires numerous supply chains, participants, both commercial and governmental, and geographies. In the past, a simple demarcation of pre-and post-farm gate has been used, but in reality, food supply and production is a more complex, interwoven system. Consideration of the food system as a whole is needed to recognise the dynamic and evolving nature of production and manufacture. The pressures and responsibilities are from wide and varied issues such as climate change, geopolitical risks and an increasing public demand for social justice within food supply. Large areas of land are required for arable and livestock production, Eurostat estimates 39% of the total land mass across the EU is in use for agriculture. New production systems for high value goods such as urban agriculture and fermentation are unlikely to reduce this in the coming decades. EIT Food is providing a substantial opportunity for innovation and investment in the food sector. Through its missions, it is applying a 'systems thinking' approach to address key challenges facing society to improve national diets. It is also enabling the transition to a fairer and more sustainable food system for the health of people and the planet.
Large areas of land are required for arable and livestock production, Eurostat estimates 39% of the total land mass across the EU is in use for agriculture. New production systems for high value goods such as urban agriculture and fermentation are unlikely to reduce this in the coming decades. EIT Food is providing a substantial opportunity for innovation and investment in the food sector. Through its missions, it is applying a 'systems thinking' approach to address key challenges facing society to improve national diets. It is also enabling the transition to a fairer and more sustainable food system for the health of people and the planet.
In practice, achieving this includes the scaling of regenerative agriculture practices within European landscapes, identifying what needs to be done to equip farmers and their supply chain to improve soil quality and produce nutrition at a price point that can be maintained. Into this multidisciplinary space, EIT Food partners with small and medium-sized enterprises using data through machine learning, AI and satellite technologies. This helps to steer agricultural decision making at an international and national level or enables production of high value crops such as herbs and salads in controlled environments close to restaurants. Material sciences is helping develop recyclable food packaging from agricultural waste materials and design thinking can reduce food waste by development of real-time expiry labels for food packs.
Looking to the future
Jayne Brookman
Director of Partner Recruitment at EIT Food
EIT Food is the world’s largest food innovation community.
Funded by the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT), They support programmes, projects, organisations and individuals that share their goals for a healthy and sustainable food system for all. Their partner network is made up of key industry players, businesses, research centres and universities from across Europe and beyond. The food and drink sector is a major economic contributor in Europe, with a turnover of €1.1 trillion, employing 4.6 million people in the European Union and the largest manufacturing employer in around half of the EU countries. It is the world’s largest exporter at €182 billion and accounts for 21% of household expenditure across the EU (Food Drink Europe 2022). The EU pattern of employment, the issues for production and manufacturing, including company size, is broadly mirrored within the UK. The UK agri-food manufacturing sector accounts for 456,000 jobs and supports 4.3 million roles across the entire supply and delivery chain from ‘farm-to-fork’. This contributes to a total combined economic output figure of £128.3 billion (FDF manufacturing data; UK Government figures, 2021).
revolutionising the future of food
Biotechnology and food science have merged to create unprecedented opportunities for innovation in our food system by improving crop production, food safety, nutritional enhancement and sustainability.
The availability of gene editing and splicing tools is also playing a vital role in enhancing plant traits to improve yield and nutritional content. Scientists can now enhance the nutritional content of crops by increasing the levels of essential vitamins, minerals, and proteins. For instance, biofortification programs aim to reduce micronutrient deficiencies by developing nutrient-rich staple crops. Foodborne illnesses pose significant health risks and economic burdens worldwide. Genomics and proteomics have led to the development of rapid diagnostics, which have revolutionised food safety practices. Food scientists employ these tools to detect and identify foodborne pathogens quickly, ensuring early intervention and preventing widespread outbreaks.
The food safety revolution
Additionally, biotechnology enables the development of novel food preservation techniques, such as the use of natural antimicrobial agents and packaging materials, which prolong shelf life and reduce the need for chemical preservatives. With the growing concern for environmental sustainability, biotech and food science are working hand in hand to develop sustainable food production systems. This includes reducing the environmental impact of agriculture through precision farming techniques, optimising resource utilisation, and minimising waste generation. Biotech innovations, such as genetically modified microorganisms, enable the production of alternative protein sources like cultured meat and plant-based alternatives. These advancements offer promising solutions to address the challenges of resource scarcity, climate change, and animal welfare.
As mentioned, it is now understood that poor diet and nutrition can make us vulnerable to a wide range of diseases. Understanding the science behind nutrition is helping to improve diets which could have a major reduction on the impact of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer by reducing the levels of obesity which have become a huge burden on healthcare systems in the western world. Furthermore, food scientists are now developing functional food products that offer additional health benefits beyond basic nutrition, such as probiotics. The use of probiotics stems from the discovery that the makeup of the microorganisms that naturally live in our gut play a critical role in human health. These microorganisms are part of the microbiome, which is made up of the microbes that live on our skin, in our gut and noses and provide functions essential for human survival. As our knowledge of the microbiome increases it has become clear that this 'forgotten organ' is of huge importance in a wide array of human processes such as growth, development, physiology, immunity, nutrition, and a number of serious diseases.
Good diet and nutrition are essential for maintaining a healthy microbiome and the use of probiotics is one strategy aimed at rehabilitating an ‘unhealthy microbiome' by replacing 'bad microbes' with 'good microbes’. Research on the microbiome is now progressing at pace, exploring the possibilities for targeted treatment of enteric diseases such as irritable bowel disease, metabolic diseases, cardiovascular disorders, and cancer. Food allergies is another area that can potentially be addressed through biotech technologies. This has become a huge issue over recent decades and new knowledge of plant genes and protein structures is now providing an understanding of biochemical processes that produce food allergy. Biotechnology offers the prospect of producing low-allergen or allergen null plants that could mitigate the allergic response. The convergence of biotechnology and food science holds immense potential to transform the way we produce, consume, and think about food as well as providing new strategies for improving human and animal health through our understanding of the role nutrition plays in many diseases. The collaboration between these fields offers exciting possibilities for a healthier and more globally sustainable future.
Understanding nutrition
Dr Steve Chatfield
Life Sciences Special Advisory
Genomics has enabled scientists to develop genetically modified crops (GMOs) that possess desirable traits such as resistance to pests, diseases, and harsh environmental conditions.
In addition, innovative research is providing new insights into the relationship between poor diet and disease, which is providing new opportunities to treat and prevent many diseases.
These genetically engineered crops have the potential to increase agricultural productivity, reduce the use of pesticides and minimise post-harvest losses
a new food community
The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact is an international partnership for action on creating healthy food environments in cities and towns. The network is over 280 signatory cities across the world. In total, there are 37 recommended actions that cut across the rural, peri-urban and urban environments where people live, work and play in all forms of real estate. Across all cities, food provides a unique reference point, which can bring people together and underpin culture.
As a result of technology and methods improving, food production has more than doubled since the early 1960s. Agricultural land used has only increased by around 8% over the same period. This increased productivity from the land has inevitably had an impact on the quality of soil, hence the increased need to consider alternative food production. It may be the case that urban food production, specifically at city level, can contribute to produce grown with a comparatively smaller footprint.
Singapore
A small island nation of 5.9 million people, Singapore must find ways to feed its population. With only approximately 1% of its total land allocated for farming, the nation relies on large imports from neighbouring countries. The government has introduced 30 by 30, focused on the ability to produce 30% of the nation’s food locally by 2030. To achieve this, Singapore has begun heavily investing in AgTech, and has started to turn logistics and industrial space into large indoor cold storage facilities and vertical farms. In 2020, Singapore was the first country in the world to approve a cultivated, lab-grown meat product for human consumption. They also lead the way in regulatory and safety guidelines for products like this. It's put Singapore at the forefront of global food innovation, with various hubs of excellence, underwritten by the government. Savills’ head of Singapore research, Alan Cheong, suggests “new factory and warehousing facilities will have to be built to accommodate this new version of manufacturing. Although still in its infancy here, we expect greater focus on this new production process with new factories built.”
Even ‘conventional’ logistics stock will need an upgrade to help Singapore meet the targets for its industry transformation map for the logistics sector. The island-state will invest in next-generation facilities with high-specification units which encourage the co-location of companies and drive the use of advanced technologies. These facilities are expected to improve supply chains, boost productivity and provide more professional and technical jobs for Singapore workers. At the R&D level, what does commercial real estate look like? The Food Technology Innovation Center (FTIC) is a 40,000 sq ft flagship facility and will play an instrumental role in accelerating the commercialisation of sustainable food across Asia. The model, much like innovation centres on science and technology parks across the globe, will be a catalyst for nurturing R&D-driven start-ups. It will shape them for success, benefiting the economy and society, while attracting larger corporates to co-locate
As a leading country in Europe, the Netherlands is the world’s second largest agricultural goods exporter. The Dutch government actively supports sustainable agriculture, food innovation, and healthy eating through various policies and initiatives. Programmes such as the Green Deal encourage farmers to adopt environmentally friendly practices, while subsidies and grants are available for research and development projects in the food sector. The government also promotes healthy eating through public campaigns and educational programmes aimed at raising awareness about the benefits of a balanced diet.
The Netherlands
The importance of city strategies
New York
Sustainability is a key driver of change for urban centres. Paris, for example, is committing to a more sustainable agriculture and food industry by 2030 under its new strategy for sustainable food. Measures include policies like increasing the amount of food consumed and produced locally in the Paris Basin from 25% to 50%, which will require the implementation of more efficient systems in growing produce locally or the allocation of more land to the profession. Paris’ plan includes ambitious climate-based goals, such as the initiative to reduce the region’s food carbon footprint by 40%. This includes plans to develop 900 domestic use composting sites in public facilities across the city. Additionally, the city has introduced the 'Parisculteurs' programme, giving individuals access to land and funding through yearly public tenders. This land purposely coexists with the urban environment, for example, gardens on rooftops and sections of underutilised parking lots. As a result of this programme, Paris has over 30 hectares of agricultural land in the city boundaries, greatly reducing the carbon footprint related to transport of good.
In summary, at all geographical levels, easy access to healthy nutritional and affordable food will remain a priority for governments and individuals globally. The funding into AgTech and FoodTech will assist to deliver potential solutions. The creative uses within the real estate sector, such as warehouse repurposing, vertical farming, and rooftop gardens will be crucial to tackling the problem. Technology and public policy will continue to intertwine as new innovations enter supply chains and marketplaces, supporting the supply, accessibility and sustainability of food in our urban areas. A strategy to help deliver this is important. It is also important for the players within the real estate industry, both residential and commercial, to understand the scale of the problems as well as the scale of the opportunities.
of food flows through New York every year
Approximately 8.6 million tonnes
Approximately 8.6 million tonnes of food flows through New York every year. The numbers are large, as you'd expect. This food flow is the product of complex global supply chains, but the food system has no centralised design or management and as a result there is inequity, insecurity and risk across the system. As with all cities, it needed a plan. Food Forward NYC is the City’s first ever 10-year food policy plan is endorsed at mayor level. First issued in February 2021, this plan outlines a comprehensive policy framework to reach a more equitable, sustainable, and healthy food system by 2031. New York City’s food system touches the life of every New Yorker, every day. The choices to be made about the food system over the next 10 years will be critical to building a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient New York City. The plan is five goals and 14 strategies to ensure food security, access, affordability and innovation are acknowledged, and plans are in place to ensure a transformative impact is being made. This includes consideration of physical space for urban growing. The partnerships recognised and put into action include businesses, large and small, communities and academic institutions. There’s no appearance of the words ‘real estate’ in the plan. Is this of concern to the property industry? No, it is an opportunity to deliver space and encourage key players to co-locate and solve these issues.
paris
The leading UK city for its provision of allotments, Birmingham has now released an exciting and bold food system strategy. This plan seeks to create collaboration, empowerment and equalisation within the urban environment. The city-wide partnerships aim to develop a regenerative food system, which continuously evolves and improves the environment, communities, and the economy. Food is a strong component of the city’s history. As the home and birthplace of Cadbury, Birmingham was very early in delivering world-leading social value in the 1800s and beyond. It’s clear that Birmingham is a thriving hub of technology and best practice, as well as a centre for urban food system innovation. By bringing together citywide, national and international partners to solve food system challenges, there’s an increase in partnerships underwritten by an authentic long-term interest in its citizens. The four cross-cutting themes of the strategy encompass food skills, knowledge and behavioural change. As seen in New York, it also covers security and resilience. Finally, innovation, data and research will create insight but isn’t a core theme to enable the real estate requirements. To develop innovative solutions supported by research, data and technology, there will be a real estate need, possibly a collaborative hub, to bring together those who are researching solutions for the betterment of residents.
Birmingham
Connor Chilton
Analyst, World Research
Paul Tostevin
Director, World Research
What's been happening around the world?
marrying food & place
Spread across 16,000 sq ft, the site houses a combination of commercial kitchens, co-working space, offices, content studios, event venues and food development facilities. The major innovation is an open-plan shared kitchen, operating much like a hot-desking environment, which provides fully flexible access to a professional production space. The last few years have demonstrated that the world is an unpredictable place, and this is especially true in the life of an early-stage food entrepreneur. The flexibility and affordability that comes with sharing space and equipment radically reduces start-up costs, barriers to entry, and the risks associated with launching a new product. But helping small businesses turn their big ideas into a reality requires much more than infrastructure. Alongside kitchens and co-working space, we deliver a programme of education and business support, this includes a mentoring programme, individual advisory sessions, workshops and regular networking events. Recently this has extended into a series of major events exploring themes of food innovation, featuring pioneering start-ups. The site now houses a community of more than 100 independent businesses, including caterers, street food traders, food scientists, bakers and start-up brands launching packaged products. In an industry that can be insular and overwhelming, the chance to connect, collaborate and share knowledge with other founders is invaluable.
Entrepreneurs in the food and drink sector face some famously daunting challenges. It is an industry with some of the highest start-up costs, complex regulations and notoriously high failure rates.
So, what can be done to support these brave food and drink founders? Inspired by the impact shared workspace and incubators have delivered in other industries, our starting point was a simple question: what would a co-working space look like, if it was built for a food start-up?
Despite this, food entrepreneurship remains remarkably open to a truly diverse range of people. It is the UK’s biggest manufacturing sector by turnover and one where the potential, and the need, for innovation make supporting the next generation of talent a national priority.
Charlie Gent
Mission Kitchen, Co-Founder
A case study in bold thinking: Mission Kitchen
We believe that food is uniquely placed to offer opportunities for entrepreneurship to people of all backgrounds, but the costs involved are very different to those in a knowledge economy start-up. Reducing the barriers to entry for entrepreneurs in this sector is a powerful tool to promote diversity in the UK’s entrepreneurial community and support greater equity and economic inclusion. Beyond this, food lies at the heart of the national and global challenge to slow the march of climate change. The need for innovation across all levels of the industry is stark. We believe that the solutions that can bring about real change will come from start-ups. So, it is essential that we create an environment that fosters creativity, supports new ventures and connects them with industry.
Why it matters
Innovation needs infrastructure: Food is one of many industries where designing, experimenting and creating require specialist facilities and equipment that are prohibitively expensive for the vast majority of early-stage companies. Making access more readily accessible can open up innovation.
What we have learnt
Ecosystem is everything: Food is a complex, multi-faceted and cross-disciplinary industry. Exciting stuff happens when these strands connect, and co-location is a powerful way to make this happen. There is huge potential to build and support communities of food entrepreneurs across the UK and even further afield. Food is the ultimate meeting ground. Nothing brings diverse communities, disciplines and ideas together more naturally. So, it deserves more emphasis whenever we are asking ourselves how to build community of any kind.
The evolution of a
new food community
Essential to bringing this project to life was a shared vision between landlord and operator. The site is located at the heart of London’s New Covent Garden Market, the UK’s largest fresh produce market. It forms part of a strategic, long-term partnership with Covent Garden Market Authority to transform the market into a dynamic industry cluster for the food and horticultural sector.
It was supported by funding from the Mayor of London’s Good Growth Fund, in recognition of its ability to deliver social impact through job creation, support for start-ups and by acting as a platform for under-represented entrepreneurs. This cross-sector collaboration was crucial to creating the conditions necessary for the project to deliver real impact, and the results speak volumes.
Since opening Mission Kitchen in June 2021 more than 260 businesses have passed through its membership programmes, creating more than 200 jobs in the process. Today more than 60% of the businesses in our community are female owned and half of the founders are black, Asian or of other minority ethnic origin. Many members have graduated from the site to expand locally and nationally.
marrying Food & place
our greatest love story
Megan Dixon
Customer & Place Strategy Savills
From populations seeking fertile farmland or rivers to provide vital food, to the growth of innovations and globalisation – meaning food could now be brought to towns and cities. Places have built up around functionality but thrive when they become a beloved necessity for communities. ‘Connection’ is one such human necessity taking centre stage in recent years, with great implications for places as facilitators and aided by food as a convenor. As our communities come together and bond, making memories within a space – a new, relatable layer of experience is created.
This is supercharged when an experience is multisensory and emotive, which is often where food comes in; although food is something we all need, it is not just for sustenance. Throughout our lives, food has linked us to places in an evocative way, whether exploring new destinations, coming together at family mealtimes, attending a marriage breakfast, or opening / breaking a fast. For this reason, many destinations lean on food and beverage hospitality as anchors for lifestyle marketing to attract and retain customers.
The experience economy
Much like the dynamism of food halls, our destinations are increasingly becoming key community pillars for social support. We have seen the likes of supermarkets step up as an increasingly vital social hub for community activities, like talking shops and coffee mornings. We expect this is just the start, as we ask “what’s next?” for not only transitional and underused spaces, but even core locations. At Savills, we’re a key supporter of The Big Lunch, bringing people together for a meal, with the ultimate aim of reducing loneliness. Here lies an exciting opportunity for conscious integration with our communities – after all, loyalty is a two-way street and social impact projects are not only an important endeavour but are commercially viable too. Food and place may have always been intertwined but the likelihood is they will only become more dependent on each other over time. Not least because the social and environmental implications for both are often reliant on one another and have the potential to propel innovation. We expect this relationship to hit some hurdles along the way but ultimately be a long and prosperous one.
Destination places
This relationship continues to flourish through the ‘experience economy’ and is arguably as important as ever. We know that place identity must be authentic and cut through to the needs and desires of our customers, which means listening and evolving with them. We are seeing continued and growing trends which intersect between places and food, including: the need for more spaces to connect over – for friendship and dating locations, alcohol-free locations, and even foraging. Wellness is of course still a major priority, especially in workplaces, but with interesting twists like edible plant walls and plant soundscapes, or superfood shots in reception, to kick start the day. Food halls also continue to dominate, changing with the way customers like to consume their food – in more relaxed settings, supporting independent businesses, and with options for everyone. They are often hubs for other enterprises and events, creating a micro-mixed-use environment. The newly opened Battersea Power Station’s Arcade Food Hall & Bar is one of the latest in London, with many others across the country, including Cargo in Bristol and Escape to Freight Island in Manchester.
Arguably one of the greatest love affairs of all time, the relationship between food and place goes back further than any of us can remember.
Escape to Freight Island in Manchester
Battersea Power Station’s Arcade Food Hall & Bar
Cargo in Bristol
Regenerative agriculture
a taste of what can be achieved
At Savills, social value is considered by using our four pillars of people model, which considers the different stakeholders within a place or space at any given juncture with regards to real estate. Pillars one and two consider people who live or work in real estate associated places or spaces, with pillar three focusing on people who access the places and spaces through public routes and pillar four focusing on people who would not typically access those places or spaces. These can be applied to the real estate assets associated with food.
Food pantries and community shops exist to provide affordable food to local communities that need it the most. They can also have wider benefits for a community other than just the supply of food, increasing community cohesion and encouraging residents to engage in their communities. Bringing people together through food who are suffering adversity such as food poverty can help support secondary negative impacts such as mental health, which is a social value outcome.
Number of people receiving emergency food parcels from Trussell Trust food banks in the United Kingdom
Wesley Ankrah
Director of Social Value Savills
Real estate is responsible for so much to do with food which we often don’t consider and is relatively hidden in plain sight. Food cannot be grown, manufactured, developed, distributed or sold without real estate involvement. We need fields to grow it, factories to manufacture it, laboratories to develop it, warehouses to store it and shops or food outlets to sell it. All of these spaces need to be owned, built, managed and operated by someone or something
Real estate, food and social value are words you increasingly expect to find in the same sentence.
Food can and does generate significant social value, especially when considering modern day issues such as the cost of living crisis and global conflicts. Unaffordability and inaccessibility issues can lead to health inequalities, which can be exacerbated through the consumption of cheap unhealthy food or through lack of funds to even purchase it. The worst outcome here is the potential loss of life.
The number of people receiving emergency food parcels from Trussell Trust foodbanks in the UK has increased significantly:
2,986,203
However, the vast and deep food supply chain creates many opportunities for social value to be embedded within it. There is opportunity to create social value sometimes with low or no cost implications, just a mindset change around behaviour and culture in some circumstances.
Source: www.statista.com
Made up Kitchen, London
A great example of this is Made up Kitchen, an organisation based in London, who have created a community shop in Hackney and have distributed nearly 90,000 bags of food shopping in the community. Run by a team of volunteers with the main cohort being young people from the Rise 365 youth organisation, this initiative fulfils a key function within a community of high levels of deprivation.
25,899
food parcels in 2009
food parcels in 2023
from farm to fork
Returns on
regenerative agriculture
a case of going ‘back to the future’?
Minimise soil disturbances
CORE PRINCIPLES
Maximise species delivery
Keep the soil covered and build organic matter
Maintain living roots in the soil year round
Integrate livestock
expected benefits
More resillient yields
Improved soil health and biodiversity
Increase in crop nutrient quality and flavour
Lower expenditure on fertiliser
Reduced fuel use and field traffic
Carbon sequestration
In some ways regenerative agriculture aims to go ‘back to the future’, reintroducing methods that became outdated in more intensive systems, such as including livestock in an arable rotation, while continuing to embrace new technologies that can further help the environment and productivity, such as precision application of fertilisers and sprays and min-till or no-till drilling where the conditions support it. The January announcement of increased payment rates for many existing Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) options made a positive impact on the profitability of regenerative agriculture systems, and farmland carbon credits continue to be a potential source of income to help offset the loss of the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and counteract generally accepted yield reductions that can occur during a transition to a regenerative system. New SFI options introduced for summer 2024, including no-till farming and variable rate application, will also provide a significant boost to income for farmers who embrace the scheme.
The Savills virtual farm, relaunched in our Summer 2023 Spotlight on Soils, has been updated to reflect these changes and assesses on a modelled basis operational budgets for:
Starting the transition and anticipating reduction in yields, variable costs and fixed costs. Incorporating a 12-week sheep grazing contract on stubble turnips or mixed brassicas. A broader SFI scheme, registering for Farmland Carbon Credits boosts income foregone from food production and accessing regenerative growing premiums for milling wheat.
Incorporating a limited SFI scheme, the precision application of inputs option was added for the 2024 modelling.
As year one plus, increased organic content (SOC) and integration of catch and cover crops, which reduce the requirements for artificial fertiliser due to improved nutrient cycling, and improved natural pest control both contribute to yields increasing from year one of transition and a continued reduction of fixed and variable costs.
Regenerative, year one
Conventional
Regenerative, year six
June 2023 forecasts showed the net margin in year one of the transition being 43% lower than the conventional model and by year six had recovered to 19% higher than the conventional model. With SFI options updated to 2024 values and introducing the additional SFI measures for soil health and precision farming, the net margin reduction in year one improves to 11% lower than the conventional model and in year six the net margin for regenerative farming shows a 47% increase on the conventional model.
The agricultural industry will need to balance food production at scale while also committing to environmental improvement goals. The discussion continues as to how to manage production risks while implementing change that benefits soils and the broad range of natural capital. The principles of regenerative farming support this but it is important that progress is based on good science and evidence that enables different businesses to adapt a mixture of techniques to improve soil health.
Andrew Wraith
Head of Food and Farming Savills
Unlike organic farming there is currently no single, set definition for regenerative agriculture
At its core are five principles that will improve soil health, sequester carbon and have positive impacts on water and biodiversity in the local environment, at the same time as continuing to produce food. The intensive nature of modern agriculture and its impact on soil health potentially affecting both productivity and the ecosystem services it is able to provide to society, is under close scrutiny. In answer to this scrutiny, regenerative agriculture seeks to adopt a set of principles that halt and ultimately reverse the trend of reducing soil health, going beyond the ‘do no harm’ principles of sustainable agriculture.
Forecast margin and income sources for the conventional and regenerative farming models
thoughts from the farm
During the COVID-19 pandemic something amazing happened; thanks to travel restrictions and various lockdowns we all found ourselves not only with more time, but also more inclination to explore the countryside around us. This resulted in was the British public paying more attention to where their food came from and starting to engage with the countryside and the rural world. I first noticed a change when clients started asking me what they should do when people started arriving at their farm, tentatively asking what they did and whether they sold produce direct to the public. Clients were ringing me about this “problem” because they were perplexed as to what to say or do. The vast majority of my clients were delighted to be approached by these new customers directly. They used it as an opportunity to engage with the public, tell them how the farm works, which food products they were growing – and what they were doing for the environment. A number of them also used it to set up direct retailing enterprises, many of which are still in operation today. A common theme that emerged across my client base was that the customers they were interacting with were very interested in the environmental credentials of the farms and also the products they were purchasing.
Contrary to popular opinion, farms have always been very environmentally pro-active. I can’t think of a single one of my clients that doesn’t have an active environmental stewardship agreement in place. Most of these include wildflower margins, bird seed plots and fallow areas that wildlife loves. However, the environmental areas have always been quite separate from the farmed areas even if they’re within the same field. This is now changing – I suspect thanks to the increased customer interest we saw during and post-COVID-19. The environment is now also being incorporated into the way we produce food; heritage varieties of crops are being grown, herbal leys are being planted, livestock are being re-introduced to farms, soils are being tilled less and cover crops are being used ahead of spring crops. All of these practices fall under the banner of ‘regenerative agriculture’ which is a growing trend amongst farmers. The key principle of regenerative farming is to produce food in such a way that more is added back to the soil than is taken away. Regenerative farming doesn’t have its own certification (yet), but you can spot some regenerative products on the shelves in our supermarkets – for example Marks & Spencer now stock bread made from Wildfarmed wheat and rye flour, grown in England on regenerative farms.
Tom Cackett
Director of Food & Farming Savills
For the time I’ve been involved in agriculture, farmers have produced raw products that have been purchased by a processor to be packaged and subsequently made available for people to buy in their high street supermarket.
Farmers and their ultimate customers had become quite disconnected from each other.
If you are truly interested in your food then I urge you to consider where your food has come from and how it's been produced, as not only do these factors influence the quality of the food itself, but also its nutritional quality and environmental credentials.
Back to Following the global money
A case study
corporate innovation
David Kinsella
Director of Research & Development at Bühler
Bühler, a worldwide technology leader in food production and sustainable mobility, partnered with MassChallenge Switzerland to advance its commitment to innovate sustainability in the areas of nutrition and food safety, energy and waste-reduction, mobility, and digitalisation.
The challenge
The solution
Every day, billions of people use technologies to satisfy their basic needs for food, mobility, and communication. For instance, Bühler technology is used to process approximately two-thirds of the wheat harvested worldwide into flour. While its mobility technologies help move over one billion people per day. As a leader in technology and sustainability, Bühler invests up to 5% of its turnover every year in research and development. To optimise these efforts, Bühler identified five core topics that are decisive for driving change:
Tackling these ambitious goals requires constant creativity, alternative perspectives, disruptive technology, and exploring new models. To best discover this innovation and inspiration, Bühler sought to look outside their walls.
With MassChallenge’s emphasis on emerging, high-impact technologies, Bühler receives early access to carefully selected and promising start-ups across their five core initiatives. For each acceleration program, MassChallenge mobilises several hundred experts (over 650 in Switzerland alone) to assess the quality of the start-up applicant. In the end, about 7% of them are selected, which translates to 120 projects among over 1,400 applicants. MassChallenge’s unique development environment allows for fast experimentation and testing of new business models. Selected start-ups enter a four-month acceleration period where Bühler can exchange ideas and test proposed models at high speed. The variety of approaches and technologies encourages fresh learnings and new perspectives to Bühler’s internal teams. During the sixteen-week programme, start-ups can work intensely on product-market-fit with closed loop feedback from Buhler experts and from their customers.
The Results
By partnering with MassChallenge, Bühler can increase their brand identity as leaders in innovation and sustainability. They can also access new business models without having to create the entire ecosystem internally, expand research and development more efficiently than with past methods. Over the years, Bühler has had different approaches to interacting with MassChallenge Switzerland. In 2016, two internal teams took part in the accelerator program, to collect insight on the agile-startup methodology and shorten time to prove out new solutions. Partnering for technology and an open innovation approach is now embedded in Buhler’s R&D culture, shortening time-to-market, and expanding their market offering.
-Ian Roberts, CTO Bühler, Chairman of MassChallenge Switzerland
Back
Food and feed safety: spend 50% of food relevant R&D projects with focus to improve food and feed safety.
Energy, waste and water reduction: reduction by 50% in the value chains of their customers by 2030.
Mobility: make lighter cars with die-casting solutions and create more efficient batteries for electric vehicles.
Nutrition: spend 20% of food relevant R&D projects with focus to improve nutrition.
Digitalisation: improve transparency and reduce waste through digitalisation and collaboration.
What’s unique about MassChallenge Switzerland is the fact that it successfully combines a north American ‘no fear of failure’ bravado and risk-investing mindset with the European technical rigour and academic heritage, attracting some of the best start-ups. This unique formula can lead to a future ‘powerhouse’ of the European economic system, driving economic growth and job creation. MassChallenge provides its partners with invaluable elements such as entrepreneurial spirit, selectivity and a sense of urgency that can fortify and boost one’s commitments and goals.
