A glimpse into the future of food technology -Foodtech-, with Alessio D’Antino

AI-generated summary

The Future Trends Forum, organized by the Bankinter Innovation Foundation in Madrid under the theme “Smart Agriculture: the challenge of sustainable food,” convened leading experts to explore pressing issues in food security, sustainability, and innovation within agriculture. A key highlight was Alessio D’Antino, founder and CEO of ForwardFooding, who presented an in-depth analysis of the Foodtech sector in his talk “Attending to tomorrow: Reflections and projections in the world of Foodtech.” Foodtech, an evolving field, focuses on leveraging technology to enhance efficiency and sustainability across the food system—from production to consumption. D’Antino emphasized critical components such as sustainability, supply chain optimization, food safety through blockchain and IoT, and innovative products like alternative proteins and lab-grown foods.

Despite significant growth and investment peaks, especially around 2021, Foodtech remains underfunded relative to other sectors like Fintech, with notable “innovation blind spots.” Areas such as food safety, waste management, and agricultural biotechnology receive disproportionately low investment due to perceived risks, regulatory hurdles, and less consumer visibility. To address these gaps, D’Antino advocates for increased education, investment incentives, and cross-sector collaboration. Looking forward, he is optimistic about alternative proteins, cellular agriculture, microbiome solutions, and personalized foods, stressing the importance of international cooperation to unlock Foodtech’s potential in transforming global food production and consumption sustainably.

Alessio D'Antino explores the trends, opportunities and challenges in Foodtech, offering a comprehensive perspective on the future of our food supply chain

The think tank Future Trends Forum, under the slogan Smart Agriculture: the challenge of sustainable food, organised by the Bankinter Innovation Foundation in Madrid, has brought together leading experts and key figures in the field of agriculture and food. This event focused on examining current and future challenges related to food security, sustainability and innovation in the agricultural sector, underlining the critical role of emerging technologies and new methods to revolutionize these essential fields.

One of the participating experts was Alessio D’Antino, founder and CEO of ForwardFooding, a global organization dedicated to driving innovation in the food and beverage industry through its network of entrepreneurs, startups and corporations.

In an era where technology and food are increasingly intertwined, Alessio D’Antino offers us an in-depth analysis of the Foodtech sector during his presentation entitled “Attending to tomorrow: Reflections and projections in the world of Foodtech”. In this presentation, he shares his experiences and key data accumulated over a decade of work in the field of agricultural and food technology.

If you want to see Alessio D’Antino’s presentation, you can do so in this video:

Alessio Dantino: Serving Tomorrow: Reflections and Projections in the World of FoodTech

Alessio D’Antino’s presentation is summarized below:

What is Foodtech?

Food technology, or Foodtech, is an emerging field that focuses on improving the efficiency and sustainability of all processes involved in our food system. From agricultural production to distribution and final consumption, Foodtech seeks to integrate innovative solutions to address the current and future challenges of the food industry. The definition of Foodtech is dynamic and constantly evolving as new technologies and applications emerge.

Origins and evolution of Foodtech

The term “Foodtech” began to gain relevance in the early 2010s, initially being identified with the use of technologies in the food supply chain to improve efficiency and reduce waste. However, over time, the focus has expanded to include a wider range of technologies and applications. According to Alessio D’Antino, despite the outdated definition found on resources such as Wikipedia, his organization has worked to update and expand this definition to better reflect the capabilities and potential impact of the sector.

Key components of Foodtech

Sustainability: one of Foodtech’s main goals is to make food production and consumption more sustainable. This includes reducing the use of natural resources, minimizing the carbon footprint, and better managing food waste.

Supply chain efficiency: Foodtech applies innovative technologies to optimize supply chains, from agriculture to the end consumer. This includes the digitalization of processes, improved logistics, and the automation of production and packaging.

Food safety and traceability: through the use of technologies such as blockchain and IoT (Internet of Things), Foodtech improves the traceability and safety of food, allowing better control over the quality and origin of products.

New products and production methods: Foodtech also encompasses the development of new foods and beverages, such as alternative proteins and lab-grown products, that can complement or replace traditional food sources.

Challenges and opportunities

Despite its promise, the foodtech sector faces numerous challenges, including resistance to change from established industries and regulatory concerns. However, it offers significant opportunities to address global issues such as food security, climate change, and public health.

In short, Foodtech is a reinvention of how food is produced, distributed, consumed, and valued in our society. Over time, this sector will change the food industry and have a profound impact on global cultural and economic practices.

Great figures and investment trends in Foodtech

The Foodtech investment landscape has seen significant years, identifying 2016 as year zero for Foodtech globally due to the emergence of numerous companies. However, the investment peak was reached in 2021, followed by a turning point in 2022. Despite these advances, Foodtech still represents only a fraction of investment compared to sectors such as Fintech. D’Antino highlights that although Foodtech is crucial to solving some of humanity’s biggest problems, it is still relatively small in terms of total investment, reflecting the particularity of the food and agriculture sector and the enormous potential it has.

Diversification and innovation blind spots

The Foodtech sector has experienced significant growth and diversification over the past few decades. However, this development has not been uniform across all areas, resulting in what Alessio D’Antino calls “innovation blind spots”. These blind spots represent critical areas within the sector that have received less attention and investment compared to other more popular segments such as food delivery and alternative proteins.

Historically, a disproportionate proportion of investment in foodtech has been focused on areas that promise quick and visible returns, such as food delivery, which attracted 56% of all investments in the last decade. This trend has left other important areas, such as food security and agricultural biotechnology, significantly underfunded.

Areas that have been historically underfunded in Foodtech include:

Food safety and traceability: Despite their critical importance, investment in technologies that improve food safety and provide full supply chain traceability is relatively low. These technologies are critical to preventing foodborne illness outbreaks and ensuring consumer confidence in product quality.

Surplus and waste management: Innovation in surplus management and food waste reduction is vital to creating sustainable food systems. However, these areas receive a smaller fraction of the total investment, despite their potential to significantly impact environmental sustainability and economic efficiency.

Biological Agrotechnology (Ag Biotech): Although agricultural biotechnology has the potential to revolutionize food production by developing more resilient and productive crops, it remains one of the least funded areas within Foodtech.

Reasons for the lack of investment

The reasons behind this unequal distribution of investment include:

Risk and return perceptions: Areas such as food delivery have more proven and understood business models, attracting more investors looking to minimize risk and maximize quick returns.

Consumer visibility and demand: Projects with direct and visible results for consumers, such as food delivery apps, tend to attract more attention from both consumers and investors.

Complexity and regulations: Areas such as agricultural biotechnology face significant challenges in terms of regulation and technological development, which can deter investment.

Overcoming blind spots

To overcome these blind spots and encourage a more balanced development of the Foodtech sector, D’Antino suggests a series of strategies:

Education and awareness: Increasing awareness of the importance and potential of underfunded areas through education and outreach campaigns.

Investment incentives: Implement tax incentives and subsidies to encourage investment in critical, but less popular areas of Foodtech.

Sector collaboration: fostering collaborations between companies, academia and governments to share resources, knowledge and technologies that can drive innovation in all areas of Foodtech.

The future of FoodTech and the importance of collaboration

Looking ahead, D’Antino is optimistic about the role of alternative proteins and cellular agriculture, despite regulatory restrictions in some countries. It underlines the importance of collaborating across borders and disciplines to overcome the challenges of the sector. It also predicts an increase in the adoption of microbiome-based solutions and food personalization as technologies mature and are more fully integrated into global supply chains.

Key takeaways

D’Antino’s presentation is a comprehensive review of Foodtech’s trajectory and trends, and a call to action for a more intense and strategic collaboration between all actors in the ecosystem. As the sector faces an uncertain but promising future, the integration of new technologies and international cooperation will be crucial to make the most of the opportunities offered by Foodtech to transform the way we produce and consume food in the world.

Alessio Dantino: Serving Tomorrow: Reflections and Projections in the World of FoodTech

If you want to delve deeper into the opportunities and challenges of agriculture and food, don’t miss the report Smart Agriculture: The Sustainable Food Challenge.

You can also read articles about other presentations by experts participating in this Future Trends Forum: