Announcing the winner of the USD 100,000 Future Food Asia 2020 Award, the two winners of the Bühler and Givaudan Plant Protein Award, and the winner of the Corteva Agriscience Prize for Food Resilience.
PRESS RELEASE
Singapore, 25th September 2020
For immediate release
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FluroSat from Australia earned the US$ 100,000 Future Food Asia Award.
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Two start-ups were awarded Bühler and Givaudan’s Plant Protein Award – DAIZ from Japan and Let’s Plant Meat from Thailand
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Peer-to-peer microfinance initiative, Crowde from Indonesia, was awarded the Corteva Agriscience Prize for Food Resilience
The Future Food Asia conference was hosted on September 21-25, both virtually and in physical satellite venues across the world, hosted by our partners such as HaoShi Foundation (Taipei, Taiwan) and Thai Wah (Bangkok, Thailand). Through this Collective Edition, the conference provided a platform for the much-needed dialogue on the pressing challenges and innovative solutions to add resilience to our agri-food value chain.
For the past four years the Future Food Asia Award has recognized and rewarded entrepreneurs from Asia Pacific who are building disruptive and sustainable innovations to tackle the inefficiencies and scarcities in our agri-food value chain. This year, nearly two hundred contenders from 18 different countries from Asia Pacific applied to the Future Food Asia Award. The 11 shortlisted start-up finalists pitched their innovations to a live global audience of 600+ industry leaders, investors and experts. The jury named FluroSat from Australia as the winner. FluroSat is a full crop cycle analytics provider that delivers proactive reports and alerts on all aspects of crop performance and health. Its analytics engine, FluroSenseTM monitors over 7 million acres of arable land supporting leading agribusinesses in delivering precision agriculture programs and decision support to their growers.
“FluroSat is very excited to be selected as a winner of the FFAA prize, and establish this important partnership to support our global expansion and bring the climate-smart agriculture decision support tools to farmers and agronomists all over the world!”, said Dr Anastasia Volkova, CEO and Founder, FluroSat.
The selection of the winner for the Future Food Asia Award was carried out by the jury that consisted of: Gérard Jacquin, former Director of Partnerships, Transfer and Innovation at INRA, Europe’s leading agricultural research institute; Dr. Ralph Graichen, Senior Director of Food & Consumer Cluster at A*STAR’s Biomedical Research Council; and Peter Huang, President of Greater China at Corteva Agriscience; and Isabelle Decitre, CEO & Co-founder of ID Capital.
“Data has the transformative power of making agriculture more sustainable, but Big Data without proper consolidation quickly becomes overwhelming for farmers. This is where FluroSat makes the difference, combining insights from proven science and high level of integration and automation of workflows. Their phenomenal commercial traction speaks volumes on the need for such a solution.”, said Isabelle Decitre.
Championing the burgeoning sector of plant-based proteins, Bühler and Givaudan, also hosts of FFA2020’s exclusive Plant Protein Masterclass, jointly selected two start-ups – DAIZ (Japan) and Let’s Plant Meat (Thailand) – as the winners of the Plant Protein Award. The winners were selected on the basis of various criteria, including their degree of innovation, Asian relevance and commercial potential in the region.
“We congratulate both teams at DAIZ and Let’s Plant Meat for earning the Plant Protein Awards of this Future Food Asia edition. Both companies are paving the way to exciting protein options “made-in-Asia” with a focus on Asian consumers and cuisines. The two approaches are hinting at the fact that the future of plant-based protein will be diverse: consumers will be able to pick products on criteria as diverse as ingredients, nutrition profiles or cooking applications. More importantly, the two winners prove that Asia, a long-time protein importer, will take a central role in scaling the plant-based meat revolution” comments Dominique Kull, Head of Technology at Bühler.
Alex Ward, Head of Regional Innovation, APAC, Taste and Wellbeing added: “We are very impressed with all the start-ups we spoke to. They demonstrated innovation, passion and dedication in bringing market solutions that address our global food challenges. The winners of the Plant Protein Award; DIAZ and Let’s Plant Meat were especially insightful in their product design and commercialisation plans for Asia. We remain committed to work with start-ups in the Plant Protein space and further develop our capabilities to do good for the food industry in Asia.”
For Corteva Agriscience, accelerating food resilience remains a priority in the region. At the Future Food Asia 2020, the company awarded its Prize for Food Resilience to Crowde from Indonesia, an agri-focused fintech company which was also a finalist for the Future Food Asia Award competition.
Peter Ford, President of Asia Pacific, Corteva Agriscience said: “The Crowde team stood out as one that is most closely aligned to Corteva’s purpose of enriching smallholder farmers and workers along the food and agriculture ecosystem to achieve food security and resilience through technology innovation. Through close collaboration with a dedicated Corteva Agriscience Advisory Board, we look forward to supporting Crowde in accelerating its development, to support smallholder farmers during and after the pandemic.”
Future Food Asia 2020 has been made possible by continued support from our partners: Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore’s lead public research agency, Corteva AgriscienceTM, a global pure-play agriculture company that provides farmers around the world with the most complete portfolio in the industry, Bühler Group, the leading global technology supplier to the food processing and advanced material manufacturing industry, Givaudan, the leading global flavours company, Dole Asia Holdings Pte Ltd., one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of high-quality packaged and fresh fruit, ADB Ventures, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) program supporting entrepreneurs to scale technology companies for sustainable impact in Asia and the Pacific, and The Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), the lead government agency responsible for strategies that enhance Singapore’s position as a global centre for business, innovation and talent.
More details are available at https://futurefoodasia.com/ffa2020/
Overview of Future Food Asia 2020 Winner
FluroSat (Australia)
FluroSat is a full crop cycle analytics provider that delivers proactive reports and alerts on crop performance, stress, nutrient requirements, and sustainable management practices to crop advisors and agronomists in 14 countries. Its analytics engine, FluroSenseTM monitors over 7 million acres of arable land supporting leading agribusinesses in delivering precision agriculture programs and decision support to their growers.
Overview of the Bühler and Givaudan Plant Protein Award Winners
DAIZ (Japan)
Through their patented technology, DAIZ develops and manufactures Miracle Meat, a plant-based meat ingredient derived from germinated soybeans. Miracle Meat has been shown to not only have a high nutritional value but also closely replicate the texture of various kinds of meat. With Miracle Meat, DAIZ aims to solve major global challenges including protein deficiency in developing countries and environmental pollution from intensive animal farming.
Let’s Plant Meat (Thailand)
Let’s Plant Meat is a plant-based meat startup from Chiang Mai, Thiland, focusing on research, manufacturing, and on building awareness of environmentally friendly meat alternatives. The startup believes its animal-free meat will shift eating habits towards more sustainable action.
Overview of the Corteva Agriscience Food Resilience Award Winner
Crowde (Indonesia)
Crowde is an agriculture-focused fintech startup that empowers farmers across Indonesia with technology and capital by creating a farmer-friendly financing ecosystem that puts in touch investors with farmers that are looking for capital to grow business, create employment, and support local communities.
About ID Capital
ID Capital is an investment company headquartered in Singapore specialized in the domain of AgriTech and FoodTech in the Asia-Pacific region. ID Capital is a pioneer in the agrifood sector in Asia-Pacific and has contributed effort and capital in also catalyzing the ecosystem in the region through its Future Food Asia platform launched in 2016. Its thesis is built on the fact that in this growing vertical, Asia-Pacific is the nexus between high growth and high stakes. ID Capital is also an Appointed Partner for Startup SG Equity for the AgriFoodTech sector.
For further enquiries please write to [email protected]
About A*STAR
The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) is Singapore’s lead public sector agency that spearheads economic oriented research to advance scientific discovery and develop innovative technology. Through open innovation, we collaborate with our partners in both the public and private sectors to benefit society.
As a Science and Technology Organisation, A*STAR bridges the gap between academia and industry. Our research creates economic growth and jobs for Singapore, and enhances lives by contributing to societal benefits such as improving outcomes in healthcare, urban living, and sustainability.
We play a key role in nurturing and developing a diversity of talent and leaders in our Agency and Research Institutes, the wider research community and industry. A*STAR oversees 18 biomedical sciences and physical sciences and engineering research entities primarily located in Biopolis and Fusionopolis.
For more information on A*STAR, please visit www.a-star.edu.sg
About Corteva Agriscience
Corteva Agriscience is a publicly traded (NYSE:CTVA), global pure-play agriculture company that provides farmers around the world with the most complete portfolio in the industry – including a balanced and diverse mix of seed, crop protection and digital solutions focused on maximizing productivity to enhance yield and profitability. With some of the most recognized brands in agriculture and an industry-leading product and technology pipeline well positioned to drive growth, the company is committed to working with stakeholders throughout the food system as it fulfils its promise to enrich the lives of those who produce and those who consume, ensuring progress for generations to come. Corteva Agriscience became an independent public company on June 1, 2019 and was previously the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont.
More information can be found at www.corteva.com
About Dole Packaged Foods
Dole Packaged Foods Worldwide is a division of Dole International Holdings, one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of high-quality fresh and packaged fruit-based products, with operations covering more than 70 countries around the world.
Dole is on mission to make Nutrition & Wellness accessible to as many people around the world, as possible, reducing the gaps between people and healthy nutrition. More information at https://dolesunshine.com
About Bühler
Billions of people come into contact with Bühler technologies to cover their basic needs for food and mobility every day. Two billion people each day enjoy foods produced on Bühler equipment; and one billion people travel in vehicles manufactured with parts produced with our machinery. Countless people wear eye glasses, use smart phones, and read newspapers and magazines, all of which depend on Bühler process technologies and solutions. Having this global relevance, we are in a unique position to turn today’s global challenges into sustainable business. We want every human being to have access to healthy food. We want to do our part to protect the climate with energy-efficient cars, buildings, and machinery. Our motto is creating “innovations for a better world.”
Bühler invests up to 5% of turnover into research and development. In 2018, over 13,000 employees generated a turnover of CHF 3.3 billion. As a Swiss family-owned company, Bühler is active in in 140 countries around the world and operates a global network of 30 production sites. More information on www.buhlergroup.com
For further enquiries:
Vianney d’Hostel, Regional Marketing Manager Southeast Asia
Bühler (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Bangkok, Thailand
Mobile: +65 9148 1405
E-mail: [email protected]
About Givaudan
Givaudan is the global leader in the creation of flavours and fragrances. In close collaboration with food, beverage, consumer product and fragrance partners, Givaudan develops tastes and scents that delight consumers the world over. With a passion to understand consumers’ preferences and a relentless drive to innovate, Givaudan is at the forefront of creating flavours and fragrances that ‘engage your senses’. The Company achieved sales of CHF 5.5 billion in 2018. Headquartered in Switzerland with local presence in over 145 locations, the Company has almost 13,600 employees worldwide. Givaudan invites you to discover more at www.givaudan.com.
About ADB Ventures
ADB Ventures is the Asian Development Bank’s platform for investing in early-stage technology companies. Through venture capital and technical assistance, ADB Ventures helps highly-scalable technology businesses expand in emerging markets and helps developing member countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. ADB Ventures receives support from Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Clean Technology Fund, the Nordic Development Fund, and the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance.