Alternative proteins jury member: Susanne Wiegel

Susanne is the Investment Manager for Alternative Proteins at Nutreco NuFrontiers, the strategic innovation and investment department of Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and aquafeed. The aim of NuFrontiers is to accelerate technological change to enable 'Feeding the Future' and to identify, develop and invest in next generation sustainable products, models and services throughout the feed and food protein value chain. Susanne dedicates her time to building an investment portfolio of alternative protein start-ups and scale-ups, and exploring business opportunities for Nutreco as cell feed supplier to the cultivated and fermentation-based protein industry. Prior to joining Nutreco, she worked as deputy head of business development at a leading European biopharmaceutical company and in strategy consulting with McKinsey&Co.

What excites you about the future of feed & food tech innovation?

It is exciting to welcome entrepreneurs and their new and disruptive ideas that are needed to improve our food system.

 

Why is this Challenge & the acceleration it can provide important to the future of feed & food tech?

The challenge is important as we need new ideas for how to feed more people with fewer resources, and as part of that, we are always looking for ways to assist entrepreneurs in validating and scaling up their ideas and technology.

 

What are you looking for in the pitches and business plans that will be presented in this Challenge?
Within cultivated and fermentation-based proteins, innovations are crucial that allow creating economic production processes and the necessary supply chain. Moreover, these new approaches should result in desirable end products for the consumer that will make our food production systems more sustainable.

 

What is one piece of advice you would have for participants in the Challenge?

I would advise innovators to think about how their idea can move beyond the prototype stage and solve the future customer’s needs.