Food Matters Live is Hosting its Biggest Ever Special Events Programme – 22-24 November at London’s ExCeL
Do you fancy speed dating your brand – or matchmaking your company with a European partner? How about launching your start-up on Amazon – or even finding out if your business complies with trading standards? Visitors and exhibitors at this month’s Food Matters Live in London’s ExCeL have a unique opportunity to do all of this and much more – thanks to a series of special events that will be running alongside the main conference, seminars and exhibition.
The programme, which is organised by a host of different organisations taking part in Food Matter Live, will run throughout the three-day event and includes one-to-one meetings with innovation teams and buyers from retailers, manufacturers and ingredient suppliers – plus industry awards and educational workshops.
Among these is Enterprise Europe South-East UK’s matchmaking event which aims to help companies, research centres and universities, keen to get a foothold in Europe, identify potential clients, distributors, collaborative partners and suppliers from across the continent.
Exhibitors and visitors can choose in advance the firms they are interested in from an online catalogue – and schedule a meeting before the event. Many of the link-ups last year resulted in commercial and technology partnership agreements.
Amazon Launchpad will be making its debut at this year’s Food Matters Live, on a mission to help start-ups showcase their innovative products to millions of Amazon customers – while Intertek will be offering a regulatory advice hub with experts from the Department of Health, Food Standards Agency, law firm Bird & Bird and trading standards.
Unilever will be running an innovation competition to encourage other companies to help solve a number of challenges posed by brands Bertolli, Flora and Flora ProActiv – while high street chains battle it out with tiny neighbourhood cafés to see who will be the Best FreeFrom Eaterie 2016.
Food experts from industry and academia will join the N8 Agri-Food Round Table to review novel manufacturing methods, the advent of ‘tomorrow’ foods and concerns over global food security – while the Institute for Manufacturing will be running a Sustainable Food Business Hackathon.
Two days of pitching and one-to-one meetings have been lined up by the Department for International Trade London Consumer Team with a carefully selected group of international food and drink buyers.
Meanwhile, brand owners looking at new marketing opportunities should join the Brand Chemistry speed-dating event, which gives each participant a 15-minute window to meet specialist agencies that can help. Only 12 brand owner places are allocated for each session, which are operated on a ‘first come first served’ basis.
Returning to London’s ExCeL on 22-24 November, Food Matters Live is the only event that brings together the people that matter with more than 15,000 influential visitors to find solutions to some of the most hotly contested issues to affect the food and drink industry this year.
More than 600 organisations are taking part in the Food Matters Live exhibition – from global multinational companies to young and emerging enterprises – so in addition to manning the stand, exhibitors have a chance to network, forge collaboration and attend these special events.
Others include:
- The Irish food board Bord Bia offering insight into the sustainability and resource efficiency agenda affecting the agri-food sector
- The Sustainable Restaurant Association setting out its plans to create an online community and campaigns focused on healthy eating, food waste reduction and a sustainable seafood service
- Grub Club Cambridge’s social networking event for food and drink professionals
- Food Matters looking at progress made on ‘may contain and precautionary allergen’ labelling
- Industry experts talking about the benefits of reformulating with pulse flours and fractions
- The Food and Drink Federation hosting a session for small firms who are thinking about reformulating to reduce sugar in their products
- Public sector catering experts discussing the Childhood Obesity Strategy and its impact on the services they deliver
- And a finalist from a new competition sponsored by Campden BRI, members of the Institute of Food Technologists’ Student Association, presenting his thesis on whether anti-oxidants from blueberries could impact colon cancer cells.
To find out more or to book a session, simply register at www.foodmatterslive.com
