APS & KET X SG
Organising events is not an easy task. I got involved in KindEarth.Tech back in 2019 when I was on the ground in Amsterdam and could see that the team needed some extra help. By the end of the event, I was Head of KET, UK and became part of their vision for the future!
2 virtual events, 1 live event and a pandemic later; I found myself in Singapore having got stuck into supporting the team from Society for Cellular Agriculture to put on the 2nd Alternative Protein Show in Singapore and I’m pleased to report, it was a huge success!
With just 150 in attendance, we had been aiming for quality over quantity and it showed in the thoughtful presentations and depth of discussions - the insider roundtables offered a chance to get a window into the workings of the cultivated meat scene in Asia and understand the barriers when it comes to scalability and focus on sustainability. We talked about investment, collaboration, advertising and creating dishes to tempt local palates. Everyone came away with new perspectives shared and thought-provoking insights.
Our keynote speaker, Sandhya Sriram had, just the day before the event, posted a bombshell on Linkedin; after 3 years of trying, Shiok were unable to meet the expectations of investors and as such were going to be focusing their resources on the company they acquired last year, GAIA Foods instead, and would be pursuing cultivated meat instead.
The lobby was buzzing with this speculation, and as an organiser, I wasn’t 100% sure if she would turn up given all that was happening. Spotting her purple jacket amongst the audience during Ira’s opening address gave me comfort and she gave a great overview of why cultivated meat is such a crucial solution within the future of food.
It has been a tough year so far for cultivated meat. The closure of one of KindEarthTech’s speakers from our first event in 2018, New Age Meats, whose founder Brian Spears gave an honest appraisal of their failings - grew too quickly and ran out of cash came as a blow. Sandhya’s honest pivot from seafood to meat showed that innovation timelines can’t be estimated accurately, no matter how experienced or knowledgeable a team you have. That said, Monday’s opening of Mosa Meat’s new cultivated meat facility in The Netherlands, felt like a turning point towards a more positive outlook which Ira helped to bring to life in her address.
Ira offered a hopeful take on the future of cultivated meat by sidestepping the factory as the route to scalability in favour of a more localised model. She introduced the concept of RESPECTfarms - a research project examining the potential for cultivated meat to be grown where we already grow our food. On farms. Her vision film is so compelling that it won CANS (Cultivated Meat Assoc Netherlands) over €60m in government funding to explore the possibilities across their consortium.
Sandhya’s keynote also offered hope and positivity with a healthy dose of realism with her “Life Is Good” outlook. She brought us back to the reason that all these companies exist in the first place - the urgent need for an alternative to animal agriculture, for sustainability and to improve health outcomes through diet change. Cultivated meat sits alongside precision fermentation as the hope for omnivores to be able to switch their current foods to products that are imperceptively similar to their cruelty-free alternatives.
This point was underlined at every break by a valuable donation of Very Dairy milk, by Perfect Day whose precision fermented offering was available paired with Kopi-O or Teh-O-Kosong to stave off the jetlag for those of us who had travelled from afar, and worked brilliantly - indistinguishable from dairy milk and a timely reminder to us all that we can make animal products without the cruelty of the animal agriculture industry. Their CoolHaus ice cream was the sweet treat that kept us going through the 4pm slump!
I thoroughly enjoyed assessing the startup pitches from those who entered the pitch competition - there were some fantastic new ideas showcased and it was exciting to see so many Asian women bringing their ideas to life through creating businesses. The winner, Angie’s Tempeh, stood out from the rest for her clarity, simplicity and go-to-market strategy but personally, I also loved her confidence and her drive. A close 2nd place was Prefer - a coffee startup that replaces coffee beans with fermented food waste. Perhaps not the most appetising idea but the smell and the flavours described were those you would naturally associate with coffee - vanilla, citrus, and cacao.
Just goes to show that consumers take a while to warm to new ideas; even innovation judges!
Simcha Nyssen and I presented how influencing consumers to accept these new and innovative products is crucial and the key messages that will help drive behaviour change - including highlighting a GAIA study that showed all the opportunities that a sustainable food transition would offer societies around the world.
Everyone enjoyed the mega-panel discussion with Gen Z expert, Isabella Grandic, TINDLE COO and industry good guy, Alex Ward, and Chef José thoughtfully moderated by Ribella Lee which seemed to bring the room together and the Q&A felt like it could have gone on the rest of the day!
Wednesday evening saw KETX Singapore host a VIP reception at the Dutch embassy where we dove in deep into the challenges and the opportunities that lie ahead for this burgeoning industry. Prof. René H. Wijffels joined via Zoom to let us in on all he has been working on with students at Wageningen University, and Meatable’s Jef Pinxteren, VP of Development to draw back the curtain on what they are up to over in Delft. The Dutch are excellent collaborators and it is great to see the openness they bring to these meetings infuse within the group enabling more honest transparent conversations and more solution-based chats. Thanks to the embassy for hosting - it was the perfect venue for such an intimate get-together and the good vibes were carried on by some into the early hours!
Organising this event was no mean feat and it really only happened thanks to the dedication of Peter Yu and Calisa Lim, who worked tirelessly for 2 months to bring us all together. Times are tough and budgets are tight, yet when not-for-profit events can help make these connections and build relationships across sectors and regions, it helps me believe that anything is possible!
Of course, without our amazing sponsors - it would literally be impossible. So enormous thanks to:
Platinum Sponsor (Toyo Seikan Group)
Community Partner (Singapore Science Park - CapitaLand)
Bronze Sponsors (APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture, GAIA, Citizen Kind & RESPECTFarms)
Booth Sponsors (Lauda, QIAGEN, Thermo Fisher, SingLabs Technology & ITS Science & Medical)
Food Sponsors (Float Foods - Only Eg, TiNDLE, - plant-based chicken, Perfect Day - Very Dairy milk and CoolHaus ice cream), and Bamboo Bowls for our yummy lunch!
AND all our esteemed speakers, judges, panellists, pitch competitors and participants for making the Alternative Protein & Foodtech Show such a brilliant event!
I left Singapore feeling hopeful that a sustainable food transition isn’t just possible and necessary, but also inevitable given the enthusiasm, determination and grit demonstrated by those working to change hearts and minds. When I reflect on how much has changed in the region in the 5 years since I left, I realise that though the cultural challenges might be different - cognitive dissonance in the West vs family traditions in the East; the enjoyment of food is shared by all and offers us a path to adoption of modern food fit for a sustainable future.
KindEarth.Tech are looking to replicate this KETx model of deep dives at embassies around other events around the world, starting with Plant Based World in New York in September, and London in November.
Contact me for details or to get involved, and see you there!