Food Innovation Camp

The seventh Food Innovation Camp once again showed how diverse, sustainable and creative the future of the food industry can be. With around 80 start-ups from Germany and abroad, Hamburg became a hotspot for food trends, innovations and new business models.

The focus was on courageous founders who are rethinking sustainable and healthy nutrition with their ideas - from cocktails from the toaster (kukki) and ice cream made from algae (Puevit) to plant-based meat alternatives made from mung beans (Oh Mungood) or sustainable fish farming using aquaculture technology (Big Akwa).

Hamburg flies the flag for the future of food

We were also present with the Food Cluster Hamburg - as a driving force for networking, promotion and visibility of the industry. Dr Malte Heyne (Managing Director of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce), Katharina Fegebank (Hamburg's Second Mayor), Sascha Taube (Managing Director of Food Cluster Hamburg), Christin Siegemund (foodlab Hamburg), Anna Lamp (traceless materials) and Dr Cornelius Lahme (BLUU Seafood) discussed Hamburg as a location for food innovation. Sascha Taube emphasised the importance of regional cooperation.

Food Cluster Hamburg – not only present with a booth

This year, for the first time, we were there with our own booth. We had great company from two of our members at our booth: Vitaquell and Thats Kimchi – presenting their fantastic products.

We also had the pleasure of hosting three interesting panels. These offered exciting insights and impulses for start-ups and people interested in the industry:

Food Cluster Hamburg – Insights and outlooks
Our Managing Director, Sascha Taube, and our loyal and committed members Annemarie Heyl (Founder & Managing Director Kale&Me) and Matthias Pfestorf (Managing Director Fauser Vitaquellwerk KG) not only provided insights into the Food Cluster Hamburg, they also took a look together at the future vision of the Food Cluster Hamburg. The panel was moderated by Dr Annika Schröder (Food Cluster Hamburg).

Let’s grow: Funding, opportunities & connections for the young food business
Moderated by Katharina Thomsen (Chamber of Commerce, Head of Technology, Knowledge & IT Department), Dr Annika Schröder (Food Cluster Hamburg), Ayhan Saka (Chamber of Commerce, Head of the Start-up & Promotion Team) and Dr Hanna Blaschke (Chamber of Commerce, Consultant at the Patent and Innovation Centre) spoke about the services and opportunities for start-ups offered by the Food Cluster Hamburg and the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce.

Out of the kitchen - onto the shelves, Gastro & Co.
Very valuable insights and practical tips for start-ups were provided by Udo Konstantin Uhlig, founder and Managing Director of Onshii, for start-ups in the catering and B2B sectors, and Niklas Etmans, founder and Managing Director of ooha, for start-ups in the food retail sector.

New formats and strong stages

With the new "Forum Foodsense", the topic of nutrition was brought to life for the first time in an artistic, playful and sensory way. The camp also impressed with live pitches, show kitchens, discussions with decision-makers from retail, politics and catering - and with awards for outstanding start-ups, such as the Newcomer Award winner O-SOME TASTE (www.o-some.de).

The winners of the pitch stage were:

Winner of the WISAG prize: Wholey www.wholey.de

Winner of the EAT SMARTER prize: Tsarona www.tsarona.de

More information about the Food Innovation Camp you can find here

Pictures:

©Jan Wagner / BRANDMEISTER PHOTOGRAPHY

©Mathias Jäger