The NOM and Campus Groningen have successfully taken part of the 15th Plant-Based Foods & Proteins Summit North America. Due to corona, this was an online edition. Health, Food and Agribusiness in the North have been well represented by Joep de Vries (NOM) and Sven Stielstra of Campus Groningen: "In the Northern Netherlands, we have substantial knowledge and skills to fasten the transition to sustainable and healthy food ingredients. Read the whole article here, that was published by the NOM.

Recently, the 15th Plant-Based Foods & Proteins Summit North America took place. Although the ‘North America’ aspect was less relevant this year – the organizers were forced to switch to a digital format. The Northern Netherlands had a prominent presence at this event, where it was represented as TopDutch Health Food and Agribusiness (HFA). How did they get on with a virtual event? And what will be the role our region plays in the protein transition? Joep de Vries (NOM) and Sven Stielstra (Campus Groningen) share their experience. 

Role Northern Netherlands

Joep de Vries was scheduled to travel to Canada in June. As NOM's business development manager, he was registered to participate in an international summit on plant-based foods and proteins across the pond - the 15th Plant-Based Foods & Proteins Summit North America - to be precise. Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic threw a spanner in the works. But the event's organizer, Bridge2Food, got creative and threw a virtual event, that was still hosted by Canada, instead. "I was very happy about this", says Joep. “In recent years, the world of plant-based proteins has developed at a rapid pace, prompted by a growing demand for healthy food. Moreover, producing plant-based foods is essential if we want to be able to continue feeding a growing world population. The TopDutch region can play a significant role in this transition from animal sources of protein to plant-based proteins. So, you can see why this summit was a great opportunity for us to visit."

A clear story and years of experience

The summit was, of course, a great source of new knowledge and networking. But it also offered an excellent opportunity to introduce the region to an international audience. To do this in the most competitive way possible, Joep got together with Sven Stielstra, a business developer at Campus Groningen, to bring together the competitive advantages of the Northern Netherlands into one clear proposition and pitch.

NOM and Campus Groningen have been working closely for quite some time already in the development of the region’s position as leaders in the growing plant-based proteins market. “It was clear from the outset that we wanted to position ourselves as TopDutch", says Joep. TopDutch is the regional economic brand for the Northern Netherlands that works to demonstrate the capabilities of the whole of the North as a major player in green and digital international business and internationalization. “We added Health, Food and Agribusiness, or the acronym HFA, as a baseline. Three key areas in which the Northern Netherlands has excelled, for several years."

Hotspot for innovations

Campus Groningen and the surrounding region have developed into a hotspot for innovations that contribute to a healthier world, Sven stresses. Take for example, the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG). By applying data from LifeLines – the unique research cohort and biobank, which collects samples and data from 167,000 participants from the TopDutch region - the center has acquired a large amount of knowledge around the relationship between gut flora and health. “This provides the base for new AgriFood innovations. It gives us insight into which proteins and carbohydrates we need to become and stay healthy. Armed with this knowledge, we can ask the agriculture sector, and its prominent food cooperative Avebe in particular, whether it is possible to extract these proteins and carbohydrates from cereals. The Carbohydrate Competence Center can provide support for this.

“Once we can develop the required ingredients, we can work with partners in other regions to turn the ingredients into healthy foodstuffs, which can then be offered to consumers. What we’re seeing is that we have extensive knowledge and expertise in the Northern Netherlands to accelerate the transition to sustainable and healthy food ingredients."

Help from TopDutch’s Digital ecosystem with EventInsight

A great story and a great pitch! TopDutch HFA even had its own booth. Yes, that's right, a booth at a virtual conference. How did they pull this off? “To be fair, I also had my fair share of questions about this,” Joep laughs. "But it was magnificent.” The event consisted of a digital platform that was developed by EventInsight, a Groningen-based company, in which NOM holds a stake. The events start-up lost half of its yearly turnover due to the coronavirus pandemic. But they managed to turn a crisis into an opportunity, developing a digital alternative, under the brand Let's Get Digital, to ensure that large-scale events could go ahead as planned.

This was a gamble that paid off, as became clear during the Virtual Plant-Based Foods & Proteins Summit North America. “You entered the summit through a lobby. From there you could go attend talks by speakers or visit a booth. All you had to do was click on the logo for the company of your choice, meaning the TopDutch logo in our case. You could see at a glance who was in the booth, and all the important information like their name, phone number and e-mail address. Visitors could watch a short video to find out more about our proposition and download a pdf file with information. You could also chat, video call or invite people to a personal virtual room. At times, it really felt more like a physical summit."

Now it’s time to build on our successes

The summit was a success. The team had a conversation with the consulate, among others, and worked on options and made agreements with several universities. They also met with a number of interesting companies that can be connected with knowledge institutions and companies in the Northern Netherlands. Joep says that he really enjoyed the virtual format. “It took a lot of energy though. The difference in times zones between Canada and the Netherlands was definitely an issue. It may sound silly, but I really suffered from jet lag after the summit."

Sven was also happy with the outcome. "The narrative of the Northern Netherlands really made an impact", he says. “Now the next step is to fine-tune our story into a solid proposition. I think it would be great to initiate the first steps for this at the next event and also combine this with some success stories. The booth would then be manned by an Avebe protein expert, a gut expert from the UMCG and reps of AgriFood start-ups like EV Biotech or CarbExplore, instead of Joep and myself.  We should show off our star players, experts who have all the knowledge. This would make the profile of the Northern Netherlands even more compelling."

Source: nom.nl
Source headerphoto: pexels
Source conference photo: NOM