Trudeau government recruits 'insect protein' companies to attend UK 'Future of Food-Tech' conference

A global meeting called the Future Food-Tech summit, which takes place in the United Kingdom in September, plans to bring over 800 business leaders together to, among other things, focus on bringing "alternative proteins" into the food market.

As reported by Cosmin Dzsurdzsa for True North, the group has ties to the World Economic Forum (WEF), and companies from Canada specializing in insect proteins have been invited to attend by their very own government's National Research Council. 

The summit aims to bring business leaders together in order to create "foods that are nutritious, accessible, and climate-smart," focusing on strategies that include “leveraging plant-based, cellular agriculture, insect and fermentation technologies.”

Key themes for the summit will include "Climate-Smart Food," "Futuristic Food," and "Optimising Biotech."

This year, Protein Industries Canada partnered with the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada. The NRC is calling on small and medium-sized Canadian enterprises to meet in London for the summit with other business leaders. 

The objective for the partnership is to start “forming collaborative research and development (R&D) partnerships that lead to co-innovation projects” that relate to the development of alternative protein forms and to “become more competitive in the global marketplace."

The advisory board of the Future Food-Tech summit includes Aksha Kshetrapal of DSM Venturing. DSM Venturing, according to several annual reports, is part of the "internal and external venturing" of the larger entity, DSM. DSM is partnered with the Word Economic Forum and has offices all over the globe, including in China. 

Findings from the "DSM China Integrated" report in 2015 say that "DSM is a strategic partner of the WEF and is involved in initiatives including the New Vision on Agriculture platform and the Global Agenda Council on Food & Nutrition Security."

Per the 2015 report, DSM has "funded 52 projects" related to nutrition around the world.

The CEO letter found in the 2021 report for DSM says the conglomerate acquired "Midori in Animal Nutrition & Health" and First Choice Ingredients and Vestkorn Milling in Food & Beverages," in addition to "the Flavor & Fragrance bio-based intermediates business of Amyris in Personal Care & Aroma." DSM owns and operates many other companies that are trying to change the market of nutrition around the world. 

Locations for DSM are all over the globe. From China to the US and Europe to South Africa.