Gulfood NXT Stage

Forward Fooding officially unveils the 2025 FoodTech 500 - the definitive global ranking of the most groundbreaking companies transforming our food system. This keynote reveals this year's honorees while analyzing the evolution of AgriFoodTech investment, the shift from consumer apps to infrastructure-focused "Wave 3.0" innovation, and breakthrough technologies gaining global momentum. The session spotlights MENA's emerging role as a FoodTech hub and decodes what separates companies that scale from those that stall.

Industry leaders and innovative startups explore how specialty and everyday ingredients are being transformed through biotechnology, precision fermentation, and novel production methods. The panel showcases breakthrough approaches including advanced fermentation technologies, plant-based protein innovations, and extraction from unconventional sources. Discussion covers how these innovations create differentiated, high-value ingredients, the economics of scaling novel production methods, regulatory pathways for market entry, and why ingredient breakthroughs are the foundation enabling broader food system transformation.

Cutting-edge neuroscience is revolutionizing food product development and consumer experience. Thimus CEO Mario Ubiali reveals how measuring emotional and sensory responses at the neurological level provides insights traditional surveys miss entirely. Through case studies, learn how neuroscience-backed data reduces NPD cycles by up to 40%, enables reformulation that maintains satisfaction while reducing sugar and salt, and creates new approaches to quality assurance and personalization - giving food companies powerful tools to create products consumers truly love.

AI has moved from concept to operational reality in food manufacturing. This panel showcases how AI transforms NPD, production optimization, and quality management today - compressing development timelines from months to weeks, predicting taste and texture outcomes, reducing batch failures through computer vision, optimizing production to cut waste and energy, and improving demand forecasting. Food manufacturers will see concrete ROI examples, technology providers will understand integration challenges, and investors will identify the highest-potential applications.

Forward Fooding officially unveils the 2025 FoodTech 500 - the definitive global ranking of the most groundbreaking companies transforming our food system. This keynote reveals this year's honorees while analyzing the evolution of AgriFoodTech investment, the shift from consumer apps to infrastructure-focused "Wave 3.0" innovation, and breakthrough technologies gaining global momentum. The session spotlights MENA's emerging role as a FoodTech hub and decodes what separates companies that scale from those that stall.

International investors from diverse markets share their playbook for deploying capital across borders in today's complex funding landscape. The panel explores how to assess opportunities in unfamiliar geographies, identify universal signals of scalable ventures, and adapt investment frameworks for different regulatory and cultural contexts. Panelists discuss emerging patterns they're tracking, sectors showing unexpected momentum, and how they're repositioning portfolios amid shifting macro conditions. This cross-sector conversation delivers practical insights for investors expanding beyond home markets, entrepreneurs seeking international capital, and innovation enablers building bridges between ecosystems.

Corporate-startup collaboration is essential for food system transformation - yet most partnerships fail to deliver value. Global F&B innovation leaders join entrepreneurs to share what actually works. The conversation covers corporate strategic priorities beyond innovation theater, what makes partnerships valuable versus extractive, IP frameworks and pilot structures that lead to commercial deployment, common failure pitfalls, and why the GCC offers unique advantages for rapid implementation.

Global food supply chains waste 30% of production while struggling with transparency and safety. Technology innovators showcase solutions reimagining distribution from farm to fork - AI-powered logistics optimizing routing and inventory, real-time quality monitoring through sensors, practical blockchain traceability, last-mile urban distribution innovations, and digital platforms connecting farmers to retailers. The discussion demonstrates how these technologies build resilient, anti-fragile supply chains capable of withstanding disruption.

Forward Fooding officially unveils the 2025 FoodTech 500 - the definitive global ranking of the most groundbreaking companies transforming our food system. This keynote reveals this year's honorees while analyzing the evolution of AgriFoodTech investment, the shift from consumer apps to infrastructure-focused "Wave 3.0" innovation, and breakthrough technologies gaining global momentum. The session spotlights MENA's emerging role as a FoodTech hub and decodes what separates companies that scale from those that stall.

Government leaders, agricultural innovators, and technology investors explore how innovation can strengthen GCC food resilience. The panel assesses the current security landscape, examines how controlled environment agriculture, agbiotech, alternative proteins, and circular food systems work within extreme climate constraints, reviews investment mechanisms and government support, showcases successful UAE production projects spanning vertical farms to precision fermentation facilities, and outlines realistic 2030 self-sufficiency targets. This positions the GCC as an innovation laboratory where extreme conditions drive breakthrough solutions—from novel protein production to closed-loop waste valorization—with global applicability.

The GCC imports 80-90% of its food, but rapid advances in controlled environment agriculture and agbiotech are changing what's possible in the world's most water-scarce region. Companies actually operating in the UAE today showcase innovations enabling productive agriculture under extreme conditions: vertical farming economics, water-efficient hydroponic and aeroponic systems, microbiome solutions boosting crop resilience, climate-controlled greenhouses, IoT sensors and AI optimizing resources, integrated aquaponics, and renewable energy integration. These are proven, operational technologies producing food commercially in the Gulf now, with massive scaling potential - demonstrating how the GCC can reduce import dependency while developing agricultural innovations exportable to other challenging climates.

Forward Fooding officially unveils the 2025 FoodTech 500 - the definitive global ranking of the most groundbreaking companies transforming our food system. This keynote reveals this year's honorees while analyzing the evolution of AgriFoodTech investment, the shift from consumer apps to infrastructure-focused "Wave 3.0" innovation, and breakthrough technologies gaining global momentum. The session spotlights MENA's emerging role as a FoodTech hub and decodes what separates companies that scale from those that stall.

Panel discussion: The World of AgriFoodtech Startups - Challenges and Opportunities

Welcome remark from DMCC & IMEAA to kick off final of the pitch competition