03 May Panel: Building a Thriving Agri-Food Innovation Ecosystem
How do we build a thriving agri-food system at a time where there is an urgent need to develop a sustainable global food system through innovation, technology, and partnerships?
SAIL was featured in an engaging panel discussion (26 June) at the recently concluded Food&HotelAsia (FHA) Food & Beverage 2023. The discussion, moderated by Joshua Soo (CEO, GROW), covered the key pillars for “Building a Thriving Agrifood Innovation System” – including the role of investments, technology, talent, and public-private partnerships.
Prof. Wai Fong Boh, Co-Director of SAIL, highlighted the important yet overlooked role of corporates as “demand drivers” for agri-food innovation as well as the facilitating role SAIL is playing in this context. She also noted that agri-food innovation is an interdisciplinary endeavour which requires skills and talent across several adjacent domains.
Anton Wibowo (CEO, Trendlines Agri-Food Innovation Centre) remarked that the agritech industry is still emerging and attracting mostly specialised investors. He also underscored the importance of government support as well as government-to-government relationships that enable agritech startups to scale internationally.
Melissa Ong (Group Chief Officer, Impact Circle) offered Malaysia’s perspective on agri-food innovation – highlighting the fact many of the agritech startups in the country were birthed from localised socio-economic challenges. She also highlighted key government initiatives to support entrepreneurship in the sector as well as opportunities for collaboration with Singapore’s innovation ecosystem.
Thank you to Joshua for skilfully moderating the session and keeping the audience engaged with his well-crafted and insightful questions. Thanks need to go to Yun Xuan Koh from Informa for partnering with SAIL to provide a platform at FHA-FnB to share value experiences on agri-food innovation at such an important event.
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