Foodtech Grand Prix 2023 From the Greetings from the President of the Jury
Shuhei Tsukada, Executive Officer, LIVERNESS Co.
Food is the point of contact between people and the Earth
What is "food"? I am sure each of you has your own ideas, but first let me share mine.
What impressed me the most in my high school textbook was the "Material Cycle". Materials on the earth are constantly circulating between living organisms and the rest of the earth's environment. For example, plants absorb carbon dioxide and convert it into organic matter, which animals and we humans eat and then return to the earth when we die. In this way, materials are constantly circulating between the earth's environment and living things. In this sense, we can say that food for humans is the point of contact between humans and the earth. And what if we add a time axis to this? In the 5 million years since the beginning of human existence in East Africa, we have always faced food in our long history.
Probably at first they made axes out of stone and picked plants and animals. Cooking came next. This technology uses fire to make food more palatable and to improve the absorption of nutrients. Then came the great migration of humans. Some kind of technology would have been necessary for the great migration in search of food. When they stopped moving and settled down, production technologies such as agriculture and animal husbandry were born. From there, they developed technologies to increase the nutritional value of food and store it for long periods of time by fermenting it with microorganisms or, conversely, by killing off microorganisms that were interfering with the process.
Considering that almost all of human history has been with food, I think it is fair to say that the various technologies we have today were born out of our confrontation with food. Using the technologies that have been created, we have survived and also evolved by developing our brains. In other words, I believe that food is the source from which mankind has evolved with technology.
However, on the other hand, as a result of human progress with the technology that was created, there are many challenges in the world today. For example, we are harming our own health and burdening the earth by using various natural resources.
What we would like to consider today in this food tech field is "bringing harmony to the earth and people and creating technologies that will be used in the new era. Our theme is to bring harmony to materials and to create technologies that can be used properly in the new era.
The challenges that exist on the planet today are those that remain because they cannot be solved by existing technologies and businesses. It is very important to combine multiple technologies, such as those possessed by the finalists and those possessed by the partner companies. The concept of Tech Planter is "to solve unsolved issues (deep issues) with a collection of science and technology (deep tech). It is truly a place to accelerate the evolution of technology.
We have 11 teams presenting today, and we intend to generate a collective body of science and technology. And beyond that, we should be able to solve a variety of outstanding issues. I hope that you will see this as a day of evolution for this purpose.
Solving problems by making knowledge manufacturing your livelihood.
We at Liberace have also decided to make a major evolution in 2023. Until now, RIVANES has called itself a "knowledge platform. This started with the experimental classrooms that we have been working on as our ancestral business, and we have developed our business as an education support project, a human resources support project, a research support project, and a business establishment support project, of which this Tech Planter is the main program. We have built these projects as a platform from the birth of technology to its implementation in society.
Once our efforts to create a knowledge platform have been successful, what will we create next? This is why we have set forth the concept of "knowledge manufacturing. When we asked ourselves again what we would do with the knowledge platform, we came to the realization that we would make knowledge manufacturing our livelihood. We also changed the words under our company name logo from "The Knowledge-based Platform" to "The Knowledge Manufacturing Company" to express our commitment.
So what is this knowledge manufacturing? We believe it is "creating new knowledge by combining knowledge with knowledge. In other words, as I said at the beginning, we will create technology from here toward the new era. In food tech, we are facing food, and that is the starting point from which we will create technology. And we will use this new knowledge to solve unsolved problems. That is what we want to do.
The Foodtech Grand Prix is similar to a business contest in form. But we do not consider it a business contest. We combine the knowledge possessed by the people gathered here today to manufacture new knowledge. It is to solve food-based issues, issues that food faces. I hope you can think of this day as the site of this event.
The Tech Planter has attracted more than 3,500 teams from Japan and six Southeast Asian countries. Among them, the number of teams in fields such as agriculture and food has grown to more than 500. We are planning to generate new ones while utilizing the knowledge we have accumulated so far.
Tech planters create a "symbiote".
Now, let me introduce you to some of the projects that have been created in the past: Ira Noah Pte. Ltd. which was a finalist in the first edition in 2020. We are currently working with them on a joint venture to expand the definition of sustainable food in Japan and Southeast Asia. Betaace, Inc., which makes a bean-to-bar chocolate called "Minimal," is teaming up with one of the Superfactory Group companies to begin creating a system for making better tasting and more efficient chocolate.
And last year's finalist, ASTRA FOOD PLAN Corporation, has progressed in just one year from upcycling onion scraps with partner Yoshinoya Co. to turning them into bread with bakery chain Pompadour.
KOJI LABO, which won the Grand Prize last year, has begun joint research with partner companies and is now moving toward implementation. This is the kind of "thing" that happens at the TechFrinter. We hope that this year's finalists will combine what they want to do with the assets of the partner companies and create new projects here.
I have been studying the symbiosis of legumes, and I believe that Tech Planter can be described as a place of "symbiosis". A community that realizes solutions to issues that were not possible before by combining each other's strengths. In other words, a "symbiosis. Therefore, I hope that all finalists and judges will actively communicate with the awareness of creating a symbiosis.
I am sure all the finalists have polished their presentations for today. However, what we are looking for is not a beautiful presentation, but rather a presentation that fully expresses your sense of Question and Passion. And to the judges and partner companies, today there are no boundaries between your company and our company. Let's trust in the passion, perspective, sensitivity, and intuition that each and every one of you has, and let's work with an awareness of how to combine knowledge.
Everyone at Rivanes, we are the leaders. Let's sweat our brains out as much as we can, listen to the finalists' presentations and think about what kind of projects we can generate from here, and talk with our partners to create projects here today. Thank you very much for your cooperation.
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