7:30 AM - 8:40 AM
Registration & Refreshments
8:40 AM - 8:50 AM
Chair’s Opening Remarks
Dan Howell, Director of Product Development, La Terra Fina USA
Introductory remarks by the Chair in the plenary room
8:50 AM - 9:25 AM - Keynote
R&D & Formulation
The Future of Protein: Why do you need an Animal to Create Meat?
Dariush Ajami, Vice President of Innovation, Beyond Meat
9:25 AM - 10:00 AM - Keynote
Innovation & Technology
Indoor Gardening — a Movement Reconnecting Families Back to Food
Alejandro Velez, Co-Founder, Back to the Roots
10:05 AM - 10:40 AM - Case Studies
Innovation & Technology
FOCUS Brands and Carvel Innovation
David Fenner, Director R&D Carvel Ice Cream, Focus Brands Inc.
R&D & Formulation
Practical Application of Sensory-directed Flavor Analysis of Foods
Keith R. Cadwallader, Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
10:40 AM - 11:40 AM
iSolve Meetings & Networking Refreshments
11:40 AM - 12:15 PM - Solution Spotlights
Innovation & Technology
Accelerate Products to Market in a Safer and More Compliant Way
Michael Frankel, Vice President of Sales, North America, Selerant
R&D & Formulation
Learnings from the Leaf – Stevia’s Journey to Great Taste
Faith Son, Vice President, Global Marketing and Innovation, PureCircle
When stevia first came into the market in 2008, it was considered the holy grail of natural sweeteners as it was plant-based, had zero-calories and believed to match the taste of sugar. However, the conventional leaf varieties of stevia had taste challenges. Years of agronomic and sensory has led to a better tasting stevia plant called StarLeaf, which can provide sugar-like taste in food and beverage products.
In the ongoing dialogue around natural-origin products, great taste must also be met. This presentation will take an in-depth look at how one company made this journey over the past ten years to get to a plant-based solution for reducing sugar in food and beverage products.
12:20 PM - 12:55 PM - Case Studies
Innovation & Technology
Lessons in taking Ethnic Foods Mainstream
Anshu Dua, Co-Founder and CEO, The Chaat Company
Consumer Insights & Marketing
Everything Changes but the Avant-Garde
Luis Carlos Chacón, Op-Ed Columnist, Forbes Latin America
12:55 PM - 1:55 PM
Networking Lunch
Lunchtime Roundtable: Sopheon
Time-To-Market. It’s More Than Just Project Execution
Can you identify with internal processes that take far too long to pinpoint, invest in, and execute on new products, programs, platforms or processes?
If you said "YES" to any of the above challenges, you need to attend — "Time-To-Market. It’s More Than Just Project Execution"
1:55 PM - 2:30 PM - Solution Spotlights
R&D & Formulation
Chicory Root Fiber: A Natural Solution to Reduce Added Sugar
Scott Turowski, Technical Sales Manager, Sensus America, Inc.
Innovation & Technology
How Digital is Changing Food - Challenges and Opportunities
Daniel D. Protz, Founder & CEO, FlavorWiki
2:35 PM - 3:10 PM - Case Studies
Consumer Insights & Marketing
Meeting the Demands of Today’s Mindful Consumers
Patty Johnson, Associate Director, Purchase Intelligence, Mintel International
Consumer attitudes and behaviors are constantly evolving. What is driving this evolution and where are we going in the future? This look into Mintel consumer trends and purchase behaviors will provide you with the insights to:
Innovation & Technology
Edible Insect Industry
Julianne Kopf, Co-Founder, Bugeater Foods
3:10 PM - 4:10 PM
iSolve Meetings & Networking Refreshments
4:10 PM - 4:45 PM - Keynote
Innovation & Technology
Transform or Stand to be Disrupted
Andria Long, VP of Innovation & Consumer Insights, Johnsonville Sausage
Successful transformation is absolutely critical for businesses to survive now and anywhere in the near future. The pace of change is so fast and staying flexible enough to quickly evolve with future innovation is essential.
Andria is a transformational innovator who has successfully driven strategic growth at 5 companies in the intensely competitive CPG space. She has continued to synthesize her learnings and best practices and developed her own proven approach that quickly identifies opportunities by understanding insights in the rapidly changing consumer, competitive, and industry landscape.
The key areas of discussion will focus on what Andria has learned in building two Chicagoland-based innovation centers: focus on the consumer, how the people and culture of your organization play a factor in transformation and a compelling case for change.
4:45 PM - 5:20 PM - Keynote
Innovation & Technology
Bringing the Real Food Revolution to Vitamins & Supplements
Shane Durkee, Chief Innovation Officer, Swanson Health
Swanson Health was family-founded in 1969 as a catalog-based vitamin and supplement company looking to bring health and wellness to people around the world. Nearly 50 years later, Swanson is a top online and catalog marketer of healthy living products, selling both Swanson Health and third-party brands, yet the opportunity remained to attract new customers.
This session will take you through a case-study of how Swanson transformed their approach to new product development, combining data analytics, health and ingredient trends, and technology processes, to ultimately overcome barriers and challenges to successfully launch a line of synthetic- and yeast-free real food vitamins and supplements to meet the wants of today’s health and wellness customers.
5:20 PM - 5:30 PM
5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Evening Drinks Reception
8:00 AM - 8:50 AM
Registration & Refreshments
8:50 AM - 8:55 AM
Chair’s Opening Remarks
Dan Howell, Director of Product Development, La Terra Fina USA
Introductory remarks by the Chair in the plenary room
8:55 AM - 9:30 AM - Keynote
Innovation & Technology
Food at the Heart of Chobani Innovation
Rajneesh Hora, R&D Innovation Director, Chobani
9:30 AM - 10:05 AM - Keynote
Innovation & Technology
Open Innovation and Open Data: the Open Hazelnut Initiative
Giovanni Battistini, Vice President, Open Innovation Science, Ferrero USA, Inc.
10:05 AM - 10:50 AM - Panel Discussion
Innovation & Technology
The New Face of Innovation
David Donnan, Senior Partner, A.T. Kearney
Natalie Shmulik, CEO, The Hatchery Chicago
Andrew S. Whitman, Managing Partner, 2X Partners
David Rabie, Co Founder & CEO, Tovala
Sarah Renahan, Co Founder, The Worthy Company
10:50 AM - 11:50 AM
iSolve & Networking Refreshments
11:50 AM - 12:25 PM - Case Studies
Innovation & Technology
A Philosophical Approach to Product Development in Small Companies
Dan Howell, Director of Product Development, La Terra Fina USA
R&D & Formulation
Regulatory Challenges in Cannabis Product Development
Sanford Wolgel, PhD, CFS, Cannabis Science and Regulatory Expert, KCNM Consulting
12:25 PM - 12:30 PM
Please Move to your Next Session
12:30 PM - 1:05 PM - Case Studies
Consumer Insights & Marketing
“Big Fish, Little Fish…How Emerging Brands Build Value & Why Big Brands Buy Them”
Jeff Manning, “Godfather”, GOT MILK?
R&D & Formulation
Innovation Meets the Manufacturing Process – it can be a Dangerous Mix
Thomas Preniczky, R&D Specialist, Sweet Street Desserts
1:05 PM - 2:05 PM
Networking Lunch
2:05 PM - 2:40 PM - Keynote
R&D & Formulation
Sharing the Love of Cooking: Translating Chef-Inspired Recipes to Meals Everyone can Enjoy Making
Erik Jensen, Chief Product Officer, Home Chef
2:40 PM - 3:15 PM - Keynote
Innovation & Technology
A New Approach to Delivering Transformative Innovation
Ciara Dilley, Senior Director, Transformative Innovation, Global Snacks Group, PepsiCo
3:15 PM - 3:25 PM