Event postponed New date will be advised : Food Tech Futures: Accelerating innovation through global
Event postponed New date will be advised
Conference and Dinner Time : 1:00 pm - 7:30 pm 1:00 pm -5:00 pm Conference
5:00 pm - 5:30 pm Wine Tasting
5:30 pm - 7:30 pm Food Tasting
Location: Hope & Main, 691 Main St. Warren, RI
Early Bird Tickets until February 29th - $105. After February 29th, $125
To purchase tickets, click here:
Organized by The Rhode Island-Israel Collaborative and Hope & Main
For Sponsorship Opportunity Information, See link or contact us at info@theriic.org
As we enter a new decade, the world's food systems face unprecedented challenges driven by the escalating demands of climate change, population growth, geopolitical conflict, and economic imperative. These stressors require bold solutions capable of scaling rapidly on a global level. The future of food technology requires the kind of urgent innovation that is happening today in places like Israel and Rhode Island-- one a nation-state and one a city-state—who, out of necessity, have responded in resourceful and ingenious ways to the deep disruptions in our food systems.
Join a conversation with thought leaders from both Israel and Rhode Island as they discuss the application of technology to develop more sustainable food futures. This conference will explore the potentials in global and inter-sectoral collaboration around topics such as alternative proteins and biotechnology; soil-less agriculture and sustainable aquaculture; the challenges of the on-demand “food economy”; the new face of food waste; the rise of functional foods; and the next generation of food-tech change-makers and entrepreneurs.
Israeli Keynote Speakers and Chef
Tammy Meiron, Ph.D. Chief Technology Officer at
FRESH START Food-tech Incubator
Dr. Tammy Meiron, received her Ph.D. Chemistry, Biochemistry and Food Science from the Hebrew University. For the past 10 years Dr. Meiron led the technology of startup companies, mainly in the FoodTech field. Among them Dr. Meiron served as CTO of Zero-Egg ( https://zeroeggfood.com/) – plant-based egg substitute; Director of Food Science, Amai-proteins ( https://www.amaiproteins.com/) - sweet designer proteins such as sugar substitutes; was regarded as the "Google" of FoodTech; and CSO of Avomed - sustainable extraction of high potency active ingredients from avocado pits (biowaste). Dr. Merion also teaches the course "New Product Development" at the Hebrew University; is part of the steering committee of the Food Institute Annual Conference, is part of the founding and management team (as the CTO) of Fresh-Start FoodTech incubator and Dr. Meiron will be moderator and speaker at the annual summit of OurCrowd (13th February 2020 https://summit.ourcrowd.com/), in the FoodTech session: "Feeding the Planet Without Killing It" (expected more than 18,000 participants).
Rachel Yarcony Goldstein Speaker myAir food tech Co-Founder & Co-CEO Food & Pharma Expert
Rachel has profound leadership background with 20 years of hands-on experience, managing companies, leading strategic processes, sales and marketing of products in Food & Pharmaceuticals industries. Rachel was V.P. Marketing at Teva pharmaceuticals, Business Manager at Nestle and Marketing Manager at Strauss group. Rachel has proven success in bringing new products and break-through innovations to fruition in leading companies in highly competitive categories such as dairy, fresh salads, culinary and snacks. Rachel is a Grand EFFI Winner, for the effective marketing activity for the year 2012 – Nestle, the launch of a new snacks category “Shtuchim pretzels”. Rachel holds B.A. in Psychology & Communication from Tel-Aviv University, and MBA (with honors) from ESG in France.
In 2019, Rachel founded myAir food-tech, a personalized functional food company, specializing in stress management.
In a world where we manage our diet and manage our sports - it is essential that we will start to manage our stress., and personal nutrition is part of the solution.
myAir develops stress-relief nutrition bars backed with machine learning technology for personal deep profiling, offering a long-term personal stress management routine.
Israeli Chef Eran Geffen
Founder and Owner of Good Vines Catering Company
Chef Geffen was born and raised in Jerusalem. Eran was exposed to the diversity of the Mediterranean cuisine. The sights and smells of the international city intrigued him at an early age and drew him to explore and experiment with the plethora of flavors. For Eran, food isn’t merely a passion but a language, a way to express life. Eran began his career at Arkadia, one of the most creative and prestigious chef restaurants in Israel. His passion to explore new cuisines, learn cutting edge techniques and experience new cultures, drew him to relocate to Barcelona, Spain, where he worked at Enoteca, a 2-star Michelin restaurant. Returning to Israel, Eran spearheaded the creation of an up and coming Asian-fusion restaurant, RYU. As head chef he was able to implement his culinary vision and create a unique style.
Rhode Island Keynote Speakers and Chef
Matt & Erin Tortora, Co-Founders, WhatsGood
With nearly two decades of combined service to the U.S. Navy, Matt as a Nuclear Missile Technician, and Erin as a Supply Corps Officer, the husband and wife team founded WhatsGood in 2015 out of a shared passion for good food, and a vision of a more just and sustainable food system. A Johnson & Wales- trained Chef, Matt understood the challenges of disintermediating the typical supply chain in order to make the food produced by local farmers and fishers more accessible to chefs and consumers. Over the past five years, WhatsGood has attracted significant private investment and has developed some of the most radically game-changing eCommerce software that now powers hundreds of farmers markets and thousands of farmers, fishermen, and artisans across the United States with www.sourcewhatsgood.com. Now, Crave has developed the capability to enable small to mid-sized businesses in the Food & Beverage space with custom, yet affordable, eCommerce mobile apps and websites. Matt and Erin believe the right technology can open the door to healthier food for all. Their technology-driven platform and marketing tools, empowers local economies and independent businesses to compete with the growing eCommerce click and collect and delivery offered by mammoths such as Amazon and Walmart. WhatsGood's virtual farmers market coupled with their aggregation and delivery services offers buyers the same conveniences of big industry while supporting local farmers, fishermen and artisans, making it easy to source high quality, nutrient-dense local food.
Maria Kasparian, Executive Director, Edesia
Maria Kasparian is the Executive Director at Edesia, a non-profit organization based in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Edesia is dedicated to the treatment and prevention of malnutrition for vulnerable people in the developing world through manufacturing a range of fortified peanut-based ready-to-use foods (RUFs). Edesia annually produces and exports about 20,000 metric tons of products, which it has shipped to over 50 countries in partnership with humanitarian players including USAID, USDA, UNICEF, and the World Food Programme. In addition to producing high quality RUFs, the organization also: supports research and development to improve products and their distribution models; supports local producers of RUFs in the developing world; and engages in education and advocacy around global hunger and nutrition. Leading a team of 105 Rhode Island-based staff, Maria works closely with many international institutions and NGOs involved in nutrition programming and has followed shipments to Guatemala, Haiti, Niger, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Sierra Leone. She has a passion for both the positive effects of social enterprise in the United States, as well as the importance of drawing more attention to the issues of malnutrition and the life-long impact in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life.Ms. Kasparian has been with Edesia since its inception in February 2009. Previously Director of Operations, she became the Executive Director in 2015. Her prior experience includes ecology/conservation work in Madagascar with the School for International Training (SIT); education and public health-focused Peace Corps service in Bangladesh; and capacity-building at a rural development NGO (Street Survivors India) in West Bengal, India, as a William J. Clinton Fellow with the American India Foundation. Ms. Kasparian holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in International Relations from Brown University and a Master's Degree in Public Administration, focused on International Public Service and Development, from Rutgers University.