The queue at the entrance of Unicorn Berlin is enormous. The guests are patiently waiting to go on a culinary discovery at the first startup food market in Berlin. Over 20 startups are presenting their products and ideas of tomorrow for the first time.
Fabio is not only event planner and founder of an e-food blog, but also „Head of Food Innovation und Food Tech” at Metro Group. He sees himself as a „pioneer and networker”. He occupies himself with the food chain cycle in principle – the „food system“, and not only the status quo but also the future of such. Anyone who is developing ideas and solutions for the challenges of world nutrition and the changes of the food industry can be sure that Fabio is interested in it.
How will we feed ourselves in the future? What will future trade look like? How will megatrends, such as urbanisation and climate change impact our nutrition? These are only a few questions, which Fabio deals with on a daily basis.
Early on, Fabio discovered another major topic, which is strongly affecting the food-sector: the comprehensive and continuous digitalisation. At first, he solely focused on the food e-commerce, by now he is looking for innovative food technologies and startups together with Metro. Approaches that contribute to food security for the growing world population are of particular interest to him.
Fabio maintains his network and contacts with the startups. It depends on different factors, which startups are supported by him. Whether he sees the startups from a personal or professional perspective, the team and human factor are always the most important to him. „People, people, people. These are the three success factors”, summarizes Fabio. „Only a good team recognizes, reflects and challenges its own ideas”
Fabio likes to share his knowledge. Thanks to his blog he is connecting entrepreneurs from the food sector. www.efood-blog.com is a platform for conversation, which will further promote the exchange and development of the industry.
„Our food system and our value chains will drastically change in the future”, he says. Due to the rapid development of the world’s population, there will be more and more food needs to be satisfied in the future. However, the worldwide usable area is limited and still available farmland is shrinking continuously. Solutions are urgently needed. Fabio thinks that Urban Farming could be one approach. Also known as Vertical Farming or Indoor Farming, the concept enables food to be stored in a space-saving manner with little use of resources directly at site of consumption.
Fabio sees further exciting solutions in alternative forms of nutrition. „Products that are alternatives to meat consumption, thus alternative protein sources such as algae, fungi, but also insects,“ he explains. Another trend in the food-tech sector is the Internet of Things. It drives the digitization of the entire value chain. „This also includes the development and interlinking of various devices which, apart from transparency, provide more traceability.“
Fabio is strongly convinced that the German capital is the ideal location for entrepreneurs. „Berlin is a very eclectic and experimental-friendly city. It offers an incredibly good infrastructure of different networks.” Fabio´s mission: to connect the right people with each other. One can expect the crowds to be even bigger at his next startup event.