Dubai, UAE: 12 February 2024: Dubai has been confirmed as the host city of the inaugural Healthy Innovation Conference (HiConf) that promises to provide an immersive and insightful journey into the realm of food technology and alternative proteins. Taking place on 29 February, HiConf is the first summit in the MENA region that is wholly focused on new and improved food solutions that bring transformative benefits to the health of people and the planet.
As a regional pioneer in the sustainable food industry and home to a vibrant innovation ecosystem, the UAE provides an ideal location for HiConf. The conference comes at a time when GCC governments have set ambitious national food security strategies while also aiming to reduce food imports that currently fill around 85% of domestic food needs.
In parallel, there is growing demand for alternative animal protein products, with one Credit Suisse report estimating that the market for alternative meat and dairy could grow to US $1.4 trillion by 2050.
HiConf will bring together a wide spectrum of stakeholders involved in making the global food system more sustainable, kind, and fair for people as well as animals and the planet. The agenda will focus on emerging food market trends, evolving consumer behaviors, breakthroughs in alternative proteins, sustainable production solutions, and changing ethics that are reshaping the food industry.
The event is expected to welcome more than 400 government leaders, investors, academics, scientists, and entrepreneurs from across the global food ecosystem. Speakers will include former German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, Sergei Ivanov, Executive Director and Board Member at EFKO Group, Dr. Manon Littek, Founding Partner of Green Generation Fund, Tao Zhang, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Dao Foods International, and many more.
“New and improved food solutions have the transformative ability to accelerate public health, benefitting the individual as well as the planet. HiConf thus serves as a global thought leadership platform that has the potential to improve population longevity while reversing rapid climate and environmental deterioration,” comments Dr. Guenther Wuertele, Managing Partner at WP Human Capital Group.
HiConf is organized by WP Human Capital Group with UAE-based Novel Foods Group as the main sponsor, held in partnership with dfv Conference Group, PwC, and a growing list of well-known partners.
