Sponsor

At Better Nature, we dare to be different. Guided by our Indonesian roots and tempeh know-how, we’ve become experts at making simple things extraordinarily better… naturally. We’ve learned to do more with less.

Since Better Nature’s founding in early 2019, we’ve won 5 international Food Tech competitions, including the Best Startup of the Cohort at the ProVeg Incubator, Europe’s leading alternative protein incubator programme, and the Most Innovative Alternative Food Ingredient Award at Food Ingredients Europe 2019. We were also one of just six startups invited by the Good Food Institute to present on the mainstage of the Good Food Conference 2019, the world’s largest alternative protein conference.

Beyond our achievements in innovation, we’ve also been busy building the UK’s leading tempeh brand. We’re now listed in over 200 independent retailers, are Mindful Chef’s primarily tempeh supplier, and are one of Amazon’s best-selling meat-free brands. We’re also active in foodservice, supplying brands such as Lion’s Prep, Feelgood Kitchen, The Vurger Co. and more.

Our mission is to make everyone feel and be well by making nourishing food accessible to all. With our range of accessible tempeh-based products that are naturally nutritious, delicious and sustainably-produced, our aim is to establish the tempeh category in the UK and would love to work with leading retailers and foodservice outlets to do so.

Searching for a sustainable solution to preserve the compliancy during the whole chain?

Etheclo strongly believes that everyone on the globe deserves access to healthy food and medication.

We can offer you a reusable, recyclable isothermal box for the first and last mile deliveries of your temperature sensitive goods: cold, frozen and even hot.

Our boxes can be equipped with our sensors that communicate with Etheclomonitor, our cloud platform that allows you to monitor your goods by means of your PC, tablet or smartphone from any place in the world by a simple password or API connection.

Ethecloboxes and sensors are actually used by multiple retailers and merchants for the home delivery of their groceries but are also used at pickup points, and in parcel lockers.

Recently, the most important distributor of pharmaceutical products in Belgium, preferred our concept above various competitors because of the flexibility and reliability of our solution, which can be used as well in electric vehicles as in cargo bikes or vans.

Furthermore, our sensors can be applied independently in fridges, freezers, or greenhouses to monitor temperature, humidity and light conditions of vegetables.

Interesting and appealing for your business? In that case, don’t hesitate to come along and visit or contact us!

Stop thinking out of the box – start thinking in and around the Etheclobox

IGS is a multi-award-winning global business, based in Scotland, which designs, supplies, and supports vertical farms for growers all around the world. It was founded in 2013 by a farmer and an engineer –addressing key challenges in the food industry with precision indoor agriculture.

Our system is modular, consisting of pairs of Growth Towers which come in 6m, 9m and 12m high variants and can grow a wide variety of crops including microgreens, herbs, salad leaves, brassicas, roots, fruits, botanicals (including edible flowers) and even tree seedlings.

Importantly, we are not commercial growers. We blend our engineering, crop science and agronomy skills to build the best technology to allow our customers (the growers) to succeed. Our customers may be existing or first-time growers and we don’t compete with them. Ultimately, our success is driven by enabling our customers to grow tasty, nutritious, additive-free and safe produce for the consumer using economically viable, and environmentally sustainable methods.In 2018 IGS opened its Crop Research Centre in Invergowrie, Scotland. In this environment, IGS uses Total Control Environment Agriculture (TCEA) to manage each stage of the growth cycle and all operational inputs. The software determines optimal recipes of weather and manages the operation of the farm: lighting, watering and ventilation as well as applying nutrition. Data is collected continuously and used to make iterative adjustments, all of which is monitored through a web-based app. The whole system is IOT-enabled to automate system control and management. Ease of use is at the heart of the mechanical design.

The IGS Crop Research Centre is based at the James Hutton Institute, a world-renowned crop and plant science research facility. IGS and the Hutton collaborate closely to help advance the understanding of plant science for growing in our vertical farms to impact certain qualities on the crop and improve economic performance.

IGS has customers on four continents of the world, who are supplying a wide variety of off-takers with a wide variety of crops. The off-takers include major international grocery retailers, hospitality & tourism, food manufacturers and contract catering. Non-food off-takers include forestry operations and perfume distillers.

Up to 2020, IGS had invested approximately £7m in R&D to ensure that its platform offers the greatest levels of control whilst achieving economic viability, scale and minimal environmental impact compared to other systems on the market. In 2019, IGS raised £7 million in institutional capital to enter production and take its systems to global markets. In November 2021, the business closed its Series B fundraise at £42.2 million. We continue to invest over £1m per annum in R&D.

Stem & Glory is a plant-based restaurant brand aiming to disrupt the casual dining scene with locations in Cambridge and London, and a third site at London’s Broadgate Circle due to open in April 2022.

Stem & Glory are also growing with direct-to-consumer products such as ready meals and retail merchandise.

Stem & Glory is an outspoken champion on issues that are vital to our planet, our economy, and our wellbeing. Their restaurants are powered by 100% renewable energy and gas free kitchens. Sustainability is high on the agenda, from the providence of their produce to their up-cycled furniture, and they have an ambitious net zero target.

Stem & Glory have won multiple awards, including ‘Best Newcomer’ in the Cambridge Food and Drink awards in 2017, to ‘Best Vegan Restaurant in London’ shortly after opening the London flagship. Stem & Glory pitched Dragon’s Den style at the Global Restaurant Investment Forum in Feb 2020 and won ‘Most Investable Concept’. More recently Stem & Glory won ‘Best Enterprising Business’ at the National SME Awards in Dec 2021.

The Welsh Sustainability Cluster’s vision is to make Welsh food & drink the most sustainably produced in the world and to shout about it. Under the 4 pillars of Promoting Best Practice, Building Awareness, Developing Skills and Improving Knowledge, Insight and Research, the Cluster supports Welsh producers on their journey towards becoming more sustainable businesses.

rePurpose Global is the world’s leading Plastic Action Platform dedicated to reducing waste, reviving lives, and restoring nature’s balance. Through its pioneering ecosystem of solutions that span across advisory, action, and advocacy, the organization helps people and companies calculate, reduce, and offset their plastic footprint while empowering grassroots innovators on the cutting edge of solving for the planet’s future.

To date, rePurpose Global has created systemic change for people across 26 countries and hundreds of purposeful brands worldwide. On behalf of its global coalition, the organization eliminates millions of pounds of plastic waste from nature every year, and in doing so, positively impact the lives of 10,000+ marginalized waste workers and community members worldwide. Visit the rePurpose Global website to explore their platform and join the movement.

Leading European intellectual property law firm, Potter Clarkson helps companies, organisations and individuals across all sectors of business to understand, create, protect and defend the commercial value of their innovations anywhere in the world through IP rights.

Recognised as a top tier firm, it is known for its wide-ranging technical and legal expertise, progressive thinking, deep commercial insight, approachability and clarity of advice. With the infrastructure to match its credentials as a leading European firm, Potter Clarkson’s 200-strong specialist team operates from dedicated offices in the UK, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.

My Emissions offers quick, simple, and affordable carbon labels to food companies, helping to establish them as a sustainable food brand and reach more climate-conscious customers.

My Emissions started from our frustration at the time and cost of consultancies- carbon labelling shouldn’t cost the earth, nor take 2-3 months to complete. From day 1, our focus has been on making the process accessible to everyone.

There are many benefits of working with My Emissions. First and foremost, you will understand your carbon footprint and can use this to establish yourself as a sustainable brand. Having this data allows you to compare yourself to similar products or companies, identify ways to reduce your impact, and communicate this to consumers (fostering brand loyalty).

We now work with companies throughout the food sector, including food products like One Planet Pizza and restaurants like Camile Thai. Our clients range from small businesses (and even start-ups) to much bigger food manufacturers and corporations. If you want a demo, then make sure to check out the lunch on day 1 which will be carbon labelled by us. And if you’re interested in carbon labelling then please come and say hello!