The Innovation Institute for Food & Health, UC Davis continues to level up every year. The Partner Summit continues to exceed expectations.
Yesterday, Abigail Stevenson (Mars) kicked things off with a call to action: "We are the first generation that can't say 'we didn't know' about health, social, and environmental challenges. As long as I've been in the Davis ecosystem, it was my first time learning that Mars has 2 of their 5 science centers located here.
Justin Siegel introduced the ecosystem and the power of uncommon connections and collaboration. We (Engage3 powered by Dexi) are proud to be a part of this ecosystem alongside innovative company's such as Digestiva, PIPA - Process Integration & Predictive Analytics, Rivalz™, The March Group, and many more (see photo).
Session 1: 'Transformational Innovation in the Food Industry: What has changed since 2015?' brought together Kim Fisher, Harold Schmitz, Rao Unnava, and Justin Siegel, who covered a large range of topics including the Periodic Table of Food initiative, which will help us answer questions like "What are we actually eating? What are the nutritional gaps?" Other topics included the role of the CEO in Innovation and resource allocation that I'll admit were eye opening.
Session 2: 'Harnessing the Potential of GLP-1 Transforming Marketplaces' included a keynote by Christian Brix Tillegreen of the BioInnovation Institute at the Novo Nordisk Foundation, who shared insights and data re: the rise of GLP-1 and its ripple effects on the food and health industries. The panelists (Harold, Heather Leidy of The University of Texas at Austin, John Melo of Digestiva, and Victor E. Friedberg of New Epoch Capital) discussed topics such as:
- How do we minimize muscle loss?
- If the goal is to preserve as much muscle mass as possible, what behavioral changes need to accompany products like GLP-1?
- How much protein should you have per occasion? This varies from person to person, so how do we personalize?
- Behavioral strategy should account for (1) Diet Quality; (2) Life Stage Transitions; (3) Quality; (4) Timing; (5) Synergies; (6) Quantity
"The data shows that 50% of consumers with obesity get off of [GLP-1]. This is why we need a behavioral strategy."
To those that made it this far: thanks for reading. Check out the link below to learn more about the institute and the event.
https://lnkd.in/ecUKeFpu
CC: Tim Ouimet, Christopher Lai, Tawny Scanlan, Tom Andriola, Sahar Pirmoradian, Marissa Pickard