Rutgers University’s Food Innovation Center, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, along with Middlesex County, announce the New Jersey FoodTech 2024 Conference, which will be held on June 26 at the Rutgers College Avenue Student Center, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The conference costs $50 with registration by June 24. Registration is free for Rutgers faculty, staff, students and conference partners by emailing ayg6@njaes.rutgers.edu.
The conference, which was inaugurated last year to great success, is designed to help promote the growth of New Jersey’s food technology sector by building awareness of its strength in food innovation.
Keynote speaker, Lou Cooperhouse, is the founder, president & CEO of BlueNalu, and expressed his excitement at returning in this role.
“I’m excited to serve as keynote speaker again for this outstanding conference. The food industry is going through such an extraordinary transformation now and over the coming years, in which technologies are enabling precision agriculture, resulting in new forms of protein, personalizing nutrition, creating new methods for distribution and utilizing AI to better understand consumer motivations and product satisfaction.”
Cooperhouse, a leading global authority in food innovation, business and product differentiation, and technology commercialization, will speak on the topic, “Food for Thought: Food Industry Trends and the Power of Partnerships.”
He emphasizes this basic formula. “Success in the food industry begins with the identification of your company’s problem statement, and how your business differentiation creates a unique and valued selling proposition.”
To help businesses, from concept to commercialization, many established early-stage entrepreneurs and existing food companies often turn to the Rutgers Food Innovation Center (FIC) for support.
Rutgers Food Innovation Center.
Nolan Lewin is the executive director of FIC, a unique food business incubator in Bridgeton, NJ. Since 2001, FIC has been a strategic partner to New Jersey companies, providing enormous value to businesses and accelerating their pathway to market.
“FIC is a trusted source of information, expertise and capabilities, unmatched by other universities. It is FDA and USDA registered, capable of manufacturing goods that can be sold directly into market. Our Marketing and Food Safety programs also cover many facets of food and beverage manufacturing, including Competitive Sensory analysis, FSMA certificate training, Servesafe and GAP audit facility reviews.”
In addition to helping to grow NJ’s food technology sector, the FoodTech conference also aims to highlight business retention capacity and opportunities in the state.
Sho Islam, Division Head of Life Sciences & Food Innovation at Middlesex County’s Office of Business Engagement, is a speaker at NJ FoodTech 2024. He started his career with FIC, focusing on business development, entrepreneurship, innovation commercialization and strategic business consulting. Currently, Islam is responsible for providing business expansion and advisory support to companies located or interested in locating to Middlesex County.
He notes that New Jersey’s world class facilities – 22 million square feet of lab space that is expected to grow 27% by 2026, and highly skilled workforce – firmly establish the state as a hub for the life sciences.
According to Islam, “the same labs and talent pool that support life sciences are also spurring growth in food innovation across the state.”
Angel Planet Foods – a plant-based food company specializing in Asian cuisine – is one such New Jersey-based success story. A former incubated company with FIC, the company was founded in 2020 by Zheng Song, who served as a panelist at the inaugural NJ FoodTech conference in 2023.
“My experience was extraordinary. I was honored to be in the company of other entrepreneurs and investors, and found the conference to be a rewarding experience. The debut of the FoodTech conference was very successful.”
Song adds that “the plant-based presentations were very informative and I also enjoyed the networking and learning about the trends in the industry.”
FoodTech 2024 keynote speaker Lou Cooperhouse brings 40 years of experience in the food industry. He has close ties to FIC and New Jersey food innovation, having previously served as a founder and executive director of this award-winning program. He’s also the current chair of the Rutgers University Food Innovation Center Advisory Board.
His portfolio includes extensive entrepreneurial expertise leading cross-functional teams in a wide array of settings, including new business startups, multinational corporations, foodservice and retail operations, non-profits and trade associations, and university food incubation programs
Cooperhouse sums up why entrepreneurial startups, established businesses, industry suppliers, venture capital sources, non-profits, and others should attend the conference.
“Strategic partnerships can provide enormous value to an entrepreneurial company, as well as an established multinational corporation, and accelerate and support food innovation and market differentiation, and I look forward to sharing these insights at New Jersey FoodTech 2024.”
