On August 13th 2022, GLOCALINK Singapore, hosted the Singapore FermenTECH forum. The event was sponsored by Euglena Co., Ltd., Japan and BLOCK71 was the ecosystem partner. The theme of the event was “How fermentation technologies are enabling future foods ?”. The timing of the event also coincided with the 3rd Anniversary of GLOCALINK Singapore, which was also celebrated with all the founding members joining the event in person.
The event was a success and was attended by representatives of local corporates & MNCs, Investors, SMEs, Government, Educational Institutions, trading companies & startups. The networking and tasting sessions were one of the highlights of the event and were much appreciated by all the attendees.
Through this forum, GLOCALINK Singapore wanted to educate and create awareness among the public regarding the latest advancements in fermentation technologies with lectures from experts from National University of Singapore and Euglena Co., Ltd., Japan. Additionally, GLOCALINK Singapore, wanted to leverage the platform to share the message of long term commitment towards working with early stage agri-food tech startups in the region as well as encourage collaborations between startups and corporates, researchers & investors present at the event.
Program Overview
| 13:00-13:20 hrs | Event Opening Dr. Ravikrishna Ramanujam (Director, Glocalink Singapore) |
| 13:20-13:30 hrs | Keynote by Prof. Liu Shao Quan, Dept. of Food Science & Technology, NUS |
| 13:30-13:40 hrs | Special Address by Dr. Kengo Suzuki, Co-Founder & Head of R&D, Euglena Co., Ltd. |
| 13:40-14:20 hrs | Pitching showcase by 5 Singapore Startups |
| 14:20-14:30 hrs | Special talk by Mr. Daiki Kumamoto, Growth Manager, Real Tech Fund |
| Group Photo session | |
| 14:30-16:00 hrs | Networking & Tasting Session (Glocalink Singapore 3rd Anniversary Celebrations) |
Dr. Ravikrishna Ramanujam, Director Glocalink Singapore, delivered the opening remarks, where he covered the background, vision of GLOCALINK Singapore, its relationship with Kobashi Industries Co., Ltd, Euglena Co., Ltd & Leave a Nest. In addition to covering the investment themes of the fund and giving an overview of the portfolio startups, he also spoke about the reason behind the idea of hosting the fermenTECH forum now.
The keynote was delivered by Prof. Liu Shao Quan, Department of Food Science & Technology, National University of Singapore. Prof. Liu spoke about fermentation as a powerful workhorse for future foods in the context of Singapore's 30X 30 goal. He also discussed the different types of fermentation technologies and how they can play specific and crucial roles in the near future.
The special address was by Dr. Kengo Suzuki, Co-founder & Executive officer & head of R&D, Euglena Co., Ltd. The topic of Dr. Suzuki’s presentation was about how fermentech was driving the food revolution in SouthEast Asia . In his presentation he shared with the audience his latest research finding, which included his ideas about green fermentation and fermentation remodeling technologies and products that euglena would like to develop in the near future . He concluded his presentation by sharing a few tips to the participating startups about how euglena could collaborate with them to develop SEA specific products.
Dr. Suzuki’s presentation was followed by pitching by startups focussing on various fermentation technologies all based in Singapore. In their presentations they spoke about the technologies they have developed, their products and potential applications and ways to collaborate with partners.
Next was a talk by session by Mr. Daiki Kumamoto, Growth Manager, Real Tech Fund, who spoke about how Real Tech Holdings was collaborating with Glocalink Singapore to build an investment ecosystem / pipeline in the South East Asia Region connecting to Japan. He also gave many examples of how Glocalink Singapore supported early stage Agri-food tech startups that were later invested at a Series A level by Real Tech Holdings.
The Grand Finale to the event was the networking and tasting session, which was also a part of the Glocalink Singapore 3rd anniversary celebrations, which included local corporate, Investors, SMEs, Govt, Polytechnics and universities , trading companies & startups participating.
Additional Links
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To learn more about the featured Insect tech startups visit our website
To learn more about Glocalink Singapore, please visit our website Glocalink Singapore
To learn more about Leave a Nest Singapore, please visit the website Leave a Nest