Bühler Calls to Action on Sustainable Food
Bühler’s second Networking Days in Uzwil took place under the motto “Creating tomorrow together”.
The forum dedicated to manufacturers, industry partners, scientists and start-ups focused on the key questions: How can we feed a global population of nearly 10 billion people and help fulfill their mobility needs in 2050 whilst respecting the limits of the planet?
Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, former prime minister of Norway and former Director General of the World Health Organization, addressed the 800 experts, leaders, scientists and professionals from 500 companies and over 80 countries attending the three-day event. She said: “There is no turning back. The need for private sector engagement is stronger than ever. We cannot solve all the challenges without the resources, the expertise, the technology and brain power of business.”
Stefan Scheiber, CEO of Bühler Group (pictured), said: “We are ready to accept the challenge and, in fact, we are convinced that this is a pathway to building sustainable businesses delivering sustainable solutions. But we are running out of time. That is why we have increased our sustainability goals: our aim is to reduce energy requirements, water consumption, and waste by 50% in our customers’ value chains. No business can do this alone. We need widescale collaboration from every sector and part of the world.”
Speaking at the event, Sunny Verghese, Group CEO of Olam International Limited and chair of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, underlined the importance of the challenges: “You cannot produce the food, feed, and fiber that all of us need if we destroy the planet. There has to be an alternative way to do this on a more sustainable basis. Business-as-usual will not get us there so do not accept the status quo,” he said.
Digitalization
A theme throughout the event was the power of digitalization to help meet these challenges. “Digitalization has changed the world. It allows completely new technical solutions, changes how we collaborate, communicate and innovate. It is changing and disrupting our lives and, crucially, can help us to meet our sustainability targets,” said Ian Roberts. Bühler is already leveraging the power of IoT, Artificial Intelligence and big data to enable faster, smarter, better decisions. Bühler Insights, the first cloud platform dedicated to the food and feed industry, is helping to drive up yields, reduce waste, and improve food safety.
“Technology has a huge role to play. But it cannot solve these challenges alone. We also need to think and work across value chains and systems. We cannot achieve our targets by working in isolation. Collaboration is no longer an option – it must be a core competence in all businesses,” said Ian Roberts, CTO of Bühler Group.
Bühler is already creating networks with industry partners, research institutes, universities, start-ups, and not-for-profit organizations to broaden and deepen the knowledge and expertise focused on solving these challenges. Through its 29 application and training centers, it has created a worldwide network for innovation.
This view was echoed by Stefan Palzer, executive vice president and chief technology officer of Nestlé Global, who said that his company – the world’s largest food company – has launched an accelerator this year and opened its labs and its expertise to start-ups, to help them advance more quickly to valid prototypes.
Closing the event, Stefan Scheiber underscored the need to hand over a better world to future generations. “We recognize the urgency of the challenges and have dramatically increased our sustainability commitments. It is now our goal to reduce energy, waste, and water by 50% in all our future solutions, and make a significant impact on the value chains of our customers,” he said. “As industries, companies, and individuals, we all have to ask ourselves, today, how we can become part of the solution. We hope that Bühler Networking Days 2019 will be seen as a turning point. The challenges are demanding, but we can do it.”