MadBlue has decided to bet on the food safety resolutely and has selected various startups in the sector to participate in its third edition.
It does so because the problems around eating accumulate: Hunger in the world has been growing for years and it is urgent to have new large-scale protein sources as soon as possible and a food industry that uses less plastic, among other needs. MadBlue contributes its grain of sand to all these challenges at the hands of start-up companies that take small steps in the right direction through impact innovation.
Hunger remains the main challenge for the food industry. In 2017 it increased for the first time in 15 years, since then it has not experienced significant setbacks and since the pandemic it has accelerated considerably, to the point of affecting 828 million people, 46 million more than in 2020, according to the United Nations report ‘The state of food security and nutrition in the world 2022’, published in June.
The document questions the fulfillment of the commitment acquired in 2015 to eradicate hunger by 2030, since the current trend indicates that the percentage of people in an extreme food situation will be the same on that date as it was fifteen years ago, 8%.
And, as if this were not enough, the global population increasewhich in 2050 will exceed 9,000 million people, as well as the high environmental damage caused by the excessive use of plastics, add even more pressure to the food industry to reformulate its processes.
He animal protein intake It grows in the world in a thoughtless way, above the biophysical limits of the planet, and it is necessary to accelerate the development of alternative protein sources, such as vegetables. In parallel, several world organizations have recently alerted to the problem of microplastics, which are embedded even in sea salt granules, raising the pressure for highly plastic-intensive industries, such as food, to reformulate their processes.
Great global challenges
MadBlue is directly addressing these great global challenges, and in its third edition (April 25 and 26 at COAM, Madrid) it will promote, among others, various startups that offer solutions for the food industry. Some of them as innovative as Aloalto Foodswhich promotes the consumption of organic, local and pesticide-free food that have been cultivated with energy efficiency and using up to 300 times less soil and 95% less water.
Others, like mygreensaddress the global need for modify fonts of nutrients to guarantee the sustainability of the food industry, where appropriate marketing microvegetables, plants from 6 to 10 centimeters in height considered ‘superfoods’ due to their high concentration of nutrients. Share goal with glad to eat youwhich also promotes food efficiency by distributing food in batches that stores have not been able to sell throughout the day, a common problem for which there are not many impact solutions. Analytical OasisIn another area, it also improves processes by facilitating task management and day-to-day planning for farmers.
The ‘summit’, recognized globally as one of the benchmark meeting spaces for funds and entrepreneurs, will also reinforce various projects that find solutions to the challenges of our time in the oceans. ficosterra, for example, develops fertilizers based on marine plants; and Flexsea goes beyond the food industry by replacing common plastics with materials made from algae, which can revolutionize this and other sectors.
The variety of solutions that are related to the seas is due to the special relevance that MadBlue grants in this edition to the oceans as source of knowledge and innovation. Startups like MadBlue Marine, which is leading the green revolution in the oceans with its hydrogen ships; Gravity Wave, which extracts plastics from the sea and turns them into furniture and other products; o Arrecife Systems, provider of tidal energy through floating turbines, are three of the most disruptive proposals linked to this field.
