The worlds of agriculture and chemicals came together this week in Utrecht, the Netherlands for the third edition of Agri meets Chemicals. In an insightful and engaging afternoon, experts from across Europe shared insight, debate and opportunity around commercial opportunities for bio-based materials, chemicals and brands. Hosted and led by Deloitte and Rabobank it also featured contributions from Lego, BASF, Cargill, AkzoNobel,the Port of Rotterdam, Royal FrieslandCampina and more. A big focus was on how economics, technology and customer demand for sustainable solutions are driving the industry forward. But that financial obstacles, feed stockand supply chain challenges were still barriers to success. And that co-operation across sectors, industries and nations was more essential than ever. As media partners, our Editor Luke Upton was in attendance and picked out seven key quotes from the on-stage experts.
“We have to be open to solutions that aren’t at scale yet” – Nelleke van Der Puil, VP Materials,LEGO Group
“We don’t talk about value chains, we talk about eco-systems” -Willem Vaessen,Chemicals Segment Leader ,Deloitte
“The Port of Rotterdam is probably the biggest bio-port in the world” Yvonne van der Laan,Director of Process Industry & Bulk Goods, Port of Rotterdam
“The public sector i
s hugely important.. Our society is undergoing a transformation, this can’t just be left to private companies.” Dr. Peter Nieuwenhuizen,RD&I Director Specialty Chemicals,AkzoNobel
“When we began investing, we were very disciplined when it came to scale. The first commercial plant is the one that will make the company break even or take a small profit. It won’t be the optimised site.” Denis Lucquin,Managing Partner,Sofinnova Partners
“To us the partnership with Lavazza had five key areas to consider; Shelf life, robustness, high-quality coffee, food security and compostability.” Catia Bastioli,CEO ,Novamont
“If the customer doesn’t understand the message, you are lost.” Roelof Joosten, CEO,Royal FrieslandCampina
For more insights check the #agrimeetschemicals hashtag on Twitter. Agri Meets Chemicals will return in 2017.
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