After graduating in Economics at Università Bocconi and a Master of Science in International Public Policy at UCL (University College London), Matteo joined The Monitor Group, a strategy consulting firm supporting companies' business development in EMEA. He joined Barilla in 2008 and moved from Marketing to Innovation in 2012 to develop and launch CucinaBarilla, which he led as the CucinaBarilla Managing Director. In 2018 he was appointed Global Marketing Director at Barilla, leading the company's most dynamic and vibrating product categories with a global footprint. He is passionate about Food, business modelling, trends and innovation. He will be chairing the Food Innovate Summit for the second time and attending it for the third time.

Eda Fetahu studied at the University of Udine Business Management, and then, in 2017, she majored in international business with a specific focus on innovation. Working experiences preceded the path within the Group in Norway concerning the European projects Horizon 2020 and the United States in the Made in Italy wine sector.

Now, she works as an Open Innovation Expert for Amadori, aiming to spread innovation within the company and design and manage internal and external innovation projects. She had previously led projects within the Amadori organisation concerning the Organization and Business Transformation area.

Born in Sondrio in 1987, he obtained a degree in Organization and Human Resources from the University of Milan (2010) and an MSc in Management at Bocconi University (2012). During university, he founded his first startup dedicated to the world of events. Just after the master's, he approaches the world of consulting where, inside BTO Spa, he creates and grows his business unit. In 2014, he reached the position of COO but decided to devote himself to a new professional adventure: in 2015, he founded Winelivery, where he currently holds the position of CEO—nominated both in 2020 and 2021 Businessperson of the Year by Fortune Italia and in the Next 40 by Capital Italia. Today he actively collaborates as an advisor for various companies in the startup world, including Venture Box of Gellify. He is always devoted to sharing values and oriented toward growth; he chose in 2021 to publish his first book, "Fare Startup in Italia", which tells the knowledge collected in recent years to support the new generations of Italian entrepreneurs.

Dr. Glenn Mathijssen is the CEO & Co-Founder of Alberts (alberts.be), leading a Belgium-based team focusing on food robotics and AI. The result is Vending 4.0 solutions for personalized fresh smoothies & hot soups and personalized nudging solutions. In the Alberts One stations, a variety of ingredients and brands can be hosted to create perfect blends in under two minutes. In Belgium, Alberts recently partnered with Alpro/Danone to serve blends with coconut and oat drinks to accelerate the advent of plant-based products. Alberts joined EIT Food as a Rising Food Star. Glenn holds a double degree PhD in Electro-Mechanical Engineering with speciality in Robotics and an M.Sc. degree in Management. In 2019, Glenn was chosen as Belgium's FITCE Young ICT Personality.

A former semi-pro rugby player, I have been in food all my adult life, having previously worked in managing restaurants. I love to eat out in London and try new things. I bring this mindset into my professional life, looking for ways to enhance innovation and solve consumer cravings.

My background has made me a driven and passionate marketer. I have had an eclectic career working on products ranging from artisan chocolate brands at Cocoa Runners to plant-based meats at Nomad Foods and back on snacking at General Mills. I have worked in start-ups and global companies, allowing me a broad perspective on business operations. Among my achievements, I helped to drive reconsideration of the Marmite brand as part of the Gene Campaign team and, through launching Marmite Reduced Salt and Project Managing Marmite Peanut Butter, bring in the next generation of lovers. I also returned Bovril to growth through 'creative nostalgia'. I designed a pack renovation process that allowed me to deliver 1500 artworks in 6 months at Vibrant Foods preventing our products from being delisted across Europe post-Brexit. I have developed the long-term pipeline for several brands with a strategic lens.

As the founder of Eatable Adventures back in 2015, José Luis pioneered the nascent Food Entrepreneurship movement in Europe, which resulted in an emerging ecosystem of new companies that are improving the way we eat. He also led the launch of Gastroemprendedores, the largest global network of Food & Beverages Startup founders and entrepreneurs, reaching well over 25.000 individuals; similarly launched Food Business Angels, the first global network of early-stage investors in early stage phases of F&B startups. Before his involvement in the Food Space, he has been active in the innovation and new technologies industry for almost 30 years, working with international corporations like Cisco, Oracle, BBVA and Unisys as EMEA and LATAM new markets and emerging sectors development business directors. Educated as a Computing Engineer at Extremadura University, José Luis completed his tech studies with business and culinary studies at Stanford University —Graduate School of Business Executive Program – Le Cordon Bleu at Francisco de Vitoria University in Madrid — Diplôme de Cuisine – Reims Champagne- Ardennes University – Diplôme Universitaire DUGGAT – and Haas Business School Berkeley University – Venture Capital Executive Program.

A Passionate and Entrepreneurial business leader, serving as a corporate visionary to lead, develop, manage, and scale businesses in tech, Food Retail, Media, Entertainment, e-Commerce, and Startups is the hallmark of his 15-year career.

In-depth Marketing, Product & Business building experience for businesses in all 3Cs of the Digital domain(Content, Community and Commerce). Distinguished achievements in Technology utilisation, Digital, Data etc... Having a love for technology and entrepreneurship at the core made me lead innovative & Strategic projects/products ahead of the curve, like using AI, Chatbot, Voicebots, etc.

Built India's first Hyperlocal on-demand Food delivery Digital Commerce Platform and made it into the biggest Food Tech platform, i.e. Domino's India Digital commerce ecosystem.

Consistently acknowledged as a thought leader in marketing, digital, and business growth, receiving the coveted 2022 Geospatial 50 Rising Stars Under 40 & Analytics Insights Magazine Top 10 CDIOs '22 Award and serving as a speaker and advisory board member at multiple conferences organised globally on Future of Digital, eCommerce, Omni-Channel Retail, Voice Bots, Content Marketing, Location Intelligence, Marketing, Retail Tech & Innovation, Leadership, etc.

Mark, CEO of Nature Force Technologies AG and Global Sales Director of ViCAP Systems Global AG, with  experience in Israel and internationally, is part of the management board of a joint venture of 2 companies:

Nature Force Technologies AG - R&D of functional ingredients for the beverage industry 
ViCAP Global AG - dispenser cap producer

Mark takes an active role in the joint venture company board to develop and commercialise functional beverages, which include clinically tested functional ingredients, ViCAP dispenser cap and naturally alkaline water because simply quenching thirst or tasting great is no longer enough; a drink must-do something.

Olaf Gruess has over 23 years of experience in the food industry, having led new product development (baked goods, yoghurt, cereal bars, shelf-stable and frozen meals), strategic research initiatives (sodium reduction technology, human taste perception), as well as roles in Marketing, Connected Innovation and early start-up evaluation. Gruess was the Head of Connected Innovation and led strategic partnership development at General Mills’ long-term research platform. Gruess focused on identifying technologies externally, developing implementation strategies for those technologies in the broader organization and developing mutually beneficial external partnerships around the globe.
Gruess serves as a judge and mentor at MassChallenge, the world’s most start-up friendly accelerator and the European Food Venture Forum; he was on the Industrial Board of the Integrative Food and Nutrition Center at the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland and served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Institute for Food Technology (DIL).
Gruess received his master’s degree in Nutrition and Food Science from the University of Bonn, Germany and the University of Ghent, Belgium, and a PhD in Food Science from the University of Bonn, Germany.
Gruess holds several patents and shares his expertise globally through keynotes, summits and conference presentations as Director of Partner Development for Cargill.

I am a food scientist, Editor in Chief of the Journal of Functional Foods, and R&D director of Arterra Bioscience. After 20 years of career at the University of Naples as a professor in Biochemistry, Food Chemistry and Functional Foods, in 2013, I became chair of the Food Quality & Design group at Wageningen University.

I published more than 450 publications in indexed journals covering many aspects of Food Science. These papers received more than 20.000 citations.

I work on the modification induced by food processing and, in particular, for the compounds formed through Maillard Reaction in coffee, cocoa, bakery and dairy products. Now, my research focuses on the design of innovative healthy foods adopting a food system perspective and the focus on gastrointestinal health. My challenge is to use a food design approach to tackle the two main issues of the food sector: feeding the planet in 2050 and counteracting obesity.

Stefania De Pascale is a full Professor of Horticulture and Floriculture at the University of Naples Federico II; she is also Vice-president and member of the board of directors of the National Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA, https://www.crea.gov.it/en/centri-di-ricerca). She teaches courses on Crop-physiology, Greenhouse horticulture and Landscaping and supervises BSc, MSc and PhD students. Since joining the Department of Agricultural Sciences in 1993, Stefania has performed numerous research in the field and in the greenhouse to determine the effects of environmental and cultural factors on plant growth and product quality on a wide range of vegetable and ornamental crops. Listed among the World's Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University, recent research activities include the setup of a Bioregenerative Life Support System based on the use of plants for food production, air regeneration and water purification and the effects of “Space environment” (i.e. microgravity and ionizing radiation) on plants. She is responsible for the Research Laboratory on Crop research for Space, including the PaCMAN Plant Characterization Unit (PCU) conceived as a crop research facility within the MELiSSA project (https://www.melissafoundation.org/), which is a joint long-term effort, led by the European Space Agency (ESA), focused on the development of a regenerative life-support system for air, water and food production in the sight of future long-term manned missions to Moon and Mars.

Diana Mathew is a Space Applications Engineer within the Telecommunications and Integrated Applications Directorate (TIA-A) at the European Space Agency (ESA) where she works closely with businesses from space and non-space sectors to launch innovative services that make use of space assets. She has broad experience project managing R&D and innovation projects utilising space assets for applications and services for various sectors. She has a background in Telecoms/Satcoms Engineering and has been working mainly in Satellite Broadband and Optical communications areas prior to joining ESA.

Omar Campise has about twenty years of experience as HR manager in Italian multinational food companies, including Barilla. After a Master in general management at INSEAD in Fontainbleau, he founded a premium food delivery start-up and began an entrepreneurial journey. With a strong passion for innovation in food and attracted by the digital world, Omar is also Vice President of Lifelong Learning of the Insead Alumni Association Italy.