Dairy Dialog podcast 136: Mettler-Toledo, Mobilo, Pascual Innoventures’ Mylkcubator
Pascual Innoventures launches first global incubation program for cellular agriculture projects in the dairy spectrum
And what are the key dates and application procedures?
Pascual, a Spanish manufacturer of dairy products and beverages, has launched Mylkcubator, the first global incubation program for cellular agriculture technologies in the dairy industry.
The program is run by the group’s new corporate venture unit, Pascual Innoventures, to support innovative startups in the dairy value chain.
Pascual Innoventures aims to become an early stage investor, accelerating and forging alliances with startups sharing the same purpose while also thriving as a corporation by launching its own startups, with the objective of incorporating them into Pascual's future business operations.
The first edition of Mylkcubator will last six months, from selection to the demo day. The goal is to enroll 10 startups, entrepreneurs or scientific projects, with innovative solutions in the cellular agriculture spectrum for the dairy industry within the following technologies: cell based, fermentation based and applied technologies. All the details about the program are available online at mylkcubator.com.
Pascual Innoventures is being supported by Eatable Adventures, a global food-tech accelerator.
According to the RethinkX report “Rethink Food and Agriculture 2020-2030,” by 2030 almost 90% of US dairy protein demand will come from precision fermentation alternatives.
Gabriel Torres Pascual, director of Pascual Innova, is leading the new unit with Sejal Ravji, director of Pascual Innoventures, a biochemical engineer from University College London with a PhD in rheology.
"The entrepreneurial, innovative spirit is in our genes, it comes from the attitude that my grandfather instilled in us of being nonconformist, dreaming big and daring to take risks, not only with our heads but also with our hearts. This is how Pascual Innoventures was born with a long-term vision and the purpose of giving the best for the future of food. We will work hand in hand with startups that allow us to move into the future," Pascual said.
In addition to this initiative, Pascual Innoventures is working on other strategic projects, which seek to respond and provide solutions to some of the major challenges in the agri-food sector, such as food security, health & wellness, and the circular economy.
Mobilo introduces new business card concept
Cast your mind back to when we met people at trade shows and events.
A smile, a hello (in a variety of languages), a conversation, and the final act, the sacred exchange of business cards. Well, that last bit might be no more if a US company’s idea takes hold – ditching paper business cards in favor of a more modern, technological approach.
According to the company, nine out of 10 business cards end up in the trash, which is why Mobilo developed a contactless business card that means you can share your contact details with just a tap.
The company said a tap of the Mobilo card on a smartphone opens a link with your contact details. Every near field communication- (NFC) powered Mobilo carries a QR code on the back.
Mobilo said its card eliminates the manual process of transferring data from cards into a contact list, and automatically syncs the information into a customer relationship management (CRM) system. Additionally, the company said it offers a lead generation tool that can generate more digital leads.
Every year more than 100bn business cards are manufactured globally, at a physical cost of around 6m trees. Some of these cards do get recycled, but most end up in landfills.
Mobilo said the eco-friendly cards help combat global warming and save money on paper cards.
Joey Madej, Nico Aberson, and Pieter Limburg founded Mobilo with an aim to eliminate the disadvantages of traditional business cards.
Mobilo said there are four functions to the card.
It acts as a digital business card: By tapping it on a smartphone, contact information will be shown on the screen.
It is also a social profile hub, with the ability to share LinkedIn or Facebook details, or a YouTube channel, or any other social media website.
Mobilo can also be a lead generation tool, the company said, and it can be used to link to any URL, such as product details or registration forms.
A range of card designs, or customized cards, is available. Recently, Mobilo launched Mobilo Wood, a business card made from responsibly-sourced material. Mobilo also plants a tree for every Mobilo wood card sold.
There are no additional fees, hidden costs, or limitations to the card, Mobilo said.
Mettler-Toledo and EVRYTHNG partner to further digitalization of global food safety
Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection has announced a new strategic partnership with EVRYTHNG.
The partnership is intended to provide food manufacturers, retailers and brand owners with end-to-end traceability and a food production reporting solution.
This will enable aggregation of product data at every point in the value chain, for visibility, validation and real-time intelligence. Having full visibility of all product data will help identify ingredient and packaging issues early in the manufacturing process, facilitating product recalls and traceability to the precise location of substandard product in the marketplace for quick retrieval.
The joint proposition is achieved by Mettler-Toledo ProdX device data management software monitoring and collecting product inspection information in real-time. The software records all inspection activity from Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection systems - notably metal detectors, x-ray inspection, checkweighers and vision inspection technologies. This data can be integrated and modeled in the EVRYTHNG Product Cloud, applying a new level of data intelligence to advance audit, reporting and food traceability use cases for multi stakeholder groups.
The integration of these technologies is founded in and aligned with the emerging digitalization programs from food safety bodies such as the FDA’s “New Era of Smarter Food Safety,” and the GFSI’s “Race to the Top.” EVRYTHNG co-chaired the GS1 Standards Development Working Group and contributed intellectual property that created the GS1 Digital Link Standard. This upgrades the traditional barcode used by 2m manufacturers today, to make every product smartphone-interactive and web-connected.
As well as being assured their product digitalization activities are compliant with these global standards, food manufacturers can benefit from enhanced transparency and traceability of products manufactured, more informed decision-making, greater automation and reduced operating costs.
At the heart of the EVRYTHNG Product Cloud, enabling this level of transparency and traceability is the Active Digital Identity (ADI) – a unique digital identity assigned to products in the EVRYTHNG Product Cloud, at an individual product item, batch or SKU level. The ADI ensures data are captured and managed by EVRYTHNG at every touch point throughout a product’s lifecycle. This information can be used by food manufacturers, retailers and food safety audit bodies to ensure compliance with food safety regulations and contract requirements, improve supply chain performance with greater agility and integrity, and can be surfaced to consumers to provide transparency with authentic data.
“The digital transformation in food manufacturing is going to happen: it’s a question of when, rather than if,” said Rob Rogers, senior advisor food safety & regulations of Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection.
“We want to help food manufacturers to embrace that transformation, by making it as easy as possible for them. The two major factors they will need to address right at the outset are the gathering of manufacturing data and being able to simply and efficiently deploy that data to improve food safety and supply chain performance. The partnership between Mettler-Toledo and EVRYTHNG is about developing and providing a robust and proven infrastructure to handle that wealth of digital data.”
“The beauty of our partnership with Mettler-Toledo is that it will allow food manufacturers to not only extend food safety performance, but also to harness digitalization as a means to really take a leap into the future,” said Niall Murphy, CEO of EVRYTHNG.
“Food safety is a critical factor for all food manufacturers. Our solution will enable them to get ahead of the curve, by collecting and managing data for every individual product that comes out of their factory, in a way that is locked into already globally-accepted standards for digital track and trace.”
Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection and EVRYTHNG hosted a joint webinar, “The Food Safety Digital Revolution” on May 27, which is available on demand.
