Having been the center of meeting for food and beverage manufacturers and the most prominent buyers in Turkey for 30 years, WorldFood Istanbul is supported with activities that form a bridge between creative minds and investors thanks to their content, in addition to providing opportunities to showcase and follow up on the latest products and services within the region.

In 2020, we broke new ground and created an area called FOOD TECH GARAGE, where we welcome start-ups operating in the food industry.

In the last 20 years, the entrepreneurial perspective and works based on big data has changed the way business is done in many sectors fundamentally. The importance of digitalization, new technologies, sustainability and reliable food has increased more than ever during the pandemic. In these times when we need innovation and creative ideas the most, the Food Arena Event Programme, the information, inspiration and networking platform to be held simultaneously with the exhibition, will host the Food Tech Garage, bringing entrepreneurs and industry professionals together, promoting innovative solutions developed by entrepreneurs, and creating new job opportunities. 

From biotechnology to food waste, additive-free food production, urban farming techniques; sustainable food to next-generation data-based food consumption, retail mobile applications and artificial intelligence in the supply chain, FoodTech offers start-ups the opportunity to explain the leading buyers, suppliers, manufacturers, marketers and users of the sector about their technology-based products that have left their mark on the industry, in addition to bringing together the visitors who wish to follow up on the trends with latest technologies and products. Start-ups and investors will hold one-on-one business meetings at FOOD TECH GARAGE stand area and develop their sectoral networks.

WorldFood Istanbul – FOOD TECH GARAGE is a meeting platform for many actors from the public and private sectors, as well as the academics. Products that might change the manufacturing processes in the food sector and benefit the industry will also be the focus of attention for the visitors, with the presentations to take place on the conference stage under the Food Arena Event Programme. 

Upon the success of the Food Tech Garage initiative that we started in 2020, we will host food start-ups at WorldFood Istanbul this year as well.

Preparing to bring together the start-ups that take on difficult tasks courageously in today’s world with the rest of the sector, where the start-up perspective changes the dynamics of the sectors with groundbreaking solutions, WorldFood Istanbul welcomes the start-ups that dare to claim “the sector will gain momentum thanks to their products”, and that develop sector-specific technological and scalable products.
 
The food fund of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT Food), founded by the European Union, is the Europe’s leading food innovation platform working to make the food system more sustainable, healthy, and reliable. The Empowering Women in Agrifood (EWA) programme, supported by EIT, is currently being implemented simultaneously in 11 countries with 110 women entrepreneurs. 
Upon reaching out to thousands of women entrepreneurs, the EWA Programme have been designed to promote inclusion and diversity in the agriculture and food sector, to increase early-stage initiatives led by women, and to provide the necessary knowledge, trust, and support to guide entrepreneurs to develop their business ideas further. 

As WorldFood Istanbul, in order to support this platform, which provides development opportunities for a large number of women entrepreneurs, Food Tech Garage will welcome women entrepreneurs who were awarded funds in Turkey in 2020-2021-2022.

The 2020-2021-2022 selection of the “Empowering Women in Agrifood - EWA” programme, put together in collaboration with Impact Hub Istanbul, Foodback.co and Topraktan.co, will be included in the Food Tech Garage. 

Some of the latest products and technologies to be showcased are as follows:

• Sustainable agriculture technologies
• Smart irrigation systems
• Recycling from products and product processes 
• Healthy, organic, and vegan products
• Biotechnology-based innovative applications
• Next-generation food processing technologies
• Production systems based on artificial intelligence

We hope see you at WorldFood Istanbul between 1-4 September, so you may learn more about innovative projects that include sector-specific technological solutions, and the services and stories that transform the food and agriculture sectors!
 

ANADOLIVE 
AnadOlive Gıda was established in Ege Technopark in 2018 thanks to TÜBİTAK 1512 support, and continues its operations in the same location. AnadOlive is a food tech company that ensures the by-products that cannot be fully recycled in olive and olive oil processes are reprocessed into value-added products, which may be used in different fields, such as food and cosmetics sectors. Its first innovative product is the unique “Powdered Olive”. Additionally, its products include various spice blends, tea soap, and ozone oil. It carries out B2C sales in online marketplaces. Furthermore, the company provides R&D and technical consultancy for the food industry to switch to sustainable production.

BIOPOLS
Biopols is a next-generation food storage technology with antibacterial and antioxidant characteristics that increases food safety and reduces concerns regarding shelf life for meat producers and consumers. It extends the shelf life of foods thanks to the biopolymer surface enriched with natural active substances, coated on environmentally compatible materials such as paper, fabrics and bioplastics. Developed by 3 chemists at the Middle East Technical University, Department of Chemistry, this product aims to reduce the carbon footprint by reducing the waste produced by the meat industry and offering a more green alternative to current packaging materials.

ESULAR
Esular brings together farmers, executives, and manufacturers with its wireless and battery-powered fully automatic IoT-based smart irrigation system infrastructures, and offers an effective smart irrigation solution. The company has hardware products consisting of wireless and battery-powered valve, sensors and central control unit, and cloud-based artificial intelligence supported software that allows management of these products through mobile and web applications. With its IoT-based systems, the company offers a sensor-supported, wireless, and automatic smart irrigation solution for agricultural, landscape and private irrigation areas. 

FARMHOOD 
Farmhood develops healthy snacks and foods that do not compromise their naturalness by making use of next-generation food processing technologies, especially the Freeze Dry method, in order to protect and develop our country’s agricultural resources, and to increase the value of agricultural production and reduce food waste. By using the latest technologies, it aims to diversify the way food is used, and to extend their life.

MALTY- SNACKS
Malty is a food initiative that manufactures products that are beneficial for both human health and the world by developing innovative and functional food. It has been meeting with consumers for the last 1 year with its malted grains and substantial malt bars that offer high nutrition. The company is preparing to introduce Turkey’s first upcycled snacks to consumers. They wish to create a food ecosystem where a circular economy of the food is a possibility, to benefit both human health and our planet. The company is the first in Turkey to have become a member of the Us-based Upcycled Food Association. 

NFS FUNCTIONAL FOOD
NFS enriches daily foods with functional nutrients extracted from natural sources&natural processes, and produces functional foods by taking food beyond nutrition. Branded products in the market -Chocodoc, Chiamore, Yumbee- are functional foods labelled with high protein, fiber and vitamin and also good source of Omega-3. R&D studies continue in order to extract food components helping prevent mental and physical illness from food waste with low energy and to develop products helping reduce the risk of getting sick and drug use in regular use.

SARAPP
Şarapp helps users select their wine by offering various categories through its applications containing detailed information about wine and grape varieties. Şarapp application presents the users lists of wine recommendations according to the features they are looking for (red, white, tannic, acidic, fruity, low-budget, etc.) and their food preferences.

SOILBIOME 
The contents of microbial fertilizers are created with microorganisms detected in previously researched and tested studies. Furthermore, for the tea plant covered in their projects, the DNA isolation and metagenomic analyzes will be performed on the tissue and soil samples to be taken from tea plants grown in both fertile and infertile soil, and microorganisms such as endophytic bacteria that increase the yield and quality of the tea plant will be identified. Once the plant growth and yield-enhancing species have been identified, the enzyme properties, pathogenicity and coexistence suitability of these species will be analyzed with new technologies such as eDNA and Next-Generation Sequencing. 

SUMATRIX 
SUMATRIX produces hydrogel-based sustainable hydroponic farming technology. Plants with green leaves that offer high nutritional value are grown in a shorter time. 

T2B
T2B aims to create low-cost, easy-to-access, green-friendly, sustainable, artificial intelligence-based modular smart hive systems in order to prevent negative effects, with domestic and national software, together with BEETHEONE. With hive automation, it aims to ensure the collection of the vital data of the bees, provide data analysis, operation planning and control.