Location: Auditorium Rabobank Utrecht, The Netherlands
Time: 13:00 – 17:30
Organisers: HollandBio & Keygene N.V.
Ten thousand years ago humans started with the selection and cultivation of plants as food source. By the end of the 19th century this process was accelerated when Mendel conducted his famous research on hereditary traits.
Innovations nowadays are driven by the future outlook that the world population will grow to 9 billion people in 2050. More food have to be grown on less land, climate change, obese people and malnourished people, these are all issues which will steer the innovations on and around food the coming years. The challenges are enormous without any doubt. Also the role of biotechnology in this. Numerous examples are available in which biotechnology had a share, for example longer shelf life of products, resistances to diseases and plagues but also the cultivation of meat in a petri-dish.
Modern biotechnology often is named one to one with genetically modified organism (GMO) and this has its drawback on the tone in the discussion about biotechnology. In the context of the European Biotech Week we therefore want to invite you for our symposium with presentations about food innovations and a panel discussion about food and technology. Questions to be addressed here are: Why is the debate on technology and food so emotionally charged? Why is the discussion limited to GMO?
You’re most welcome to attend our inspiring program and join the discussion on food and technology on October 10th, 2014. More information about the event and registration here.