The Nestlé R+D Accelerator has been set up in 2019 to bring food and nutrition innovations to life in only 6 months, together with start-ups, students and intrapreneurs. During this time they have developed a simple framework that enable them to collaborate and have an open dialogue with startups, and create value together. During this session Carlos and Catherine will share their ways of working alongside startups who completed the accelerator program providing their insights on how interactions with corporations can be accelerated.

Catherine Macé is the Startup Program Manager at Nestlé Research in Lausanne, since April 2021, being responsible of identifying and supporting partnerships with startups for our R&D Accelerator and Research units. She has 25+ years of experience in developing and managing research in the food industry in the field of Nutrition & Health and is the inventor of 25+ patent applications and author of more than 60 scientific publications. Carlos Morales is the technical manager of the R&D Accelerator Network, enabling the teams to get new products to market in 6 months. He has 30 yrs of experience in the FMGC Industry working on innovation across more than 70 different countries and supply chains in P&G and Nestlé. Since 2019 he has been part of the team that develop and run the R+D Accelerator of Nestlé, he has coached projects to ensure they can bring ideas to shop in 6 months, and supported the establishment of accelerator network globally. Jessica Schwabach is the CEO of Sundial Foods. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. She combines her love of scientific exploration and her desire to help food systems sustainably meet protein demands to create healthy, innovative meat alternatives. Guy Maurice is a Geospatial Engineer with over fifteen years’ experience applying geographic analysis and technologies for improved information management and decision support worldwide. At the end of 2016, Guy decided to leave the corporate business and pursue his dream to create a start-up, which he is currently working on. B’ZEOS aims to address central challenges in the Blue Bioeconomy related to the sustainable utilization of marine biomass and developing competitive bio-based products for value creation. Anne Theisen is Co-founder of ÖselBirch. ÖselBirch's aim is to support biodiversity in (Nordic) forests by offering natural drinks and food supplements to improve your health. They were the first start-up in the Nestle R&D Accelerator.