For years, the food industry has invested heavily in new ingredients, technologies and alternative proteins. Yet consumer adoption has often fallen short of expectations. Throughout the conference, keynote speakers and panel discussions repeatedly returned to the idea that the challenge may not be the products themselves, but our understanding of the people expected to buy them.

While innovation remains essential, speakers emphasised that taste, texture, convenience, trust and price continue to shape purchasing decisions. More plantbased products only create impact when they become part of everyday behaviour.

Several presentations highlighted that food choices are rarely made in isolation. They are shaped by habits, culture, social norms and the situations in which people eat. As one speaker put it, the industry may have spent too much time perfecting products and not enough time understanding the social contexts in which consumers make their choices.

The same message is reflected in the work of the EU-funded LIKE-A-PRO project, which Food & Bio Cluster Denmark is part of and showcased during Bridge2Food Europe. In a newly published report, the project explores how European consumers perceive alternative proteins, what motivates them to try new protein sources and which barriers continue to limit wider adoption. The findings suggest that social norms, familiarity and everyday food environments often matter more than sustainability arguments alone. 

Download the report

As co-host of the conference, Food & Bio Cluster Denmark's CEO, Anette Engelund Friis, shared what she described as the Danish recipe for green food innovation. The recipe consists of three key ingredients: trust, focus and ambition.

A high level of trust between companies, universities, authorities and civil society creates the foundation for collaboration. A shared national roadmap provides direction, while ambitious investments help turn ideas into real-world solutions. But according to Anette Engelund Friis, there is another essential ingredient: bringing together the right people.

"Transforming the food system requires more than great ideas. It requires strong partnerships, a shared direction and the willingness to invest in solutions that can scale. That is exactly why bringing the global food innovation community together matters."

The conference itself served as an example of this approach, bringing together actors from across the value chain to exchange knowledge, challenge assumptions and identify new opportunities for collaboration.

While the conference explored the future of food systems from many angles, startups showcased some of the innovations already helping to bring that future closer.

At the conference's Startup Collaboration & Pitch Excellence Award, companies presented their solutions to investors, industry leaders and experts from across the value chain. The competition demonstrated the important role startups continue to play in food innovation by developing new technologies, challenge established assumptions and explore new ways of addressing some of the sector's biggest challenges.

Congratulations to Chris Spier and the entire team from Differential Bio who won the Startup Collaboration & Pitch Excellence Award. Differential Bio's AI-powered approach to optimising fermentation processes impressed both judges and audience, earning the company this year's top honour.

"We'd also like to give a big shoutout to all the amazing startups who joined in. The level of innovation was really impressive and gives a great sense of where food and biotech are headed," said Heidi Høy from Food & Bio Cluster Denmark, who moderated the pitch event* together with Shake Up Factory.

A recurring theme throughout the conference was that innovation does not happen in isolation. Turning promising ideas into scalable solutions requires access to funding, testing facilities, knowledge partners and industry networks.

In Denmark, this is supported through initiatives such as Food & Bio Cluster Denmark's Pathways to Net Zero call, which is investing DKK 88 million in ambitious research and innovation projects aimed at accelerating the green transition of the agri-food sector.

Learn more about the Pathways to Net-Zero call (application deadline 30 September 2026)

At the same time, initiatives such as Plant2Food provide companies with access to research infrastructure, expertise and collaboration opportunities that help bridge the gap between scientific knowledge and commercial application.

For SMEs looking to develop and validate new solutions, the DKK 16 million Innovation Collaboration programme (Virksomhedsudvikling Danmark) supports partnerships between companies and research organisations, helping innovative ideas move from concept to market.

Together, these initiatives help create the conditions for the next generation of food innovations to grow, scale and deliver real-world impact.

Learn more about our current funding opportunities 

As Bridge2Food Europe 2026 comes to a close, one message stands out: the future of food will not be shaped by technology alone. Success will depend on our ability to combine scientific innovation with a deeper understanding of consumer behaviour, social contexts and everyday food choices.

A big thank you to the entire Bridge2Food team and everyone who joined for a fantastic and inspiring event. It has been a pleasure co-hosting this year's conference in Copenhagen.