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Collaborate to Innovate

Wednesday, June 25th
8:00am – 4:30pm

Rutgers University College Avenue Student Center
126 College Avenue
New Brunswick, NJ 08901

Join the Food Innovation Center at Rutgers University at the third annual NJ FoodTech 2025 on Wednesday, June 25th, 2025. It will be a full day of conversation, collaboration, and networking with New Jersey’s leading food tech businesses, innovators, and investors. Leaders will come together to share their insights, discuss opportunities, and identify future partners.

Sign up for our NJ Food Tech 2025 email list to get updates on speakers, the day’s agenda, and more.

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Agenda

8:00 – 9:00am	Registration & breakfast networking
9:00 – 9:15am	Program Introduction: Sho Islam, Director of Office of Business Engagement, Middlesex County.  Opening and Introductory Remarks:  Sandy Castor, Head of Economic Development, Middlesex County. Jim Oehmke, Chair of the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics and Director of Economic Development, Rutgers University.
9:15 – 9:45am	Keynote address
9:45 – 10:30am	Panel 1: The Innovation Plate: How Public-Private Partnerships are Shaping New Jersey’s Food Industry Ecosystem  Moderator: Kalindi Bakshi PhD, Division Head of Life Sciences and Food Innovation, Middlesex County Panelists: Judith Sheft, Executive Director, Commission for Science Innovation and Technology Nolan Lewin, Executive Director, Rutgers University Food Innovation Center Toral Goradia, Founder & CEO, TORA Chai Niyati Gupta, CEO and Co-Founder, Fork & Good Focus: Discussion on support from public agencies fostering innovation and state level support to the industry.
10:30 – 11:00 AM	Refreshments and Networking
11:00 – 11:40 AM	Panel 2: Innovating Wellness: Collaborations Powering the Functional Food & Beverage Boom Moderator: Dr Mukund Karwe, PhD, Distinguished Professor, Food Science Panelists:  Tommy Lauterbach, Associate Category Director- Business Unit Health- Health, Taste and Nutrition, Symrise Jeffery Zhao, Co-Founder, CEO, Notitia Biotechnologies  Brian Choi, CFA, Managing Partner/CEO, The Food Institute
11:40 – 12:20 PM	Panel 3: Supporting Growth: How Retailers and Food Distributors Can Enable Food Manufacturer’s Success Moderator:  Juan Salinas PhD, Founder of Pnuff Panelists:  Andrew Kent, EVP President, Glass Gardens Shoprite   John Lawson, Senior Forager, Whole Foods Mark Eggerding, VP Innovation, US Foods Topics: Mutual growth strategies, scaling operations, joint product launches, and managing operational challenges.
12:20 – 01:30 PM	Remarks: Grassi (5 minutes) Lunch and Networking
1:30 – 2:05 PM	Afternoon Program Introduction: Craig Peck, Senior Manager Business Development, Food Innovation Center at Rutgers  Fireside Chat: Investment Trends and Market Outlook Panelists: Tom Mastrobuoni, Chief Investment Officer, Big Idea Ventures and  Wesley Wilson, Head of North America at Consumer Goods Forum
2:05 – 3:00 PM	Roundtable Breakout Sessions 1. Big Idea Ventures. Hosted by Tom Mastrobuouni. Generation Food Rural Partners Fund collaboration with universities, including Rutgers, to discover applications for intellectual property and license those for commercialization. 2. Legal Protections to Facilitate Innovation and Collaboration. Hosted by Danielle DeFilippis. 3. Hosted by Grassi. 4. Scale Smart: Innovation and Acceleration for Food Startups. Hosted by Craig Peck, Rutgers Food Innovation Center. 5. New Jersey Economic Development Authority Funding Incentives. Hosted by Doyin Ashiru, Manufacturing Partnerships, Manufacturing, Incentives & Tax Credits, New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) 6. Exploring Opportunities in Food innovation with Middlesex County Office of Business. Hosted by Joesph Liberato, Economic Development Specialist, Middlesex County. 7. Driving Growth Through Strategic Digital Content. Hosted by Brian Choi, Managing Partner and CEO of The Food Institute. In the current economic climate, leadership teams are hyper-focused on reducing costs and driving ROI.  Strategic digital content (e.g., social media, articles, podcasts, videos, etc.) is a direct path to driving revenue while reducing costs.  In this Roundtable session Brian Choi, Managing Partner and CEO of The Food Institute, will share how he was able to turn The Food Institute from stagnant print publication into one of the leading F&B digital content companies in the world.  Brian will share his insights and tools into how companies can effectively convert digital content into actual sales.
3:00 – 3:05 PM	Closing Remarks by Nolan Lewin
3:05 – 4:30 PM	Networking and Refreshments sponsored by Berjé

2025 Steering Committee

Supporting organizations

A few highlights from 2024