Successful Growth Alliance Networking Summit - GANS24

After the successful premiere last year, Rentenbank and TechQuartier welcomed pioneers of the AgriFood sector to this year's Growth Alliance Networking Summit - GANS24 at the Kunstverein Familie Montez in Frankfurt am Main yesterday. The event provided a platform for pioneers from agriculture, politics, the start-up scene, economy, and science to discuss challenges, ideas, and solutions for a sustainable agricultural and food economy. This year, exciting discussions and valuable networking opportunities were also at the forefront. Under the motto "Future Farming", the focal topics for 2024 were intensively explored in panel discussions and presentations:

• Plant-based protein sources made in Germany

• Circular economy - Utilization of agricultural & forestry biomass

• Biodiversity - Between nature conservation and productivity

• Next Generation AgriFood - How innovations are put into practice

The event began with opening speeches by Nikola Steinbock, spokesperson for the board at the Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank, Claudia Müller, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), and Dr. Sebastian Schäfer, Managing Director at TechQuartier. The opening of the stage program was made by Dr. Christian Trgo of J. Bauer GmbH with a keynote on the topic “Shaping the Future: Plant-based Proteins in the Dairy Industry”.

The blocks on the four focal topics were each rounded off with a panel discussion.

Additionally, startups and VC investors presented themselves in pitch sessions, leading to lively discussions and lively exchanges.

At the Start-up Fair, the following innovative AgriFood startups showcased their latest products and prototypes in the areas of Smart Farming, Robotics, Vertical Farming, and artificial intelligence:

• MySpirulina

• ONOX

• PlantShield GbR

• PFLANZENTHEKE GmbH

• Nature Robots

• The Oater

• revoltech

• aarnt bioworks

• AgDoIT GmbH

• Alganize

• CubeCrops

• ecomates

• Fluvion

• HIVESOUND

• AgrarioEnergy

• MyHorse

To remain successful in a constantly changing world, resilience and adaptability are required. But also transformative resilience, meaning a sustainable alignment with the massive challenges ahead of us. This also means leaving old paths and taking innovative routes. Startups and their disruptive approach play an important role in this, as innovation and change are central components of their DNA,” said Nikola Steinbock, spokesperson for the board of Rentenbank. “As a strong partner of the green industry, promoting the startup ecosystem is an important strategic component for Rentenbank. With the GANS, we offer thought leaders and pioneers in the industry a platform for exchange and networking, because only together can we successfully tackle the future issues of agriculture.

Nikola Steinbock, spokesperson for the board at the Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank

A highlight of the day was the award of this year's Growth Alliance Start-up Bootcamp winner. As the winner of the seventh bootcamp, the startup Alganize convinced the jury. With their soil enhancer made from microalgae, they narrowly outperformed the startups ONOX and PlantShield. It has once again been shown that these three intensive bootcamp days have had a significant developmental impact on the startups in such a short time. Overall, we were able to support over 100 startups with the bootcamp.

With almost 300 guests and more than 30 presenters, GANS24 was a complete success and once again highlighted the importance of collaboration within the AgriFood ecosystem for the future of sustainable agriculture and food economy. A complete overview of the speakers and agenda can be found online and on our social media channels.

The Growth Alliance Networking Summit has once again shown that the AgriFood ecosystem in Germany is coming together. We are very pleased that with the GANS we were able to provide a stage for all forward-looking ideas and enable a lively exchange in Frankfurt.

Dr. Sebastian Schäfer, Managing Director of TechQuartier

Media contact

TechQuartier:
Alice Bucher
E-Mail: bucher@techquartier.com
Website: www.techquartier.com

Rentenbank:
Christian Pohl
E-Mail: pohl@rentenbank.de
Website: www.rentenbank.de