Attendees of processing machinery developer BAADER’s first Innovation Day event gathered in Lübeck, Germany late last month to contemplate a critical question: How is it possible to guarantee food for the world’s growing population, with less space to do so and in the face of decreasing resources?
Held on 29 August at the BAADER Technology Center, the Innovation Day meeting saw a variety of speakers approach the question of feeding the global population – which is expected to grow to around 9.7 billion by 2050, according to the UN World Population Prospects 2019 – through the optimization of various production processes worldwide. Presenters included David Hughes, the professor often referred to as Dr. Food, as well as iSeaPartners Jeffrey Davis, Wim de Laat of BioscienZ, Matthias Moser of Hydrosol, Stefan Töpfl of the German Institute of Food Technologies, Thor Sigfusson of Iceland Ocean Cluster, and Feras Alsamawi of Amazon Web Services.
During his discussion, Töpfl – who is a professor associated with the German Institute of Food Technologies – identified some of the major themes playing out in global protein processing, such as the propensity to process food as little as possible; the optimization of processes and automation of food production, which work to save time and energy; and the development of new methods for obtaining protein. High-pressure processes and pulsed electric fields are a few of the techniques Töpfl listed as catering these trends.
Meanwhile, Iceland Ocean Cluster founder and chairman Thor Sigfusson “made the case for reducing the silos and establishing a better link between science and business,” during his Innovation Day speech, BAADER recapped in a press release. Sigfusson argued that innovation and collaboration could be used to encourage protein providers to create less waste and more value from available materials. He outlined a new value pyramid that could be utilized by the seafood industry to reduce waste through repurposing discards for cosmetics, animal feed, pharmaceutical goods, health products, and more. By utilizing more of the raw product, Sigfusson said, seafood companies can generate up to EUR 80 (USD 88) per fish, rather than the accustomed range of EUR 14-16 (USD 15-17).
Later on, at the conclusion of the Innovation Day event, Dennis Lohmann, the head of product management at BAADER, emphasized the importance of food and feeding people.
“At BAADER, we are driven by our vision ‘Innovating Food Value Chains.’ Let us all work together to find solutions for feeding this growing world on a sustainable basis,” he said, thanking the days speakers and participants.
Lohmann’s parting words echo BAADER’s new mission statement and brand promise – “We innovate Food Value Chains” – which it rolled out in 2019 to honor 100 years in business. The company culminated a major rebranding effort at the start the year, a course of action meant to reflect its evolution into a modern, digital, full-solution provider across several food value-chains.
The company’s poultry business was renamed from BAADER LINCO to BAADER as a part of its rebranding process, and its logo was redesigned “to portray both heritage and evolution and is combined with a new mission statement and brand promise,” BAADER explained at the time.
“We are undertaking an extensive rebranding process and from 2019 onwards – exactly 100 years after Nordischer Maschinenbau Rud. BAADER was founded – we are marketing all our divisions under one name,” said Petra Baader, the company’s executive chairwoman, back in March 2019.
