German retailer Metro Group has announced a partnership agreement with incubator Foundation StartLife Holding, with the goal of supporting food tech startups.
The Dutch foundation's role is to help up-and-coming entrepreneurs in the food and agricultural sector to create work opportunities, contributing to the development and use of 'sustainable technological innovations'.
"Food wholesale and retail companies have been selling their food products in the same way for thirty years or more, but this is about to change", explained Jan Meiling, managing director of StartLife.
"Companies try to anticipate this change, but to do so they need insight into new technology and new, often shorter, logistics lines. The newly-signed cooperation enables access to the disruptive innovations our startups are working on, from new food products to new ways of delivering or presenting products", Meiling said, commenting on the importance of this partnership.
As part of the collaboration, Metro Group will be an official partner with F&A Next, an event that encourages 'match & deal-making' for food and agricultural startups, held at the campus of StartLife's partner Wageningen University, in The Netherlands on the 17-18 May.
HoReCa.digital, a Metro subsidiary specialising in the digitalisation of the sector, will be involved in the event.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Karen Henderson. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
