Today, I’d like to explain how we at DigitalFoodLab contribute to the advancement of the FoodTech ecosystem. Our methodology and our services may be relevant and useful for your business or your startup.
In the past five years, we have developed a complete methodology to help our clients (small and large agri-food businesses and retailers) to understand their innovation ecosystem and, more importantly, to build their long-term strategy accordingly. We break it into five steps which are as many different services:
1 – Build a common knowledge about your innovation ecosystem
Understanding what the words AgTech and FoodTech actually stand for and things that could be relevant for you and your company. The ever-growing ecosystem of startups is getting more complicated by the day.
Why: level up the knowledge about your innovation ecosystem and the types of technologies around you.
What: dedicated workshops/presentations about the FoodTech ecosystem and its trends with the same level of analysis, fun, and skepticism that we add every week in this newsletter.
2 – Identify opportunities and threats created by disruptive innovation
We often hear of people that are overwhelmed by the amount of information generated by the FoodTech ecosystem. Indeed, it is wide and is spreading fast with new technologies (just look at the number of companies working on alternatives to seafood). Beyond tech, new trends are popping up, some of them bearing real significance, others being just a fad. That’s why our second step is to help you map the “things that you should look at”.
Why: help you know which subjects are or may become relevant for your company, which are not, and how to approach each of these items.
What: an actionable and detailed list of the subjects/trends/technologies on which there is a significant startup activity and that could be either an opportunity or a threat to your business.
3 – Build an action plan
Next, from the insights on potential opportunities (or the will to explore an area) comes the need to deep dive into each of them to:
- create a mapping
- identify the key players (startups and corporations)
- find the best way to address it from a partnership to an acquisition
4 – Act on the ecosystem
Finally, we all know that there is a gap between corporations and startups (and also VCs, accelerators…). We are here to bridge this gap by identifying the right partners and helping you start up the conversation.
We also build dedicated business intelligence tools to keep you and your team informed about what happens in your FoodTech ecosystem. Beyond information, we add the extra layer of analysis on why and how it is relevant to your daily business.
We have refined this method by applying it (from start to end or partially) with more than 50 agrifood businesses, from SMEs to the world’s largest companies. If you want to understand what lays ahead for your company, plan for it and find ways to leverage opportunities, contact us!
