Natural Speed Please
• In 2050, 1 third of our population in France, like many other countries, will be over 60 years old. And in the last 3 years, the famous Baby Boomer generation started reaching retirement age, bringing with them a new profile of food behaviours and expectations for seniors.
• The generation of Baby boomers certainly represents a market opportunity for Food Business – they are willing consumers, sometimes called the “supermarket generation”… Provided we can understand what they want and need.
• Here are a few of the things we know about Baby boomers. Kitchen appliances, frozen foods, micro-waves… since their childhoods, Baby boomers have been aware of how innovation can positively impact their daily lives. They care about their health. And they are open to trying new things.
• However, their food needs are not being met: products that are poorly adapted to their taste preferences, non-user-friendly packagings, unsuitable portion sizes etc. Not answering their needs of physical well-being and healthy aging.
• Innovating for seniors is now a necessity, not just as a business opportunity, but as a response to the health challenge of aging populations. Startups from throughout the world have understood and taken up this challenge, as demonstrated by the fantastic response to the Boomer Challenge.
• Because we believe that startups play an essential role in the food innovation ecosystem - thanks to their creativity, their agility and their ability to identify new problems and corresponding solutions - Mondelez International and Vitagora have joined together to help identify and reward the best food innovations designed for senior consumers.
• I would like to thank all of the Mondelez teams for placing their trust in Vitagora for the organisation of this contest.
• Our thanks also to BPIFrance for their welcome in this fantastic space dedicated to innovation and discussions.
• Thank you also to the expert jury panel for sharing your knowledge on seniors and startup development:
- Claire Sulmont Rossé
- Frederic Serriere
- Céline Bondard
- Katia Merten-Lentz
- Ariane Voyatzakis
- Gil Horsky and Adam Harris of Mondelez
- And Claire van Overstraeten of ToasterLAB
• And thank you also to all those of you who are present today, proving you share our interest in agile food innovation that startups represent so well.
• Like all of you we are impatient to learn which of the 14 candidates will win the Boomer Challenge. We wish them all the best of luck!
• And now, I invite Marthe to call the first finalist.
