The DIL Technology Day in Quakenbrück provided an impressive platform for the latest innovations and trends in food technology. More than 250 experts and industry leaders came together to discuss the latest developments and forward-looking ideas. The event featured informative presentations as well as practical demonstrations and exhibitions from over 25 companies, including many local firms.
A key topic was the question of how safe, healthy and sustainable food can be produced. At the opening, Dr. Volker Heinz, Managing Director of the DIL, emphasized the need to rethink the entire value chain in order to shape the food of the future.
The keynote speeches were a particular highlight of the event. Timo Recker, Managing Director and co-founder of TiNDLE Foods, opened the first keynote of the day. He presented the story of the origins of LikeMeat, a successful company for meat substitute products. Recker talked about the challenges and successes on the way to becoming number two in the German market for meat substitutes and emphasized the importance of innovation and market dynamics. He motivated the participants to increase the market share of alternative products to 10% in the next ten years.
Prof. em. Dr. Hannelore Daniel from the Technical University of Munich gave another important keynote speech. She highlighted the current and future challenges facing our food system, such as the growing world population, declining yields and climate change. Dr. Daniel emphasized the need to be open to new technologies and raw materials and discussed innovative approaches such as the in-vitro production of animal foods. She also critically questioned the efficiency and market prices of these new technologies and addressed the new DGE recommendation, which raises the question of where the increase in fruit and vegetables should come from.
In addition to the keynote speeches, there were numerous other presentations and discussions. Jens Schröder from DIL presented automation solutions for the agrifood sector, and Dr. Henning Müller from DFKI spoke about the use of artificial intelligence in crop protection. Hermann Sloot from Calysta Germany GmbH and Wolfgang Kühnl from InFamily Foods Holding discussed alternative proteins, while Dr. Alain Graf from Südzucker AG highlighted the importance of functional proteins.
On the second day, the focus was on process engineering and sustainability. Jasmin Vollrath from Alfa Laval presented methods for reducing the CO2 footprint in beer production, and Dr.-Ing Tomas Kurz from ProteinDistillery showed how vegan proteins can be obtained from brewer's yeast. The discussion on eco-labels, moderated by Dr. Mehmet Cicek, concluded the event and shed light on the challenges and opportunities of Europe-wide environmental labeling.
The DIL Technology Day provided valuable insights and new impetus for shaping the food of the future and will remain an important platform for exchange and cooperation in food technology in the coming years. The event ended with an outlook for the coming years, including the introduction of new event formats such as "Insects Plus" in Cloppenburg, which will focus on the sustainable use of insects as a food source.
DIL Technology Day 2026 promises to provide further ground-breaking momentum for food technology and bring together the global community of researchers, companies and decision-makers to work together towards a sustainable future for food.