Watch Webinar: Ingredients for the Food of the Future

Ever wondered what types of ingredients will be used to manufacture food products and beverages in the near future? Well, we have!

We, therefore, decided to tackle this question during the third session of our 2023 Food Innovation in Canada webinar series on Wednesday, May 3, from 1 to 2 p.m. ET.

Speakers were:

• David Brown, Co-Founder & COO, Chinova Bioworks;
• David Gauthier, VP Commercialization, Natural Products Canada; and
• Fei Luo, Co-Founder & CEO, Liven Proteins.

Peter Henderson, President & Chief Experience Officer, Ideovation, moderated the session.

Fei Luo

Fei Luo is the CEO and Co-founder of Liven proteins, a natural ingredient company making animal-free, functional protein ingredients to support formulation of sustainable, nutritious and delicious food and beverages. The company is currently focusing on producing animal-free collagen using precision fermentation, the first-of-its-kind in Canada. Fei has over 10 years of research and industry experience in environmental biotechnology. Prior to Liven, Fei was an environmental engineer at Ecometrix, creating biotechnology-based solutions for environmental remediation and biodiversity monitoring for the energy and resource industry. Fei has a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Toronto.

David Brown

David Brown is the Co-Founder & COO of Chinova Bioworks. Before Chinova Bioworks, he founded and served as CTO at MycoDev Group. His experience includes working for several high-profile universities and federal government laboratories across Canada. He has a strong background in biopolymers and develops sustainable processing methods to produce them. He has patented several innovations and won awards, such as the Governor General’s Innovation Award in 2017 and the University of Alberta Alumni Horizon Award in 2018. Brown also serves on the Assessment Committee for the Governor General’s Innovation Awards.

David Gauthier

As lead for all Natural Products Canada (NPC) commercialization programs, David Gauthier is responsible for the overall direction of the organization’s portfolio and the management of the individual companies within it. David works closely with the CEO and the commercialization sub-committee of the NPC board to lead the team in identifying high-potential opportunities in natural products. With over 25 years’ experience in the innovation commercialization landscape, David is a great judge of the viability of a product or technology and its market potential.

Moderator Peter Henderson

Peter is a futuristic connector of people, businesses and ideas. He has predicted many food trends before they happened, including the current plant-powered food movement. Peter specializes in bringing food and technology leaders together to strategize on complex subjects, and build profitable brands, products, categories and platforms. Prior to starting Ideovation in 2011, Peter held various brand and business building roles with McCain, Nestle, Borden Catelli, Lynch Foods and the Government of British Columbia.