Before any innovation there is reflection, trial and error, and a whole raft of tests conducted by researchers, R&D departments, and so on. Out of all this mysteriously coalesces: creation! Invention. The thing you believe in, the thing that develops its own momentum, to find its place on the shelves and aisles of stores the world over. This grey matter has found its place at a major food-focused event. An essential link that was missing in the chain. The starting point of it all, indeed, the very germ from which it all springs. A laboratory that is packed full of extraordinary grey matter, just waiting to do its thing! So how about turning the spotlight, here and now, on Future Lab?

Food invention, or the hidden face of Planet Food

SIAL Paris, the worlds leading food innovation exhibition, wher the food of tomorrow is invented, wishes to bring into the light this hidden face of Planet Food. "There truly is only SIAL Paris that is capable of this! Admittedly, Im in the position of both judge and jury, and therefore perhaps not best placed to comment objectively,"acknowledges Nicolas Trentesaux, SIAL Network Director: "Yet there is a reality that emerges from our 54 years of history and all the experiences and success stories testified to by our partners, exhibitors and visitors: the biggest food laboratory happens here, in Paris!"

In 2018, with Future Lab, this laboratory will really be buzzing, as a new nerve centre of the event. Future Lab: echoing SIAL Innovation. This is no doubt just a first step: "We wanted to go further than the SIAL Innovation competition, and understand the history, even the prehistory, of Food innovation," Nicolas Trentesaux explains.

#SIALFUTURELAB, the themes or ideas on the horizon of food innovation

So let us imagine Future Lab as a peek into the future! You enter a space wher dreams and reality converge. Welcome to the Planet Food of tomorrow! It is in the area at the entrance to Hall 6 that this is all happening. Follow the guide!

#SIALFOODLAB, an immersive tunnel for addressing topics that will be central to our food concerns in the not too distant future. For example, which alternative proteins will assert themselves, for feeding the worlds 8.6 billion population in 2030? While some people bank on meat "cultivated" in the lab from stem cells, others envisage vegetal solutions, and the alternative proteins adventure holds out the promise of lots more great innovations to come! The other themes addressed at #SIALFOODLAB include the digitally-assisted "home-made", and how artificial intelligence will revolutionise our food practices, no matter what the technology or scenario that ends up on top.

#SIALRISINGSTARTUP, the innovative European start-ups space

The second dimension of Future Lab is #SIALRISINGSTARTUP?? a space that offers the opportunity to some 50 budding European businesses to participate in SIAL Paris 2018. #SIALRISINGSTARTUP will be throwing the spotlight on young creators, on the cusp of making a success of their adventure: finding solutions for the food of the future, in terms of new products, services, packaging, and so on.

Conceived in partnership with the IDEFI-ECOTROPHELIA network, #SIALRISINGSTARTUP will be Europes first forecasting space dedicated to rising start-ups in the food industry sector. seleced for their boldness and inventiveness, in a partnership with the European university network, these young start-ups will get to be offered maximum visibility at a crucial stage of their existence: their launch. #SIALRISINGSTARTUP will, in particular, provide them with the opportunity to share their experiences with a panel of entrepreneurs, investors, potential clients and the media, with a view to conquering, one day - who knows! - Planet Food!

#SIALVRLAB, or when virtual reality conquers Planet Food

Yet Future Lab is more than that. Welcome, now, to its third dimension: #SIALVRLAB stands for Virtual Reality Lab! Created in partnership with Laval Virtual/Easycom, this spectacle offers a virtual reality voyage through the food sector, for understanding how this technology will revolutionise our daily diet: in the restaurant, at work, or quite simply in the home. #SIALVRLAB proposes 4 virtual reality shows, with several types of headset, usage and sectoral applications. The issues around virtual reality in food will soon be as plain as day to visitors!

Find out in early July about the selected start-ups, and the three event spaces of Future Lab.

Our partners for the Future Lab space

about Alim??Avenir

AlimAvenir is a business intelligence and trend forecasting agency that provides public and private bodies with independent expertise concerning changes in food behaviour, and permanently monitors the emerging trends in consumption, along with new products and services. Innovations are closely scrutinised through analysis, to assess their true development potential.

You can follow AlimAvenir on Twitter @AlimAvenir, www.cabinetalimavenir.com/

about IDEFI-ECOTROPHELIA

ECOTROPHELIA aims at promoting entrepreneurship and competitiveness in the European food sector through deploying a network of food excellence and innovation training and organising the national and European food innovation contest: "Les Troph??es Étudiants de l??Innovation Alimentaire" ("Student Trophies for Food Innovation"), an ideas incubator for the food industry. ECOTROPHELIA develops a true culture of food innovation in the French and European university and higher education establishment. https://ecotrophelia.org/

about AgroParisTech

AgroParisTech is the Paris Institute of Technology for Life, Food and Environmental Sciences, operating under the auspices of the French Ministries for Agriculture and for Higher Education. A stakeholder in higher education and research, this major benchmark establishment of international standing addresses the key issues of the 21st century: feeding people while sustainably managing land; preserving resources; encouraging innovation; and integrating the bioeconomy. www.agroparistech.fr

about Easycom

Easycom is a consulting and creative agency specialised in developing sales through immersive technologies. Forget the "wow" effect, and think rather of "customer benefits" and commercial efficiency. Technology is a means of winning over the customer, and not an end in itself. Easycom is there to support companies in conceiving their projects (issues / usages / scenario), and in integration and communication (communication action plans, creation of online and offline documentation, ROI measurement). We innovate to make your life easier. 
groupe-easycom.com

about Laval Virtual

International benchmark for 20 years in terms of expertise in and development of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) usages, LAVAL VIRTUAL opened the Laval Virtual Centre in September 2017. The centre brings together experts in VR, AR and associated technologies (interactive 3D, motion capture, etc.). Its missions are to support all sectors of activity and businesses that wish to use these innovative technologies, and to encourage and accelerate the development of VR/AR projects, through creativity sessions, advice, training, business intelligence, and the provision of equipment, both current and yet to come.
lavalvirtualcenter.com

about SIAL Paris

Organised by Comexposium Group, SIAL Paris is one of the members of SIAL Network, the worlds biggest network of trade fairs dedicated to food and drink. Its eight regular exhibitions (SIAL Paris, SIAL Canada in Montreal and Toronto, SIAL China, SIAL Middle East and SIAL Interfood in Jakarta, and FOOD India Inspired by SIAL, in New Delhi) bring together 14,535 exhibitors and 359,800 visitors from 194 countries.

You can follow us on Twitter, linkedIn and YouTube: www.sialparis.com - www.sial-network.com

about Comexposium

The Comexposium Group, a world leader in events organisation, is involved in more than 170 BtoC and BtoB events, covering 11 sectors of activity as varied as the food industry, agriculture, fashion, homeland security, construction, high-tech, optics and transport. Comexposium plays host to 45,000 exhibitors and more than 3 million visitors in 23 countries around the world.

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Editors Note:

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welcome to send your CV and sample works to us,

Email: Julia.Zhang@ubmsinoexpo.com.