At Fi Europe ConNECT 2020, Informa Markets announced the winners of the Innovation Awards and the Startup Innovation Challenge during virtual award ceremonies held on the first and second of December. 

The pitches of the participating startups, the jury evaluations and awards ceremonies all took place virtually. More than 1,500 participants followed the award ceremonies live online, as well as the on-demand startup pitches. 

The winners of the Fi Europe Innovation Awards 2020 are as follows. 

The winner of the Food Tech Innovation award was Netzsch Trockenmahltechnik for the ATEX-compliant Condux Compact system, which the judges praised for its space saving and cost effectiveness. 

The Ingredient Innovation award was presented to ADM for its ProFam Pea, which will reportedly enable healthier and more sustainable plant protein products without sacrificing taste or sensory properties. 

A high commendation was awarded to both finalists in the Sustainability Innovation category, with Olam International and Solercool Technologies both recognised. Olam’s AtSource platform aims to make supply chains for coffee, cocoa, cashews, cotton and rice transparent to the consumer, while SOlercool has developed solar-powered refrigeration tech to aid food conservation. 

In the Startup Innovation challenge, the following companies came out on top. 

The Most Innovative Food or Beverage Ingredient award was granted to Michroma. The company used the CRISPR method to modify the genome of filamentous fungal strains to produce ingredients in a bioreactor. The award was specifically given in recognition of the company’s food colourants which are stable at extreme pH and temperature values. 

Israel’s Sufresca was granted the award for Most Innovative Processing Technology for its edible fruit and vegetable coatings which extend shelf life and avoid plastic packaging. 

In the Most Innovative Service of Technology Supporting Food & Beverages category, Enzymit was awarded for its ability to tailor-make enzymes or improve existing enzymes using algorithm-based protein design.