Where ideas become reality

In just a few weeks, the time will come. On May 20 and 21, the doors of the Food Tech Event will open. For months, you work toward something that will come to life in just two days. And this year, that happens with over 120 exhibitors on the show floor. But in my view, the real value isn’t in the number of booths—it’s in the fact that more than 2,000 food professionals come together here.

Where you would normally see separate links in the chain—a machine here, a solution there—you see one cohesive whole here. The live food production line may be the clearest example of that. Not standalone innovations, but an integrated process where you can follow, step by step, how technology works together. It reflects exactly where the industry is heading: from optimization to cohesion. The same applies to the demo area. No static presentations, but solutions you can see, experience, and apply in your own production environment.

What gives me extra energy is the growing presence of food producers. More and more companies are finding their way to the event. With names like Mars, Kraft Heinz, Heineken, and FrieslandCampina on the list, a dynamic is emerging that goes beyond technology alone. Especially for this group, we are organizing a roundtable session this year, where practical questions take center stage and experiences are shared openly. No theory, but conversations that truly matter.
You can see that same shift reflected in the conference program as well.

Take the panel discussion on innovations on the work floor, where the focus is not on the technology itself, but on what it requires from people and organizations. Because in the end, it’s not the technology, but adoption that determines success.

And perhaps that’s the core of it all. You can develop countless technologies, but real progress only happens when people come together. So consider this an invitation—not just to attend, but to be part of that movement.

Judith van den Nieuwenhuijzen
Program Manager Events at Mikrocentrum