Innovation Plans from Industry Leaders Unilever & General Mills

LONDON, July 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

With news that Unilever has launched a new global platform to support innovative start-up firms with new technologies and General Mills unveiling a new product line-uptapping into the latest consumer-driven food trends, theFi Global Summitwelcomes key figures from these industry-leading companies to discuss their innovation plans, reveal where they are finding success and where challenges still lie.

The new Unilever Foundry platform will give small companies and entrepreneurs a single entry point to engage with Unilever and enable Unilever's global brands to experiment with and pilot new technologies more efficiently. Graham Cross, Director of Commercial Alliances and Supplier Innovation at Unilever in the Netherlands will give an exclusive keynote presentation at the Fi Global Summit addressing how open innovation at Unilever is moving innovation forward. This new meeting place for senior F&B professionals across categories takes place on 23-25 September 2014 at Etc.venues, 155 Bishopsgate, London.

Cross is joined at the Fi Global Summit by Mike Helser, General Mills Worldwide Innovation Network Leader. General Mills is tapping into the latest consumer-driven food trends with its new line-up of product innovation launching this summer, building upon another strong year for innovation from the industry giant. Helser will comment on the use of open innovation to create future products, focussing on why this is an important strategy for them, what has worked well and what challenges they have come across with this model.

Nestlé, Quorn Foods, Red Bull and other key brands will also take the stage to cover important industry topics including the changing retail landscape, creating a sustainable food future and regulatory harmonisation. Places are filling up fast as industry leaders reserve their place at this content-rich meeting place where F&B professionals can connect and debate across categories.

In addition to the main Summit agenda, delegates and visitors can participate in a series of pre-summit workshops and master classes covering key development areas, source business opportunities from 25 leading ingredient suppliers at the bustling marketplace, network with visionary researchers and thought leaders at the exclusive cocktail reception, take part in interactive tasting sessions and ingredients demos, and benefit from free market reports from Mintel and Euromonitor International. All this can be taken advantage of with additional early bird rates before 1 August 2014.

See more information and register your place at http://www.figlobalsummit.com

About Fi Conferences:

Fi Conferences is an extension of Fi Europe Exhibitions, whose world-leading food ingredients event celebrates its 27th year in 2015 and attracts over 25,000 visitors. Fi Conferences runs its popular conferences alongside the exhibition or as standalone events and offers high-level content focused on the hottest issues facing ingredient suppliers and manufacturers in the F&B ingredients industry today. http://www.figlobal.com/global/conferences

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