Approximately 90% of startups fail, with most falling into the so-called “valley of death.” This critical scaling-up phase – the transition from founder-led experimentation to process-driven operations – remains the most significant hurdle for agrifood innovation.
On 20–21 May, F&A Next returns to Wageningen to address this scaling crisis. For over a decade, the summit has served as a bridge between innovative ideas and global impact. By connecting an ecosystem of over 800 startups, scale-ups, investors, and thought leaders, the event facilitates the collaboration necessary to scale up effectively.
Through an engaging program of keynotes, facilities tours, and strategic networking, F&A Next provides more than just a platform for discussion. It actively connects high-potential solutions with the capital and expertise required to impact the food system.
To ensure your business capitalizes on this concentration of expertise and secures a competitive advantage, we have identified the essential highlights of this year’s summit. Here are five things you simply cannot miss at F&A Next 2026:
1. Proven Strategies for Building and Investing in Successful Agrifood Ventures
Founders and investors often lack a clear, evidence-based strategy for what makes a venture successful long-term. The opening keynote at F&A Next addresses this problem by providing data-driven insights into how established businesses survived the scale-up phase. This session ensures the summit is maximally productive for all: founders can learn to adapt their approach to build investor confidence, while investors gain a reliable way to evaluate the startups and scale-ups they will meet during the event.
Following introductory remarks from StartLife, Wageningen University & Research (WUR), and Rabobank, Eva de Mol (Managing Partner, CapitalT) will deliver the keynote: “What Does It Take to Build the Ventures That Will Shape Tomorrow’s World?”. With PhDs from VU Amsterdam and UC Berkeley, de Mol bridges the gap between academic research and venture capital. Her unique perspective on what makes a founder successful provides a practical guide for growth that is rarely accessible in such a concentrated format.
Opening Keynote: Eva de Mol (CapitalT)
🗓️ May 20 @ 10:15 | 📍 Stage 1 – Podium
2. Identifying High-Potential Startups: Meet Our Next Heroes
Startups often struggle to gain visibility with the right capital, while investors face the time-consuming task of filtering through unproven concepts. F&A Next solves this by curating an environment where only the most promising talent reaches the stage. For investors, this provides a concentrated look at vetted agtech solutions; for founders, it is a rare opportunity to showcase scalability to a room specifically looking for it.
Spread across both days, ten selected startups and scale-ups – our Next Heroes – will present their solutions as they compete for the Feike Sijbesma Sustainable Innovation Award. Two businesses will each be awarded €12,500 to support their immediate development. Winners are selected by an expert jury with a proven track record in the sector, ensuring the talent on stage represents the top tier of the agrifood ecosystem.
🏅 Next Heroes (Early Stage)
🗓️ May 20 @ 15:15 | 📍 Stage 1 – Podium
🏅 Next Heroes (Later Stage)
🗓️ May 21 @ 10:30 | 📍 Stage 1 – Podium
🏆 Feike Sijbesma Award Ceremony
🗓️ May 21 @ 15:35 | 📍 Stage 1 – Podium
3. Where to Find Investment Opportunities and Strategic Partners in the Food System
Networking is often fragmented and inefficient, making it difficult for investors to find hidden gems and for startups to understand their competitive landscape. The Startup Market addresses this by concentrating the F&A Next ecosystem into a single interactive space. It serves as a strategic shortcut, creating many more productive meetings and real-time market intelligence that would otherwise take months of desk research.
Running concurrently with the main sessions, the market features startups handpicked by organizing partners including WUR, StartLife, Rabobank, ICEX Spain, 4TU, and the Technical University of Munich. This space is a vital resource for impactful networking and competitive intelligence, allowing attendees to identify emerging technologies and market trends before they reach the mainstream.
Startup Market
🗓️ May 20 @ 11:30–16:30 | 📍 Momentum
🗓️ May 21 @ 10:30–15:00 | 📍 Momentum
4. How AI, Robotics, and GLP-1 are Transforming the Global Food System
Market disruption from AI, robotics, and changing consumer behavior happens faster than many businesses can adapt, leading to rapid obsolescence. F&A Next provides the strategic foresight needed to anticipate these shifts rather than merely reacting to them. By understanding these transitions early, startups can better position their products for future demand, while investors can adapt their portfolios for long-term resilience.
Targeted sessions explore AI’s growing role in supply chains, the rise of autonomous agricultural workforces, and the impact of GLP-1 medications on functional food investment. This rare concentration of technical and financial expertise provides an actionable vision of the food system’s future, allowing startups and investors to scale future-proofed innovations into mutually beneficial commercial opportunities.
From Farm to Fork: How AI Is Reinventing the Supply Chain
🗓️ May 20 @ 13:00 | 📍 Stage 2 – Auditorium
The New Agricultural Workforce: Robotics, Drones & Sensing
🗓️ May 20 @ 16:30 | 📍 Stage 1 – Podium
Investing in the GLP-1 Era: Functional Foods and the Future
🗓️ May 21 @ 13:30 | 📍 Stage 1 – Podium
5. Accessing World-Leading Agrifood R&D Facilities at Wageningen
Innovative ideas often fail when encountering the practical reality of everyday research and industrial workflows. Seeing world-leading infrastructure is the best way to benchmark technical readiness and identify the real-world requirements for successful commercialization. For founders, this is about aligning their products with established workflows; for investors, it is a tangible assessment of the resources required to scale.
Wageningen Campus, the location of F&A Next, is the global center of agrifood research, and these tours provide direct access to specialized facilities at Unifarm, AlgaePARC, and the Food Innovation Kitchen. Participants will see how organizations like Revyve and the Samyang Foods R&D Innovation Centre utilize dedicated R&D spaces to accelerate their growth. By visiting shared facilities like Starthub, attendees gain a first-hand look at the infrastructure that turns science into market impact.
🚐 Tour: Startups in the Greenhouse Facilities
🗓️ May 20 @ 15:15 | 📍 On Campus
Go behind the scenes at Unifarm and AlgaePARC, where two early-stage startups are putting greenhouse infrastructure to work. A firsthand look at how young companies Radicle Crops and Aardaia find and use the right resources to grow within the Wageningen Campus ecosystem.
🚐 Tour: Growing Companies with Integrated Lab Facilities
🗓️ May 21 @ 10:30 | 📍 On Campus
Two companies, Revyve and Samyang Foods R&D Innovation Centre, are scaling up on Wageningen Campus with brand new dedicated R&D facilities right next to their workspaces. A live example of how the campus ecosystem grows with you.
🚐 Tour: Exploring Shared Facilities for Early-Stage Growth
🗓️ May 21 @ 12:15 | 📍 On Campus
Meet Starthub, the campus incubator turning student ideas into real startups, and step inside the Food Innovation Kitchen, a fully equipped demo kitchen available for flexible, short-term use. A firsthand look at how shared facilities on Wageningen Campus make experimentation and collaboration accessible for all.
With limited spots available, early registration is essential—secure your place on the networkapp!
Secure Your Place in the Future of Food
At F&A Next, there is simply no substitute for being in the room. The true value of the summit is not found in any one of these essential sessions, but rather in the physical concentration of the F&A Next ecosystem at Wageningen, where over 800 startups, scale-ups, investors, and thought leaders gather to bridge the gap between food system innovation and global impact.
For startups and scale-ups, F&A Next is the definitive venue to secure partnerships with investors who possess deep sector expertise. For investors, the concentration of vetted talent provides a strategic scouting opportunity that cannot be easily found elsewhere. This unique environment ensures that all attendees gain a first-hand perspective on the future of the food system and the evolving innovation and investment landscape.
Register now to secure your place in this ecosystem and ensure your business is best positioned to navigate the challenges facing the future of food and agtech. This article includes just a handful of the highlights scheduled for F&A Next 2026; view the full program to explore our diverse range of sessions and tours.
We look forward to seeing you on May 20–21.