Speakers

Our speaker lineup for F&A Next 2026

Stay tuned as we unravel our program. Dozens of speakers will be added in due time.

Subscribe to our newsletter. or pre-register, for future program & speaker updates.

Moderator

Adam Anders

Managing Partner | Anterra Capital

Speaker

Nicola Harrison

Managing Director | StartLife

Speaker

Sebastiaan Berendse

Director Value Creation & Impact | Wageningen University & Research

Speaker

Alex Datema

Director of Food & Agri Netherlands | Rabobank

Host

Rens de Jong

Keynote

Eva de Mol

Co-founder and Partner | Capital

Next Heroes

Levente Simon

Co-Founder | Proofminder

Speaker

Sjoukje Heimovaara

President of the Executive Board |
Wageningen University & Research

Speaker

Feike Sijbesma

Former CEO | DSM, Chair | Philips, Co-Chair | Global Centre on Adaptation, Founder | Darwin International

Next Heroes

Jen Godderidge

Founder and CEO | atmo

Next Heroes

Chiara Guidi

CEO and Co-Founder | B-COS

Next Heroes

Khalil Kaddoura

Founder and CEO | Optagon Labs

Next Heroes

Adrián Valdeolmillos

Chief Growth Officer | URAPHEX

Next Heroes

Eyal Afergan

Co-founder and CEO | ImaginDairy

Next Heroes

Lars Langhout

Co-founder and CEO | NoPalm Ingredients

Next Heroes

Davide Parisi

Next Heroes

Denis Payen

Judge

Victor de Leeuw

Principal Seed | Graduate Ventures, Venture Capital Investor

Judge

Maximillian Souvereyns

Investment Associate | Forbion

Judge

Cindy Gerhardt

Managing Director Planet-B.io | the Biotech Campus Delft

Judge

Carolina Villa

Principal | Nucleus Capital

Judge

Sophia Heyde

VP Planetary Health Investments | Novo Holdings

Moderator

An Michiels

Board Executive and Advisor Ag Tech | AgKnowledge

Moderator

Jorien Hattink

Corporate Partnerships Manager | StartLife

Speaker

Derek Norman

Vice President Venture Investments | Leaps by Bayer

Speaker

Suraya Abdul Rashid

Founder & Chief scientist | Qarbotech

Speaker

Joost Thijssen

Speaker

Jon Goriup

Co-founder and CEO | VCG.AI

Speaker

Omer Faruk

Speaker

Stéphane Roussel

Partner | ECBF VC

Speaker

Scott Stern

Professor | MIT Sloan School of Management

Panellist

Anna El Tahchy

Founder Director and Chief Technical Officer | Nourish Ingredients

Speaker

Victor Meijer

Investment Principle AgriFood | Invest NL

Speaker

Michiel Scheffer

President of the Board | European Innovation Council

Speaker

Gali Artzi

VC Partner & CTO | PeakBridge

Speaker

Maha Tahiri

Co-founder and CEO | S2B group

Moderator

Laura Thissen

Venture Partner | Grey Silo Ventures

Speaker

Karin Verzijden

Partner | Axon Lawyers

Speaker

Richard Harrison

Managing Director Plant Sciences Group | WUR

Speaker

Dan Harburg

Chief Product Officer | Mombak

Panellist

Vijay Chauhan

GlobalSTL Lead | BioSTL

Panellist

Ryan Rapp

President & CEO | Terrana Biosciences & Origination Partner | Flagship

Speaker

Joris Hiddema

CEO & Co-Founder | Agxeed

Speaker

Annick Verween

Head of Biotope | VIB

Speaker

Tim Rajakumar

Chief Scientific Officer | Soilytix

Panellist

Anna Krotova

Sustainability Lead | Picnic

Panellist

Dick Boer

Former CEO & President | Ahold Delhaize, Former chairman | Justeattakeway

Speaker

Christian Klein

Founder of UMYNO Solutions | Professor for Marketing & Digital

Panellist

Nick Boelen

Sales Director | Four Growers

Panellist

Nastaran Baleng-Soultani

CEO | BlueRedGold, Co-Founder | RadCap

Panellist

Eduard Meijer

CEO | Navus Holding B.V.

Panellist

Alicia Showering

CEO & Co-founder | BugBiome

Speaker

Jeroen van der Staay

Executive Director | Rabo Ventures

Speaker

Yair Yosefi

Co-founder and CEO | The Mediterranean Food Lab

Panellist

Valérie Itey

Founder | Clic Recycle

Speaker

Iván García Besada

CEO and co-founder | Néboda Farms

Moderator

Thekla Teunis

Managing Partner | Grounded Investment Company

Speaker

Daan Wilms van Kersbergen

Investor | The Yield Lab Europe

Speaker

Paloma Montull

COO | INES OPTICS

Speaker

Monique Meulemans

Partner | Pymwymic

Speaker

Ryoko Machida-Hirano

Liaison Scientist/Administrator Research Management | National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO)

Speaker

Yuichi Kobayashi

Vice President | The Norinchukin Bank

Speaker

Jürgen Keil

StartLife Mentor and former Senior Executive | Cargill

Speaker

Farayde Matta Fakhouri

Co-founder | BIO2COAT

Moderator

Rick Tervoort

Senior Research Analyst | Norinchukin Bank Europe N.V.

Speaker

Martijn Bekker

Expertise Leader Microbial Cell Factories | Wageningen Food & Biobased Research

Speaker

Willem Ruster

Sustainability Management in Agri & Food | WUR

Moderator

Christian Koolloos

Strategic Innovation & Business Development Expert

Moderator

Manou Aelmans

Business Developer | Invest International

Speaker

Alon Chen

CEO & Co-Founder | Tastewise

Panellist

Friso Abbing

Speaker

María Jesús Abellán

Head of the Food Innovation Department | ICEX

Panellist

Mark Williams

Panellist

Diederik Mud

CEO and co-founder | Bionomic

Speaker

Miriam Ueberall

Innovation & FoodTec Expert

Panellist

Dominic Hall

Co-founder and CTO | Biographica Ltd

Panellist

Mathias Müller

Senior Director | Corteva Catalyst™

Moderator

Matthias de Kock

Principal | PeakBridge

Moderator

Nadav Berger

Founder General Partner | PeakBridgde VC

Moderator

Shivani Oberoi

Principal | Synthesis Capital

Panelist

Luis Sánchez Álvarez

DG Agriculture and Rural Development | European Commission

Speaker

Anna Handschuh

Managing Director and Founder | Ministry of Future Affairs

Speaker

Herco van Liere

Business development Lead Crispr4All | Wageningen University & Research

Moderator

Patricia de Esteban Belzuz

Associate | Cardumen Capital

Panellist

Rieks Smook | Grassa

Speaker

Todd Staley

Vice President and Head of Plant Breeding EMEA | Bayer Crop Science

Panellist

Gianpiero Menza

Senior Manager, Partnerships & Innovative finance | CGIAR

Panellist

Kim de Boer

Impact Investor & Partner | BVP Capital

Panellist

Cedric Verstraeten

Panellist

Nicoline van Gerrevink

Head of Food System Transition | Rabobank

Moderator

Ali Morrow

Partner | Clay Capital

Speaker

Ansa Wasim

Senior FDI Advisor Food & Health | Oost NL

Speaker

Mirjam Spreeuwenberg

International R&D Technology and Partnership Lead | Kraft Heinz

Panellist

Emanuele Pizzigalli

Group Chief Research and Innovation Officer | Nexture Group

Speaker

Annemarie Elberse

Foods R&D Director Ecosystems, Digital & Data | Unilever

Speaker

BZ Goldberg

Co-Founder & CEO | Mediterranean Food Lab

Panellist

Roman Bosl Werner

Managing Director | TUM

Next Heroes

Yelco Gonzalez

Co-founder | AuditQ

Panellist

Maarten Bosch

CEO | Mosa Meat

Panellist

Matteo Leonardi

Investment Manager | Grey Silo Ventures

Panellist

Arne Hautekiet

Investment Associate | Astanor Ventures

Panellist

David Ahmed

CEO | Hexafarms

Speaker

Francisco Jardim

Founding Partner | SP Ventures - Venture Capital, Start-ups

Speaker

Sander Peltenburg

Startup & Scale-up Banker Food & Agri | Rabobank

Speaker

Florian Jupe

Strategic Partnerships Lead | Biologics at Bayer

Speaker

Benoit Hartmann

Senior Vice President | Bayer Crop Science

Speaker

Angelique van Helvoort

Senior FDI Advisor Food & Health | Oost NL

Speaker

Mark-Andre Goeddertz

Global Business Development Lead and Vice President | Bayer Crop Science

Speaker

Andrew McLay

Business Development Manager | Wageningen Social and Economic Research

Speaker

Kat Stennett

Co-Founder and CEO | myota

Speaker

Adam Ziv

Founder and CEO | WHIP

Panellist

Nicolas Weber

Co-founder | Voltiris

Speaker

Inez van Oord

Co-founder | FiberFoods

Speaker

Katarzyna Gil

Principal Sustainable Food Systems | Icos Capital

Speaker

Manuel Rubio del Pueyo

Business Development CEO | Ingredalia

Panellist

Hadi Alshakhori

Sunbolah Program Director | Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture of Saudi Arabia

Panellist

Chiara Molena

Co-Founder & CCO | Edera Lab, Adjunct Professor | IE Business School

Panelist

Raymond Beimers

Sector Head Agrifood | Invest International

Speaker

Michiel Strijland

Senior Business Development Manager | Invest-NL

Speaker

Bram Kerssemakers

Protein Port Program Manager | planet b.io

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