At the Bühler Networking Days 2022, about 1,000 representatives of leading global companies from 95 countries recently gathered at the Bühler Group global headquarters in Uzwil/Switzerland. They discussed how urgent it is for companies to work together to accelerate the transition to sustainability. The meeting also shows that these companies want to lead the way in addressing the climate crisis, protecting and restoring nature and biodiversity, and closing the prosperity gap.

Bühler Networking Days was launched in 2016 and is held every three years. The 2022 event with the motto “Accelerating Impact Together” focused on leadership, the need for corporate purpose, education, technology, and innovation, along with examples of how companies are leveraging technology to protect biodiversity, improve food security, and promote social equality.

The event gathered representatives from companies that together feed four billion people and move two billion people. They heard from leading academics, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators about how businesses can best meet today’s global challenges.

Opening the event, Bühler Group CEO, Stefan Scheiber, told guests from the food, animal feed, and mobility sectors that despite businesses recently facing myriad obstacles, the examples of vaccine research, advances in digitalization and the development of communication at scale during the lockdown all demonstrated the capacity of business to rise to global challenges when required: “We have experienced the power of science and innovation with industries collaborating at a new scale. In our industries – in food, animal nutrition, and mobility – the innovation rate has never been as high as it is today. This creates impact since we need new technologies and widespread collaboration to tackle new challenges and at the same time secure the future of our businesses in a responsible way. We need technologies, we need collaboration and responsible leadership to shape the future.”

In a session on how good business leadership is needed to mitigate climate change, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, said that in uncertain times leadership qualities could be distilled down to three key attributes. He told the delegates that when assessing future leaders at Microsoft, he looked for their ability to generate energy, deliver results under constraints and create clarity when none exists: “We live in a complex uncertain world, and there will always be ambiguity in our work. True leaders always bring clarity and make a call even during uncertain times.”

Speaking in the same session, keynote speaker Christian Klein, CEO of SAP, the German multinational software corporation with over 400,000 customers globally, spoke of the need for leaders to thoroughly understand their industry and business – especially when it comes to complexity within supply chains. “We are all on social media sharing data all the time, and yet when it comes to businesses, how much do we understand our supply chains? I am convinced this is where we must come together to share data and trace material flows,” emphasized the SAP CEO. “End-to-end traceability means you can think about how to measure demand in real time and adjust your inventory right down to the raw material.” He added that it is only when supply chains are fully understood that it is possible to improve standards on issues like human rights and properly address Scope 3 emissions.

Delegates also heard from several start-ups driving sustainability through high-tech advances in cellular agriculture, satellite monitoring of restoration projects, and carbon removal. In a historic moment, Stephanie Michelsen, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Jellatech, a cutting-edge technology company producing animal-free collagen and gelatin in the laboratory, presented at the Networking Days event the first sample of sustainably generated animal-free collagen to ever be seen outside a laboratory.

As key ingredients for the pharmaceutical, bio-medical and the food industries, the market is worth USD 8.4 bn annually and is currently solely reliant on animal by-products. To rapturous applause, Stephanie Michelsen said that cellular agriculture has the potential to eliminate all the environmental damage caused by rearing livestock. “Collagen and gelatin are just the starting point. There are many other exciting proteins from animals and nature that we can now grow in a lab.” Jellatech is fundraising to move the technology from laboratory to a pilot and beyond.

Clara Rowe, CEO of Restor, a non-profit start-up that uses satellite imagery to monitor restoration projects globally, pointed to three statistics that outline the climate contribution potential of restoration: “Forest restoration alone is estimated to be able to prevent up to 60 percent of species extinction that are expected today, to improve food security for over a billion people around the world and to be able to sequester about 299 gigatons of carbon. This is about 30 percent of the carbon that has accumulated in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution.” By providing greater transparency to restoration projects, Clara Rowe argues, Restor has the potential to build trust and accountability, inspiring additional investment.

Wrapping up the conference, Stefan Scheiber said: “These two days have proven how massive the potential is to drive meaningful change in so many important areas. I’m so encouraged by the countless interactions and the common desire to accelerate our impact, across industries and on a global scale. Together, we can and we will, create a better, more sustainable, and fairer world for future generations.” The Networking Days Event also provided the opportunity for Bühler to announce a number of joint ventures and partnerships involving industry synergies and technological advances aimed at mitigating climate change.