Dr Ralph Graichen is Senior Director, Biomedical Research Council at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore. In this function, Ralph leads a team to develop A*STAR’s strategy in food & nutrition, consumer care as well as human potential, Precision Medicine & Digital Health. He is responsible for driving activities across the public and private sector in Singapore, supporting economic activities, research funding and strategic national and international relations.
Ralph is also Executive Director of A*STAR’s Agritech & Aquaculture Horizontal Technology Program. In this position, Ralph works with strategic partners to administer and develop new initiatives and programmes in the research areas of food, nutrition, and consumer care. Ralph is a member of the Singapore Food Standard Committee and was until recently a board member of the Singapore Food Agency as well.
Ralph has over 16 years of experience in the local and global biomedical and nutrition industry. He was previously Research Operations Manager for Abbott Nutrition in Asia, establishing the R&D infrastructure and managing the research portfolio for Asia.
Ralph graduated with a Master in Biology from the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany and attained his PhD from the National University Singapore through the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology. Ralph attended the Food System Leadership Institute, a program of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Professor Michelle Colgrave is the Future Protein Lead in CSIRO Agriculture and Food, based at the Queensland Bioscience Precinct in Brisbane, Australia. Prof Michelle Colgrave is using mass spectrometry (MS) and proteomics to help identify key proteins that will benefit Australia's livestock and plant industries and improve human health. Proteomics is the study of proteins using mass spectrometry. Prof Colgrave is working to identify novel proteins and characterise their function and post-translational modifications. Prof Colgrave is a Chief Investigator on the ARC Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Peptide and Protein Science.
Prior to joining CSIRO, Prof Michelle Colgrave has built strong, international reputation for her studies in the structure and function of bioactive peptides, namely the cyclotides. Her research, often applying innovative approaches, has been widely published in high impact journals (ACS Chemical Biology, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Biophysical Journal). Her findings have gone beyond reporting molecular structures to uncovering the evolution and development of these peptides (PNAS, Nature Chemical Biology, Plant Cell). She is the editor of the book “Proteomics in Food Science: From Farm to Fork” aimed at introducing the application of MS and proteomics to the food science and agricultural research communities.
Since joining CSIRO in 2007, she has applied proteomic approaches to diverse biological systems, ensuring the success of projects as well as production of high quality publications (PNAS, Molecular Endocrinology, PLoS ONE, Journal of Proteome Research, Proteomics, Biochemistry). Since 2010 Prof Colgrave has applied MS techniques for the quantification of gluten (hordeins in barley; gliadins and glutenins in wheat). The success of this research has been recognized by receipt of the ICM Agrifood Award (Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) Innovation and Excellence Awards, 2020), CSIRO Chairman's Medal (2016), Plant Industry Research Achievement Award (2014), the Payne-Scott Award (2014) and the John Philip Award for Promotion of Excellence in Young Scientists (2012).
Alex Ward is the COO of Next Gen Foods-- the creators of TiNDLE, chicken made from plants-- a Singapore-based global food tech company combining unique and powerful plant proteins to provide the most incredible culinary and dining experience in the world.
Alex has more than 25 years of experience in a B2B environment. He started his career selling consumer research programs to food companies in Europe. In 1999, he moved to Australia and then Singapore with a leading Internet audience measurement and research company, to establish the business for the Asia Pacific region. Since 2001, he has headed consumer insight, product innovation, and sales functions for the big brands in the flavor and fragrance industry. In his work, Alex has a unique insight into what consumers love to eat and drink, and uses that expertise to sell taste experiences to the F&B industry, through the great tasting products his teams have developed.
Most recently, Alex was the Head of Regional Innovation at Givaudan, where he led their investment in the new Protein Innovation Centre in Singapore and built a strong partner network in APAC to develop and manufacture meat analogues.
Alex is a regular speaker at alternative protein industry events, and sits on the Academic Advisory Board for the Food Science and Technology faculty at National University of Singapore. He has a passion for the alternative protein industry and wants to help change the global food system to a model better suited to the needs of this time.
Right after first meeting Timo and Andre, Alex was hooked onto the entrepreneurial culture of the Next Gen Foods team and welcomed the opportunity to build a company that is breaking the mold. Alex believes that alternative protein has created a unique turning point in the history of the global food industry, and TiNDLE, ridiculously good chicken made from plants, couldn't have come at a better time to dinner plates around the world. He is excited to use everything he has learnt about food so far, and leave a positive and delicious impact on the planet, all with the explosive power of plants.
Nick Hazell is an experienced food innovator, lecturer and consultant who is CEO & Founder of Australian startup v2food. Launched nationally in October 2019, v2food has developed plant-based meat, building on a close collaboration with CSIRO to create tasty, sustainable and healthy products.
Hazell holds a Master of Manufacturing from Cambridge University. He worked in aerospace and chocolate manufacturing before moving into research and development in the food industry, working at global multinationals in The Netherlands and Australia. He was R&D Director at Masterfoods and at PepsiCo Australia and New Zealand, working on products like Grain Waves, Red Rock Deli, Sunbites and Smiths. He lectures in the Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation at UTS and has consulted to CSIRO and the meat industry.
Peemdej is Assistant Vice President for research and development (R&D) Strategy and Partnerships for the alternative protein business of Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) Public Company Limited, an agro-industrial and food conglomerate headquartered in Thailand.
He is responsible for planning CPF’s R&D pipeline and forging strategic partnerships with startups and corporates. He also works closely with the investment department to identify and execute potential investment opportunities into promising startups.
Peemdej is a believer in the power of technology and innovation and has extensive experience in managing research programs in-house, as well as collaborative projects with both startups and academia. Before joining CPF, Peemdej was educated and trained in Biochemistry, and he retains a strong passion for integrating biotechnology into food science and agricultural production.
Walid DARGHOUTH joined Dassault Systèmes in 2006. Walid holds a Master degree in informatics from Toulouse university in France and an MBA from Bologna university in Italy. Walid’s has more than 20 years of consulting experience in Consumer Goods industry, with expertise in customer engagement for transformation and deploying innovation projects. Over the last 4 years, Walid is leading the Home & Lifestyle and CPG & Retail Industry Solution with focus on defining the industry solution portfolio to address specific industry challenges around packaging, product and formula development & optimization, Lab digitalization, manufacturing scheduling & execution and solving inbound and outbound supply Chain puzzles.
Ken Chew TAN is a Director of Business Consulting at Dassault Systèmes for both Home & Lifestyle as well as Consumer Packaged Goods & Retail Industries. He has over 25 years of experience in the fashion-related and retail-related technology industry mainly in the domains of 3D Design, 3D Product Development & Simulation, Production, Digital Marketing & Retail.
Ken is part of Dassault Systèmes’ worldwide Industry Team with a mission to bring the innovative 3DEXPERIENCE platform to companies to help them with their strategic digital transformation initiatives, from R&D to Manufacturing to Retail. He is also a strong advocate of Consumer Experiences with Consumer in the epicenter of value creation process.
Ken holds an M.B.A. from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, USA.