17 February 2021
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Top five agri-food techs identified
LUX Research's newly-released annual report 'Foresight 2021: Top Emerging Technologies to Watch' has for the first time ranked the top five technologies in the food and agriculture space.
Lux Research is a provider of tech-enabled research and advisory services and the report identifies and ranks 12 key technologies that will reshape the world, based on innovation interest scores assembled from a variety of data sources.
Senior Analyst at Lux Research Joshua Haslun PhD said: “The agrifood ecosystem is experiencing a phase of rapid, intense change, where most of the growth in the space in recent years has gone to companies outside the top 20 players. As smaller and more agile brands meet consumer demand for personalisation, larger brands will need to look for innovative solutions to regain lost ground and get ahead."
Lux’s new report takes a deep look at the agrifood ecosystem and reviews what topics emerged and which technologies rose to the top during 2020. Its expert analysis of the hottest innovation topics and best tech startups found that the top five technologies food and agriculture leaders should look to in 2021 are:
1. Bioinformatics – Having developed and risen to prominence largely focused on medical and pharma applications, bioinformatics is now crossing over into agrifood and health.
2. Alternative Proteins – Concerns about health and sustainability are pushing to diversify diets away from meat and fish, leading to changes ranging from land use to ingredient supply chains.
3. Precision Agriculture – Digital tools are continuing to revolutionise agriculture, improving product yield and quality and reducing environmental impact.
4. Biofertilisers.
5. Ingredient Informatics – Applying machine learning to recipes and ingredients can produce new product formulations more quickly.
“Agriculture and food companies alike will need to capitalise on the digital revolution, with ingredient informatics as a prime focus for shortening product development cycles and precision agriculture technologies as unfamiliar-but-critical complements to conventional agrichemical developments,” said Josh.
