Last updated: 17-08-2026

Gerard Klein Essink: The Thought Leader Behind Europe's Hybrid Foods Movement

Behind most industry shifts stands a small number of people who spent decades putting the right decision-makers in the same room. In Europe's protein transition, Gerard Klein Essink is one of them: founder and CEO of the FoodConNext Foundation, co-founder of Hybrid Foods Europe, and the author of the €3 billion Plant-Based Opportunity innovation agenda. This profile covers his track record — and why it matters for anyone building a hybrid foods strategy in 2026.

Who Is Gerard Klein Essink?

Gerard Klein Essink is the Founder & CEO of the FoodConNext Foundation and co-founder of the Hybrid Foods Europe Conference. Over 25 years he has brought together more than 10,000 food innovators at 250+ plant-based food and protein summits, courses, and community meetings, working across industry, research, and policy on three continents.

His career is built on one conviction: providing the know-how on how to grow advances an industry, while connecting the right decision-makers to develop collaborative work streams accelerates the change. That double focus — knowledge plus connection — runs through everything from his FoodConNext Foundation work in Wageningen to his LinkedIn thought leadership, where he publishes regular analysis on plant-based and hybrid foods.

From Bridge2Food to a Global Plant-Based Ecosystem

Gerard built the Bridge2Food company from 2002 to 2022, exiting successfully after two decades. In 2019 he built a Global Plant-Based Foods & Proteins Ecosystem from scratch, which has grown to more than 100 member organisations and over 300 professionals worldwide — a network built on trust rather than a mailing list.

The scale of that engagement is hard to overstate: Gerard has led and spoken at more than 300 ecosystem meetings. A founding partner of the Ecosystem was Protein Industries Canada (PIC), where Gerard has served as strategic consultant and frequent conference speaker. The Bridge2Food platform he created remains a reference point for plant-based professionals globally.

That direct engagement taught him a pattern that rarely shows up in market reports: the value chain moves fastest not when a single breakthrough ingredient arrives, but when retailers, brands, and ingredient suppliers are already in the same room when it does. That working principle is the foundation of both FoodConNext Foundation and Hybrid Foods Europe.

An Advisory Record Across Three Continents

Gerard's advisory record spans Europe, North America, and Australia. He has consulted Pulse Canada on lentil opportunities for European foods, produced a food-functionality report for Australia's GRDC, and advised the Dutch national government on protein innovation, authoring multiple industry reports tracking the sector since 2010.

The table below maps three decades of that work:

Advisory clients and partners include Pulse Canada, Australia's Grains Research and Development Corporation, and open-innovation collaborations with Cambridge University and corporate teams at IFF/DuPont, Avebe, and GEA Westphalia. Gerard can be booked for presentations here.

Leading Europe's Research Agenda: Horizon EU and the Plant-Based Opportunity Report

At European level, Gerard has held leadership roles across a string of Horizon EU research projects — Metaphor (2006), Prominent (2014), Plenitude, Profuture, HealthFerm, and Giant Leaps — before initiating, leading, and authoring the Plant-Based Opportunity report, a proposed €3 billion innovation investment agenda for plant-based foods and proteins across Europe.

The Plant-Based Opportunity report (2026) is the first plant-based innovation agenda authored by and from the plant-based and protein industries, national associations, and (N)GOs together — and its €3 billion figure is a projected investment agenda for 2026–2035, not committed funding. It has already been presented at the European Commission and at Protéines France in 2026, putting industry-built evidence directly in front of the policymakers shaping the EU protein strategy.

Why Hybrid Foods — and Why Now?

Hybrid foods — blends of animal and plant proteins — are the pragmatic middle path in the protein transition: familiar taste and nutrition with a lower footprint and workable economics. Gerard's position is that hybrid and plant-based are complementary, not competing: plant-based still leads in categories such as ambient drinks, tofu, and clean-label vegan products.

For retailers and manufacturers, that pragmatism matters. Gerard's consultation work with Protein Industries Canada showed a recurring pattern: adoption accelerates when the commercial case (margin, price point, shelf velocity) is presented alongside the sustainability case — never instead of it. Hybrid Foods Europe was co-founded, with Jaap Harkema, to give that commercial-plus-technical conversation a home. Gerard also serves in advisory board roles at the True Animal Protein Price Coalition and the World Agriculture Forum.

Where to Hear Gerard Speak in 2026

Gerard has received over 100 international speaking invitations in the past 20 years — from IFT and the Natural Foods Show to the governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Finland, France, and Singapore (A*STAR), plus Wageningen University, EIT Food, and Plant-Based Foods Europe. In September 2026 he presents at Hybrid Foods Europe in Amsterdam.

His session covers the market opportunity for plant-based foods in Europe — the evidence base behind the Plant-Based Opportunity agenda — at the conference he co-founded, alongside 24 speakers across retail, ingredients, and policy. In November 2026 he presents at the Future of Protein Production (4–5 November, RAI Amsterdam).

Take-Home Messages

Commercial

• Gerard's advisory record (Pulse Canada, GRDC, Dutch government) shows category growth follows connection: get retailers, brands, and suppliers in the same room before the breakthrough arrives.

• The Plant-Based Opportunity agenda proposes €3bn (projected, 2026–2035) — a signal of where European innovation funding could concentrate next.

• Hybrid foods are positioned as the margin-friendly middle path for retail and food service, not a replacement for plant-based ranges.

• Hybrid Foods Europe is the room where those buying, formulating, and policy conversations happen — 14–16 September 2026, Amsterdam.

  
  

Technical

• Horizon EU project leadership (HealthFerm, Giant Leaps, Plenitude, Profuture) connects Gerard's network directly to Europe's fermentation and protein research front line.

• Open-innovation work with Cambridge University, IFF/DuPont, Avebe, and GEA Westphalia spans ingredients, processing, and separation technology.

• The Global Plant-Based Ecosystem (100+ organisations, 300+ professionals) is a working channel for technical collaboration, not a contact list.

• Food-functionality mapping for GRDC set application requirements for major crops — the same discipline hybrid formulators need for pea, faba, and potato proteins today.

  
  

Verdict & Next Step

Gerard Klein Essink's three decades of community building are the reason Hybrid Foods Europe exists — and the reason its rooms contain the retailers, ingredient suppliers, and policymakers who decide how fast hybrid foods scale. He presents the European plant-based market opportunity in person at Hybrid Foods Europe, Van der Valk Zuidas, Amsterdam, 14–16 September 2026. The community he has built over 25 years will be in the room; the reduced rate runs until 21 August. Register here to be part of it.

About FoodConNext Foundation At FoodConNext Foundation, we believe that the future of food lies at the intersection of innovation, sustainability, and global collaboration. Our foundation is dedicated to accelerating the transition toward more resilient and responsible food systems by connecting key stakeholders across the agri-food ecosystem.