The FoodConNext Foundation accelerates the shift to sustainable, plant-based, inclusive diets by leading cross-sector collaborations. We unite visionaries, share actionable knowledge, and build global communities.Led by our founder, Gerard Klein Essink, the FoodConNext Foundation is committed to accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. We understand that the protein transition and innovation in the food value chain are not just trends – they're imperatives for a sustainable future. Over the past 25 years, he has brought together more than 10,000 food innovators at 250+ plant-based food and protein summits, courses, and community meetings.
The FoodConNext Foundation accelerates the shift to sustainable (plant-based) diets by leading cross-sector collaborations and community building. We unite visionaries, share actionable knowledge, and build global communities-such as our 250+ expert network and partnerships with platforms like the World Agriculture Forum-to drive measurable outcomes.
Currently, we are facilitating a €3 billion investment platform and supporting over 90 innovation projects in partnership with leading industry and research organizations.
Inspired by the science of influence and the spirit of generosity, we lower barriers and foster partnerships for a better world through food, one achievable step at a time.
Through our consultancy services, advisory roles, and strategic partnerships, FoodconNext is at the forefront of shaping the future of food. But more than that, we're passionate about empowering others to join us on this journey. That's why this summit isn't just about showcasing our expertise – it's about bringing together a community of like-minded professionals who share our vision for a better, more sustainable food system.
So whether you're a seasoned industry leader, a tech innovator, or simply someone passionate about food and technology, we invite you to join us at the Hybrid Foods Europe Conference.
Our motto is: It’s so easy! So join us!!
The FoodConNext Foundation accelerates the shift to sustainable, plant-based, inclusive diets by leading cross-sector collaborations. We unite visionaries, share actionable knowledge, and build global communities.
Led by our founder, Gerard Klein Essink, the FoodConNext Foundation is committed to accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. We understand that the protein transition and innovation in the food value chain are not just trends – they're imperatives for a sustainable future.
Over the past 25 years, he has brought together more than 10,000 food innovators at 250+ plant-based food and protein summits, courses, and community meetings.
In 2019, he built a Global Plant-Based Foods & Proteins Ecosystem for industry and research from scratch — a network that has since grown into more than 100 member organisations and over 300 professionals worldwide, evidence of a community built on trust rather than a mailing list. Gerard has led and spoken at more than 300 ecosystem meetings, and that scale of direct engagement has taught him a pattern that rarely shows up in 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 is the working principle behind FoodConNext Foundation, and behind Hybrid Foods Europe. A key partner from the beginning of the EcoSystem was Protein Industries Canada (PIC). Gerard has served as a strategic consultant to PIC, and he has been a frequent speaker at the organisation's annual conferences.
At European level, Gerard has served as a leader across a string of Horizon EU Research projects: Metaphor (2006), Prominent (2014, BBI), Plenitude (BBI), Profuture, HealthFerm, and Giant Leaps. More recently, his stepped up the leadership ladder by initiating, leading, and authoring the Plant-Based Opportunity report, a €3 billion innovation investment agenda for plant-based foods and proteins across Europe: it is the first ever Plant-based Innovation Report by and from the plant-based industry, protein industry, national associations as well as (N)GO’s.
Open innovation has always been close to his heart, which is why he also build (since 2010) international networks in the sports & active nutrition, health bars & grain snacks as well as healthy ageing businesses. He worked on open innovation with Cambridge University as well as with corporate innovation teams at IFF/Dupont, Campofio, Avebe, GEA Westphalia, and other leading food industries.
Gerard has received over 100 international speaking invitations from various organisations in the global value chain during the past 20 years: such as Natural Foods Show, IFT, Government of Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada, Finnish and French Government, Pole IAR France, Euvepro, Plant-Based Foods Europe, European Alliance Plant-Based Foods, Australian , Singapore Government (A*Star), EIT Food Protein Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature: Protein Production Technology Conference, Wageningen University, AOCS, Pulse Canada, Protein France, Donau Soja, and a Spanish Innovation Cluster.
Most recently presentations in 2026 where at European Commission and Proteines France. He will present in September 2026 at Hybrid Foods Europe on the market opportunity for plant-based foods in Europe, the conference he co-founded, and at the Future of Protein Production in October in Amsterdam.
Gerard Klein Essink can be booked for presentations here.
His LinkedIn account also shows his advisory board room position at the True Animal Protein Price Coalition, World Agriculture Forum, and past board positions at Konscious Foods and International Development Enterprises (iDE).
Gerard Klein Essink is the Founder & CEO of FoodConNext Foundation. For more than 30 years, he has built and led an international plant-based foods and proteins community, working across industry, research, and policy to accelerate the Global shift toward plant-based foods, proteins as well as hybrid foods - a track record institutions across three continents have returned to, year after year, rather than a claim made on his own behalf. He has built the Bridge2Food company from 2002 – 2022, when he exited successfully and moved on.
His mission has always been to advance and to accelerate the protein transition. Providing the know how on how to grow advances an industry, and connecting the right decision makers to develop collaborative work streams and actions plans accelerates the change.
His advisory record spans three continents. Gerard has consulted Pulse Canada on lentil opportunities for foods in Europe, and produced a groundbreaking report for Australia's Grain Research and Development Council (GRDC) on food functionality and application needs for the country's major crops. In the Netherlands, he has advised the national government on protein innovation and authored multiple industry reports tracking the sector's growth since 2010.
What My Colleagues Say
It is a pleasure to observe your pioneering and passionate drive towards creating a plant based foundation.
Siska Pottie, Former Secretary General of European Plant-Based Foods Alliance
United Kingdom