From Innovation to Impact: Scaling Solutions to Unlock Trillions in Value for Food Systems Transformation

This session will reveal how scaling next-gen agrifood innovations can unlock trillions in value while addressing critical food system challenges. Drawing on experience working with startups, industry leaders, and farmers worldwide, Christine will share how specific technologies, such as decarbonization solutions for crops, AI-powered tools for regenerative agriculture, and healthy ingredients made with the tools biotechnology, are poised to create $4.5 trillion in economic opportunities annually. Christine will dive into the barriers preventing these innovations from scaling—such as fragmented value chains and lack of investment—and offer concrete strategies to overcome these hurdles. Attendees will gain insights into building impactful collaborations, leveraging new investment models, and unlocking market-ready solutions that can drive meaningful change for people, planet, and profit.

Biography

Christine R. Gould is an award-winning change-maker, agrifood innovation leader, and entrepreneur with two decades of experience driving transformative, collaborative change in the agriculture and food sectors. She is the Founder of Thought For Food®, the world’s leading next-gen agrifood innovation community, reaching 30,000 entrepreneurs in 180+ countries. Christine has incubated and accelerated 100+ science-and-technology-based startups, which have collectively raised more than $300 million. She has worked on open innovation programs with Fortune 500 companies like Danone, DSM, Cargill, Google, and The Rockefeller Foundation.

Currently, Christine is building GIGA, her new venture focused on scaling the world’s most promising solutions to nourish the planet and reverse climate change. A highlight of her career was designing the first open-licensing platform for patented vegetable traits at Syngenta, a shift that transformed intellectual property sharing in plant breeding.

Christine also pioneered TFF Digital Labs™, a unique global platform for learning and collaboration, and co-developed the Food Systems Game Changers Lab in partnership with IDEO, EAT, Forum for the Future, and The Rockefeller Foundation. She has served on the UN Food Systems Summit Advisory Committee and was selected for the Acumen/Rockefeller Food Systems Fellowship.

Author of The Change-Maker’s Guide to Feeding the Planet (#1 best seller in multiple categories on Amazon), producer of two docu-films and an electronic music album made with soil sounds, and organizer of award-winning events on five continents, Christine isn’t afraid to push the boundaries of what’s possible leveraging the power of creativity and community. She holds degrees from Columbia University in NYC and American University in Washington, DC, has lived in 4 countries, and is passionate about science, electronic music, architecture, and being a mom to two boys.

GIGA