Founder & CEO, Thought For Food
Biography:
Christine Gould is the Founder and CEO of Thought For Food®, the world’s pioneer and leader in agri-food-tech innovation for impact. Since 2013, Thought For Food® has helped to launch 100+ ventures that are improving food systems in all regions of the world, and has helped them to scale by raising capital with investors or building strategic partnerships with leading corporations. Over the past 8 years, the TFF Challenge has grown to be the largest and most diverse innovation challenge in the sector, catalyzing the creation of thousands of new business concepts and empowering a community of 30,000+ Millennial and GenZ entrepreneurs in over 180 countries.
Christine is a visionary leader and community builder, who is known for injecting energy, creativity, and diverse perspectives into how we solve our food system’s most important challenges. She has spearheaded interest and solution development around Web3 in Food&Ag and spent her career in the agriculture industry, including as the Head of Next-Gen Innovation at Syngenta, and in leadership positions spanning Market Development, Sustainability, and External Affairs at multinationals, startup unicorns, and early-stage ventures.
In 2021, she was invited by the UN Deputy Secretary-General to join the Advisory Committee of the UN Food Systems Summit. She is a Swiss Digital Shaper 2022, and an Advisory Board member of reNature Foundation, the Association for Vertical Farming, and Young Professionals in Ag Development.
Christine holds an MPA (highest honors) from Columbia University with a focus in Science and Technology Policy. She is the author of the book “The Change-makers Guide to Feeding the Planet” (2022) and an invited speaker and consultant on the new minds and innovation methods shaping the future of how to sustainably feed 10 billion on a hotter planet. She has been covered in leading media and publications such as The Economist, Financial Times, MIT Tech Review, BBC, Forbes, Fast Company, and more.
Presentation title:
Web3 to Feed 10 Billion on a Hotter Planet
Presentation abstract:
DAOs, NFTs, and blockchain/smart contracts are unleashing the power of the creator economy. Can the same technologies, and the underlying principles behind them, be used to drive innovation and change for one of the world’s most important – and most entrenched – industries?
Already blockchain and smart contracts are being used in agriculture to feed the world and address important challenges like Bypassing middlemen, making sure farmers get paid fairly and automatically; Ensuring land stewardship, including carbon sequestration practices, is maintained over the long-term; Improving the transparency, traceability, and authenticity of supply chains; Collecting and making useful data across the value chain – such as matching supply and demand to reduce food waste and loss.
With the challenges we face being so massive and so urgent, else can we leverage all of the possibilities of Web3 to do even more?
Thought For Food is pioneering some new approaches together with its global community of Millennial & GenZ innovators in 180+ countries. We are asking:
What if we could invest in startups all over the world using NFTs instead of relying on VCs and traditional methods?
What if we could bring the diverse food and agricultural cooperatives that exist around the world onto DAOs with automated digital governance structures and protocols that ensure equity and fairness?
What if we could use smart contracts to encourage more startups to collaborate and integrate their intellectual property so that we can deploy better solutions in the market?
This is just the beginning and we want to share what we have learned and also learn from you. By sharing and collaborating we can help all that we are doing go further, faster.
If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. We don’t have time for that. – Christine Gould
