Innovations for Regenerative Viticulture & Agriculture

This event will spotlight pioneering pilot projects and innovative startup solutions accelerating the transition to regenerative agriculture.

It will also ignite discussions on the financial, regulatory, and infrastructural shifts required to scale these innovations and align stakeholders around shared economic and environmental goals.

✨ What to expect:

• Showcases from leading agritech startups and labs
• Presentation of pilot projects and startups
• Roundtable discussions with multidisciplinary experts exploring key innovations and structural changes needed for the transition to regenerative agriculture
• Networking apéritif in a relaxed, scenic setting

🍇 Invitation-only event. In case of interest, please submit your application here:

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📅 Preliminary agenda:

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14:00 | Exhibition of Startups and Innovations

• Exclusive visite of Changins (limited number of places)
• Startup exhibition (see below)

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15:00 | Welcome and Introductory remarks

• Marc Schmid, Director of Changins

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• Bertrand Klaiber, Tech4Regen program lead, EPFL Innovation Park

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15:20 | SESSION 1 — Digital Tools & Data for Sustainable Farming

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Presentation of a pilot implementing innovative AI-powered Decision Support System (DSS) specifically designed for vineyard management to counter biodiversity loss: the VineDSS project, supported by the Valery Foundation and Innovaud

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• Lisa Andrews, Viticultural Engineer, Commercial Head DACH Region at Databaum

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• Yannick Ritschel, Executive Director Fondation Valery

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Followed by a round table discussion and Q&A on fostering adoption of new technologies and data sharing to scale their impact in regenerative agriculture

• Anne Verniquet (Moderator), Sustainability Manager, DSS+

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16:10 | SESSION 2 — Financing the regenerative agriculture transition

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Presentation of a pilot for scalable nature finance in Switzerland and land restoration with regenerative farming

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• Matthias Betsche, Managing Director of ProNatura Aargau

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• Mauricio Benitez, Principal Advisor for the Nature Finance Accelerator

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Followed by a round table discussion and Q&A on impact targets and technologies for scalable MRV (Monitoring / Reporting / Verification) and PES (Payments for Ecosystem Services)

• Henrique Martins, Managing Director of the Nature Finance Accelerator

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• Jerome von Burg, Head of Sustainability Food Zone Europe (CSO), Nestlé

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• Aymeric Jung (Moderator), Impact Investing & Regenerative Economy Advisor

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17:00 | Closing remarks & Networking Cocktail 🥂

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Continue the conversation during the networking cocktail at the Innovations Booth, where cutting-edge technologies in agriculture and viticulture are on display!

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Tech4Regen & EPFL pioneering startups

• Polyplants – Large-scale plant propagation using somatic embryogenesis, an advanced in vitro technology‍
• Swiss Soil – Strengthening crop resilience through enhanced plant fertility and diverse soil biology.‍
• Databaum – AI-powered farming tech combining data from field sensors and weather stations to provide disease forecast
• ‍Genorobotics – DNA-based biodiversity monitoring solutions for ecosystem assessment and regeneration‍
• ‍‍Wave-n – energy harvesting solutions that power microelectronics such as IoT devices, sensors, and more by capturing ambient energy ‍
• Picterra – Converts satellite and drone imagery into actionable data for regenerative and resilient agriculture‍
• Aquascope – Models entire catchments or individual farms to reveal the 'waterprint' of land use and water consumption
• ‍Voltiris – Merges high-tech greenhouse surfaces with renewable energy generation
• ‍Dual2Energy – Agri-solar systems tailored to land use, combining farming and solar engineering

‍Star'Terre – the platform dedicated to supporting ideas and projects related to agriculture and food in the Lake Geneva region, across the entire value chain!

Changins

• Project: dispositifs de détection et de classification automatique des spores, ainsi que sur des capteurs végétaux liés aux signaux électrique (real-time) des plantes en réponse au déficit hydrique
  
  • Dr Amanda Malvessi Cattani, Post-Doc, Collaboratrice scientifique HES en viticulture
• Project Yvorne Grandeur Nature – exemples de mesures mises en place avec les viticulteurs pour favoriser la biodiversité et améliorer la qualité des sols
  
  • Serena Fantasia, Doctorante, Collaboratrice scientifique HES en sciences du sol et de l’environnement

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🍇 Invitation-only event. In case of interest, please submit your application here:

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🌿 Context & Challenges

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The state of biodiversity in Switzerland is “unsatisfactory” and the situation keeps getting worse. Loss of biological diversity represents a serious danger to our prosperity and quality of life.

_{Such is the verdict not of nature conservation organisations but of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN)}

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70% of the carbon footprint of our products is in agriculture.

_{says Eugenio Simioni, Nestlé Switzerland's CEO}

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Extractive, conventional agriculture is both a key driver of the environmental crisis and heavily reliant on natural resources and ecosystem services currently at risk. Regenerative agriculture provides an opportunity to decarbonize and address environmental impacts and risks across multiple planetary boundaries, helping lay the foundation for resilience in a resource-constrained future.

‍_{Quantis insights}

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Switzerland’s nature transition requires CHF 5.3 billion in annual investment until 2050. More than 25% of the total financing need relates to regenerative agriculture (CHF 1.4 billion per year). Around 85% of the total investment is likely to require public funding, reflecting high public asset ownership and the low commercial viability of many interventions.

_{according to a study of Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG)}

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For investors in agrifood systems, business as usual is no longer viable. Evidence shows that the negative externalities of global agrifood systems outstrip the global market value of agricultural production by a ratio of two to one.

(...) 250-430 Billion dollars is the estimated annual funding gap required to transform conventional global food systems to regenerative practices over the next decade.

_{Report Financing for Regenerative Agriculture from the Rockfeller Foundation}

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