Smart disruptions: Why it is foods turn to change

One could describe disruption as a sudden change in the rules of the game. A new technology, product or a business model can turn everything upside down. Since Instagram, no one uses film anymore. I buy most of my clothes online instead of in a shop. Even tooth implants are now 3D-printed. The same technologies will disrupt food too: New products will replace the old, digital platforms will replace stores and personalized will be the new mass-produced.

We need smart disruptions

We are facing massive challenges regarding the environment and our health. The scale of the problems feels overwhelming. But sometimes, the only way to win the game might be to change the rules. We need smart disruptions! Disruptions may feel sudden, but often they have just been waiting to happen. The digital camera was invented in the 1970s and 3D-printing is not much younger. The internet has existed much longer than Zalando, Amazon and all the others. Radical changes only happen when all the pieces of the puzzle are in the right place.

Lauri Reuter, senior specialist of disruptive technologies at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, explains in markenartikel 12/2018 how the food industry will change and why the only way to win the game might be to change the rules.