Annie Phang, senior conference producer at Arena International, told DairyReporter there will be more than 140 senior dairy experts at the event, which takes place in Amsterdam from April 13 to 14.
2016 summit contents
She said they will be discussing not only the key consumer trends, but also innovations in different categories, the role of packaging, machinery and processing, best practice in sustainability and ultimately how to communicate the benefits of dairy effectively to drive greater sales.
“We have the European Commission joining us to give us an update on the quota abolition one year on, but we also have a wider variety of dairy products covered, from cheese, powders and an in-depth look at how the yogurt market is changing with the US success story Chobani joining us, as well as looking at Skyr,” she said.
“Innovation is definitely the central theme on how as an industry they’re driving value back into dairy to increase consumption, with an opening keynote from Arla, and we look at the formulations side, by Danone, and even the dairy-free segment, which has had a big impact on the industry in recent years.”
Learning from first event
The first summit was held in Ireland in 2015, and Phang said that the event was mostly about the quota abolition and its effect on, and opportunities for, the Irish market.
After the 2015 event, Phang said, they spoke to more than 40 senior dairy experts to fine tune it for 2016, “to ensure we’re getting to the key concerns keeping them up at night, and finding out their priorities, to ensure we develop a program that is most relevant to them, and they can leave with practical takeaways.
“Speaking to the industry, we took on the feedback to ensure it was more pan-European focused with more international case studies.”
Importance of dairy events
Phang said that such events are important to the dairy industry.
“It’s a great opportunity to learn about the latest consumer trends, take a step back from the day-to-day business to see the bigger picture and meet like-minded peers and share not just success stories but also common challenges to benchmark your strategy and discuss how as an industry we can tackle these together and move forward.”
Other presenters include Sodiaal, Sidel, Arla Food Ingredients, Dairygold, Emmi, NIZO, Yili, DMK, Juhayna Food Industries, Müller Milk & Ingredients, FrieslandCampina and Nestlé.