The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Basque Culinary Center have joined forces again for the second edition of the Global Gastronomy Tourism Startup Competition.

After the success of the first edition, the competition has returned to identify and celebrate disruptive ideas and innovators who will lead the transformation of the sector as well as those who are making a positive impact in their local communities.      

In 2019, over 300 initiatives from 84 countries were submitted. Projects ranged from new technologies, community-based tourism development initiatives, innovation software and startups focused on innovation-driven agricultural sustainability. All of them help contribute to the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

For this second edition and with the support of the TUI Care Foundation, there will be two prizes. The first category will identify the initiative that is both innovative and has a sustainable social impact. The winning project will receive expert support from the Basque Culinary Center (the Culinary Action! initiative) and from UNWTO. The project will be showcased at the 6th UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy. As well as receiving help in creating a work plan for the design or implementation of a pilot project, the winner will also have access to the Culinary Action! network, which offers mentoring, monitoring and the opportunity to scale-up the project using the latest digital tools available.

The other category will recognize the most disruptive gastronomy tourism startup overall. The winning company will design a pilot project alongside the Basque Culinary Center and implement it with the help of its network. It will also receive economic support to cover the expenses of the acceleration process with Culinary Action!, as well as accommodation and travel, for up to 3.000 euros.  

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: "With this competition we are identifying key companies which will shape the future for food and travel. Gastronomy continues to prove its potential as a vital opportunity to enrich the tourism offer and stimulate economic development in destinations all around the world, especially in rural communities, with the potential to scale on a global level.”

Competition co-founder, Basque Culinary Center Director Joxe Mari Aizega added: “This competition allows us to identify and support entrepreneurial talent in gastronomy. There are entrepreneurs in different parts of the world who are promoting new initiatives that take advantage of the potential of gastronomy and tourism. Likewise, it allows us to provide training and to offer tools to help entrepreneurs to develop projects with the potential to transform and have a positive impact on both companies and destinations, promoting gastronomic tourism as a tool to guarantee the sustainability of the destination.”

The call for proposals for the 2nd UNWTO and Basque Culinary Center’s Global Gastronomy Tourism Startup Competition has been launched worldwide and will close on 6 April. The finalists of the Startups category and the winners of the Social Innovation Category will be announced on 4 May 2020.

The Startups category winner winning startup will be announced between 1 and 3 June, during the 6th Edition World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism to be held in Flanders, Belgium.

 For more information and registration materials, visit https://www.gastronomytourismventures.org/

Hoy arranca el Foro de los Jóvenes Talentos más influyentes de la gastronomía, donde 100 profesionales compartirán sus experiencias a través de dos jornadas de ponencias, mesas redondas y talleres. En la inauguración del Foro se presentó la lista de los 100 Jóvenes Talentos de la Gastronomía.

Criterios para elaborar la lista de los 100 Jóvenes Talentos de la Gastronomía

El equipo de Basque Culinary Center se propuso identificar a los 100 jóvenes profesionales con una edad máxima de 30 años que representaran el talento sectorial de toda la cadena de valor de la gastronomía, para reunirles en un foro sin precedentes.

Con este objetivo, se desarrolló una labor de búsqueda de perfiles que destacaran por haber emprendido o innovado en sus respectivos campos o funciones, por haber recibido algún tipo de reconocimiento o por estar desarrollando una carrera o un proyecto con cierta proyección.

Esta búsqueda comenzó por consultar a los dueños de espacios de alta cocina (con estrella Michelin y/o presentes en la lista ‘The World’s 50 Best Restaurants’) sobre miembros de sus equipos con talento y proyección, dedicados a cocina, sala, sumillería, I+D, gestión y comunicación. También se identificaron a jóvenes cocineros o profesionales de la sala que han emprendido con la apertura de sus propios restaurantes, a cocineros jóvenes premiados con algún tipo de reconocimiento o nominados a premios en los últimos 2-3 años, así como a productores, bodegueros y enólogos. Finalmente, se tuvieron en cuenta las nuevas ‘start-ups’ del sector gastronómico puestas en marcha por jóvenes y otros perfiles más diversos de jóvenes que despuntan en diferentes ámbitos de la cadena de valor de la gastronomía.

De cada uno de estos tipos de perfiles, el equipo de BCC realizó una selección buscando una variedad de profesionales que resultara representativa del sector gastronómico, con la idea de retratar sus inquietudes e ideas en el Foro.

Radiografía de Los 100 Jóvenes Talentos de la Gastronomía

Más de la mitad de los profesionales que forman parte del listado (un 52%) pertenecen a equipos de restaurantes con estrella Michelin, algunos de ellos, presentes en la lista ‘The World’s 50 Best Restaurants’. Algo que puede reflejar una consolidada función de los espacios de alta cocina: son cantera de talento y de potenciales emprendedores que, en el futuro, pueden plantearse abrir sus propios negocios.

Otra parte del listado se reparte entre emprendedores que abren sus propios restaurantes (un 16%) y que en la mayoría de casos son cocineros; y productores, con un peso del 11%, un dato que dejan entrever que uno de cada 10 profesionales del listado se dedica a una actividad ligada al mundo rural. Porcentaje que subiría al 17% si se suma el 6% dedicado a la producción de vino.

El resto de “talentos” se reparte entre ‘startups’ (un 7%) y otros perfiles en torno a Ciencia, Investigación, Consultoría, Coctelería, Distribución o Comunicación de entornos gastronómicos.

En cuanto al área de especialización, ‘solo’ un 37% de los jóvenes seleccionados se dedica a la cocina (un 43%, si se incluye la cocina dulce-pastelería). Este dato pone de relieve que las nuevas generaciones han diversificado sus intereses y especializaciones profesionales, abarcando otros ámbitos como sala (un 16%), diferentes funciones de gestión (un 14%), actividades productivas (un 11-12%), la producción de vino (un 6%) o el lanzamiento de ‘startups’ que tratan de responder a través de la tecnología a diferentes necesidades de la industria gastronómica (un 7%).

Las nuevas generaciones parecen plantearse, por lo tanto, diferentes salidas profesionales, evidenciando que, ahora mismo, existen muchas profesiones en la gastronomía, no solo cocineros.

Bajo esta variedad de perfiles, el listado de los 100 puede constituir una posible muestra de la franja profesional más joven del sector gastronómico y podría considerarse un retrato aproximado del perfil de quienes están destinados a dibujar el futuro de la gastronomía en España.

Para consultar el programa y conocer los perfiles de los y las jóvenes talentos de la gastronomía a través del contenido interactivo del evento, consultar:       
http://bit.ly/forojovenestalentosbcc

El Foro cuenta con el patrocinio institucional de Onekin, Hazi Fundazioa y del Departamento de Desarrollo Económico e Infraestructuras del Gobierno Vasco, el patrocinio de Martiko y Mahou San Miguel y la colaboración de Fagor Industrial, Arcos y Aravén.

NOTA 1: La lista final únicamente recoge a los 100 los jóvenes que han podido acudir al Foro.

This past June, between the 26th and 28th, we hosted at Basque Culinary Center, the III AEPAS Congress, where more than 120 Sensory Analysis professionals of different nationalities gathered to exchange thoughts, new lines of research and explore new ways of looking at Gastronomy from the lenses of Sensory sciences - a common practice at BCCInnovation.

Thanks to the participation of prestigious international speakers, the event dealt with diverse topics such as Personalized foods linked to well-being, Food Quality, Sustainability and New Foods, always from the sensory science perspective.

During the 3 days, the discussed topics highlighted the importance of sensory analysis for both the food industry and for the gastronomy world. Guests of the stature of Michael Bom Frøst, Lisa Methven, Tormod Næs, Isolda Vila and Iñaki Etaio initiated the conversation, followed by more than 30 speakers from Spain, Mexico, and Portugal.

On April 10, 2019, Basque Culinary Center organized a scientific conference “Gastronomic science: form, function and creativity” in which experts from the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles) as well as researchers from BCC participated. Representatives from diverse institutions were invited such as, the Basque Government, the City Council of Donostia-San Sebastián and Turespaña.

Throughout the day, various topics were addressed including the research work carried out in both centers. The addressed topics were related to sensory perception and emotions, personalized gastronomy, intestinal microbiota and fermented foods. The information provided by the experts was of interest for the attendees who came from different universities and also, from the food sector.

Ibermática has created an AI platform that seeks to be the key tool for researchers to promote personalised eating.

It's not exactly silent. Quite the contrary. And this is probably the most evident result of being part of the generation that is fully experiencing the fourth industrial revolution: that it is constantly being talked about.

And that, gradually, all sectors will find the way to make use of it. Because it may seem (perhaps because we use the same common denominator of Industry 4.0 to encompass everything) that Blockchain, Big Data or Artificial Intelligence only pertain to industrial processes - but this is far from the truth. At least this is what is the gastronomy sector claims. They already use drones for selective crop irrigation, Blockchain is a key component so that the consumer can see the entire process an item of food has gone through, and in research groups a PhD in nutrition already works with both a chef and a Big Data expert.

MORE INFORMATION

Although it is co-financed by the Provincial Government, the City Council and the Basque Government, the provincial institution will lead the LABe project, with 1.3 million euros from the total of 2.4 million that is the project's budget. «In the Economy department we felt strongly that we had to design Gipuzkoa’s strategic sectors, and one 

of its strengths is gastronomy. We saw that we were a reference, from local products to the manufacture of home appliances. We had the entire value chain with all the stakeholders. What was missing? Including the digital transformation that is affecting all sectors», pointed out the provincial minister for Economic Promotion, Rural Environment and Territorial Balance, Ainhoa Aizpuru. In her opinion, «the Michelin star generation of chefs needs successors» and that is where LABe comes in.

MORE INFORMATION

The book Revalorización gastronómica de descartes (Gastronomic revalorisation of scraps) has just been published by BCC Innovation, the research centre of the Basque Culinary Center of San Sebastian, which has published a few copies on paper for internal use and offers its free download in digital format (www.bculinarylab.com).

MORE INFORMATION

The 7th Sustainability conference was organised at the Basque Culinary Center with funding from the Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa, as one of the activities promoted during Sustainability Week.
During this edition, we gathered 

renowned specialists from the field of sustainability in relation to gastronomy, whose initiatives create a positive impact on different spheres of society.
The main goal of the event was to bring together the ideas that arise in different locations around the world to address and discuss the main problems, challenges and possible solutions we must face; and that the Basque Culinary Center, as a referential institution, should provide support for an open dialogue.
The conference was divided into two parts. During the first, the guest speakers gave brief presentations about their initiatives, the challenges they face and the solutions they propose to society. During the second part, there was a practical workshop promoted by BCC Innovation where they presented sustainability-focused lines of work through prototypes developed at the centre.
This event seeks to promote and create synergies between the different initiatives with the aim of create contact networks that can help give rise to collaborations in order to face the challenges of sustainability from the perspective of gastronomy.

Culinary Action! La Rioja 2018 is an event for gastronomy entrepreneurs in La Rioja, organised by the Basque Culinary Center in Logroño for 26 November 2018 with 20 participants from the regional gastronomy sector.

MORE INFORMATION

Project Gastronomía: Towards personalised gastronomy 2050
An event where researchers, chefs, experts from different fields and business leaders gathered at the Basque Culinary Center to explore and discuss the future of

personalised gastronomy, addressing it from multidisciplinary perspectives as diverse as:

• Gastronomy and cuisine
• Omic sciences
• Nutrigenetics
• Health
• Advanced analytics
• Food innovation

with a focus on health and well-being.

WATCH VIDEO OF THE EVENT

MORE INFORMATION