Open Innovation, Building Bridges

Sharing our knowledge at 16th Hypor Convention

The 16th Hypor Covention took place from November 22nd until November 24th on Isla de la Toja in Spain. Over 160 attendees from all over the world, representing more than 1.2 million sows, partcipated. Nedap participated as one of the organizing partners. Nedaps keynote speakers Gerard Weijers and Arno van Brandenburg shared their knowledge, experience and vision on innovative pig farming with industry experts from all over the world. A successful convention about opening innovation and building bridges in pig husbandry.

It was a very succesful and interesting event with a great atmosphere. The event was organized with Trouw Nutrition, Elanco and Nedap, with contributions from many interesting speakers representing Rabobank, WestFleisch, Spanish Associations of Retailers, Marel, EMEA, Anprogapor, Wiechman Pig Co, Agrisyst and university and government.

The theme:

Open innovation: building bridges

The theme this year was ‘Open innovation: building bridges’. Through the convention a framework for debate was generated on the challenges and opportunities we face as an industry. The convention was divided into five areas: looking towards the future of the pork industry; sustainability and society; big data; open innovation; keys to the future and business trends.

Valentin Almansa, General Secretary of Agriculture and Food

The event was closed by Valentin Almansa, General Secretary of Agriculture and Food (Ministry of Agriculture), who emphasized the strength of the Spanish agricultural sector, which represents the country’s second largest economic activity, just behind tourism. This success has been achieved through the competitiveness of the Spanish pork industry, but above all, is driven by innovation and export.

Hypor’s Managing Director, Raf Beeren summed up the convention, concluding: “There is a bright future for our industry. Yes, there are challenges ahead of us. Embrace them and make an opportunity of them. There is a real need to exchange data on improvement and innovation between companies. Collaboration and co-creation within the value chain are crucial for a sustainable pork industry. This convention was proof that this can be done.”