Cibus Connecting Italy 2023 – Creating Authentic Opportunities

On stage at Cibus Connecting Italy 2023 the future of consumption and export of Authentic Italian Food. A unique opportunity thanks to the fluidity of interaction between different tools and channels: the immersive experience at the fair with about 40 events, including round tables, networking activities, exhibitions, seminars, an Innovation Corner, and an area dedicated to start-ups. Added to this are the “Cibus Destination on the Road” program and the MyBusinessCibus, a platform that replicates the meeting between supply and demand in a digital key, without forgetting the ever-present After Fair, “Cibus After.”

There is no development without innovation, with a focus on the evolution of national and international demand. This is the indispensable assumption with which Cibus Connecting Italy 2023 returns to the stage in Parma from March 29-30. The ambitious project that the International Food Exhibition is pursuing is to convene the needs and experiences of production, industry, and distribution around a single table, working on the delineation of new scenarios for the world of food.

Scenarios that involve more proximate but discontinuous supply chain models, as well as the greater enhancement of territorial ties and the continuous rediscovery of production, traditions and culture of living and eating the Italian way. This is what emerged from the press conference presenting the event, held in Rome.

“Cibus is definitely the manifesto of made-in-Italy food, of the ability of our manufacturing and supply chains to be more and more in tune with consumers around the world,” said Antonio Cellie, CEO of Fiere di Parma. “In the last 10 years, agrifood exports have grown in double digits, even during the pandemic and war, in all geographies and on all channels. For this reason, similarly to what happened in other leading sectors of made in Italy, Cibus wanted and was able to become a successful international event with an annual cadence.”

The Mediterranean Diet as a Sustainable Model

“Italy,” noted Paolo Mascarino, president of Federalimentare, “is known throughout the world for its food culture and its food model, which has the Mediterranean Diet as its cultural reference point. This model is recognized as one of the healthiest and most balanced in the world, and this is reflected in all the world rankings related to general population health, longevity, and low levels of obesity, where Italy regularly ranks at the top. The Italian food model is also among the most sustainable because it is based on the enhancement of the territory: we are a country rich in biodiversity and local productions, for which the preservation of the landscape is fundamental.

The Numbers of Cibus Connecting Italy

20,000 visitors are expected at the fair from 90 different foreign countries, including 1,300 top buyers, arriving in Parma thanks to the incoming program developed in collaboration with Agenzia ICE. About a thousand Made in Italy food brands will be represented.

“Made in Italy food & beverage flies on international markets and Agenzia ICE also at Cibus Connecting Italy is at the side of companies with its innovative export services. The sector’s attention is focused on blockchain, a traceability system that through the use of new technologies guarantees the consumer on the quality and origin of the product, certifying its supply chain,” noted Agenzia ICE President Matteo Zoppas. “The spread of blockchain makes it possible to enhance and protect Made in Italy at the same time, it is a crucial issue for the entire sector and one of the tools to counter the problem of Italian Sounding.

Innovative services with greater added value can thus enable companies to further improve on performances that are already significant: in the first 11 months of 2022, exports increased by 16 percent compared to 2021 and exceeded 54 billion euros. In particular, food products mark +20%, wines, and beverages +11%, which is affected by the double-digit inflation rate. Concrete help to the category will unquestionably come from the recent double-digit reduction in the cost of overseas transportation, which hopefully will become structural.”

“The data show record levels for our exports, which from 2000 to 2022 mark almost +300%. Cibus represents an opportunity to show the world’s public our model of healthy and sustainable food, which enhances the values of taste and tradition,” said Paolo Mascarino.

The Immersive Experience

Cibus Connecting Italy is organically composed of two souls. The first is undoubtedly the experiential and immersive one in the tradition and “know-how” of Made in Italy agribusiness, that highlights the raw materials, semi-processed ingredients, and processed products are, in fact, at the center not only of the exhibition activity but also of the numerous “Cibus Destination on the Road”, which the fair traditionally reserves for hundreds of foreign buyers in the different territories.

Innovation

The second soul of Cibus Connecting Italy is related to its role as a privileged platform for networking and mutual exchange. The central theme of the fair is precisely the ability of the food industry and the entire supply chain to create and propose innovative and tailor-made products, able to cross the premium demand coming from the domestic and foreign markets.

Under the magnifying glass is the catalog of new product innovations and the Innovation Corner, a display of the 100 most interesting product innovations, evaluated and selected by a jury of experts. Ample space is reserved by the fair, in collaboration with Le Village By Crédit Agricole, for start-ups, authentic laboratories of novelty, and drivers of fascinating sustainable projects often with a very high innovation coefficient.

The Key Role of HO.RE.CA.

A key role within Cibus Connecting Italy is reserved for the Foodservice channel: the show, in fact, devotes ample space to quality research, scouting for typical raw materials, and education activities aimed at operators in the sector. The profound meaning of all this is to transform the hôtellerie, restaurant, and catering worlds into ideal showcases for promoting Italian excellence outside national borders.

The Special Areas

A multichannel fair that constantly renews itself: today Cibus is above all this. Four new areas for the 2023 edition: fruit and vegetables (with the absolute debut among the fair’s exhibitors of Italian fresh fruit and vegetable producers), semi-finished for ice cream and pastry, and products that are plant-based and “rich in.”

Inauguration – The Program

Symbolically opening the event on Wednesday, March 29, at 11 a.m., in the new Plenary Hall in Hall 4, is the inaugural conference; representatives of the institutional and political world are expected to attend. Among the most authoritative voices who will take turns at the microphone will be that of Nielsen IQ, which with its latest “Consumer Outlook Survey” will present unpublished data on inflationary events at the beginning of 2023 and several possible keys to interpreting the transition of consumption across multiple sales channels.

A Full program of Events at Cibus Connecting Italy 2023

“Cibus Connecting Italy continues to grow and has already reached significant numbers,” said Gino Gandolfi, President of Fiere di Parma, “but I feel I can say that we are still at the beginning of a path of development and of an increasingly intense valorization not only of Cibus, but of the entire Italian food supply chain, national pride and true excellence of Made in Italy. I am convinced,” Gandolfi concludes, “that the government, also through the ICE Agency, will know how to support and sustain us in the valuable mission of contributing to the promotion of Made in Italy in the world.”

Cibus Connecting Italy

Cibus Connecting Italy 2023 – Creating Authentic Opportunities

Cucine d'Italia consiglia